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Books > Language & Literature > Biography & autobiography > Historical, political & military
"Lady Pamela Hicks's joyously entertaining new memoir, arguably the
poshest book that ever has or will be written" ("Newsweek"), is a
privileged glimpse into the lives and loves of some of the
twentieth century's leading figures.
Pamela Mountbatten entered a remarkable family when she was born in
Madrid at the very end of the "Roaring Twenties." Daughter of the
glamorous heiress Edwina Ashley and Lord Louis Mountbatten, Pamela
spent much of her early life with her sister, nannies, and
servants--not to mention a menagerie of animals that included, at
different times, a honey bear, chameleons, a bush baby, and a
mongoose. Her parents' vast social circle included royalty, film
stars, celebrities, and politicians. Noel Coward invited Pamela to
watch him film, and Douglas Fairbanks Jr. dropped in for tea.
However when war broke out Pamela and her sister were sent to New
York to live with Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt, while the prime
minister appointed her father to be the last Viceroy of India. Amid
the turmoil, Pamela came of age, meeting the student leaders who
had been released from jail, working in the canteen for Allied
forces and in a clinic outside Delhi. She also developed a close
bond with Gandhi and Jawaharlal Nehru.
"If you are addicted to "Downton Abbey," chances are that you will
relish "Daughter of Empire," a British aristocrat's memoir of her
childhood and coming of age...She is also a keen observer of a way
of life now vanished, except on PBS" ("The Wall Street Journal").
"Not many people remain who can tell stories like Lady Pamela
Hicks" ("Vanity Fair").
Again available in paperback is Eric Sevareid's widely
acclaimed Not So Wild a Dream. In this brilliant first-person
account of a young journalist's experience during World War II,
Sevareid records both the events of the war and the development of
journalistic strategies for covering international affairs. He also
recalls vividly his own youth in North Dakota, his decision to
study journalism, and his early involvement in radio reporting
during the beginnings of World War II.
In 1862, Private Grant Taylor of the 40th Alabama Infantry regiment
began writing home to his wife Malinda. Thus started an almost
three year correspondence of some 160 letters that chronicle the
impact of the American Civil War on one rural Alabama family. For
the Taylors and their kin, the war brought precious little glory or
sentimental notions of causes won or lost. Their rough prose
provides more evidence of the downside of the Civil War experience
that is historically significant and emotionally touching.
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