
Kingmaker
Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue
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Narrated by:
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Louise Brealey
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By:
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Sonia Purnell
About this listen
From the New York Times bestselling and award-winning author of A WOMAN OF NO IMPORTANCE, an electrifying re-examination of one of the 20th century’s greatest unsung power players
When Pamela Churchill Harriman died in 1997, the obituaries that followed were predictably scathing–and many were downright sexist. Written off as a mere courtesan and social climber, her true legacy was overshadowed by a glamorous social life and her infamous erotic adventures. Much of what she did behind the scenes–on both sides of the Atlantic–remained invisible and secret. That is, until now: with a wealth of fresh research, interviews and newly discovered sources, Sonia Purnell unveils for the first time the full, spectacular story of how she left an indelible mark on the world today.
At age 20 Churchill’s beloved daughter-in-law became a “secret weapon” during World War II, strategically wining, dining, and seducing diplomats and generals to help win over American sentiment (and secrets) to the British cause against Hitler. After the war, she helped to transform Fiat heir Gianni Agnelli into Italy’s ‘uncrowned king’ on the international stage and after moving to the US brought a struggling Democratic party back to life, hand-picking Bill Clinton from obscurity and vaulting him to the presidency.
Picked as Ambassador to France, she deployed her legendary subtle powers to charm world leaders and help efforts to bring peace to Bosnia, playing her part in what was arguably the high-water mark of American global supremacy.
There are few at any time who have operated as close to the center of power over five decades and two continents, and there is practically no one in 20th Century politics, culture, and fashion whose lives she did not touch, including the Kennedys, Truman Capote, Aly Khan, Kay Graham, Gloria Steinem, Ed Murrow, and Frank Sinatra. Written with the novelistic richness and investigative rigor that only Sonia Purnell could bring to this story full of sex, politics, yachts, palaces and fabulous clothes, KINGMAKER re-asserts Harriman’s rightful place at the heart of history.
* This audiobook edition includes a downloadable PDF of Pamela Harriman's life through images.
PLEASE NOTE: When you purchase this title, the accompanying PDF will be available in your Audible Library along with the audio.
©2024 Sonia Purnell (P)2024 Penguin AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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Critic reviews
“This is a deliciously seductive read. Sonia Purnell escorts readers behind the scenes, beneath the covers, and between the lines in an enthralling and exhaustive portrait of Pamela Harriman, whose life and legacy have long deserved the kind of insightful treatment that someone with Purnell’s storytelling talents can provide. Harriman stands fully and uncompromisingly on her own, a testament to Purnell’s sumptuous prose and unrelenting investigative talents—Kingmaker is masterfully wrought.”—Denise Kiernan, New York Times bestselling author of The Girls of Atomic City, The Last Castle, and We Gather Together
“A completely fascinating and revelatory biography, written with great aplomb, insight and shrewd analysis. A triumph.”—William Boyd, Booker-nominated author of Any Human Heart
“With Kingmaker, Sonia Purnell emerges as one of the most accomplished biographers of our time. Once again, she gifts readers with a vivid, glittering, sexy, scintillating, beautifully written portrait of a woman who drove twentieth-century history even as history was driving her. Wife, courtesan, hostess, muse, mistress, social climber, fundraiser, ambassador: The English language has no single word to describe an ambitious female whose fate (across generations) depended on her skill at connecting, cajoling, wooing, and winning over. Today, of course, we'd call her a politician. Kingmaker is a rich and nuanced study of power—its allure, its perils, the gratifications and the great cost of its pursuit."—Liza Mundy, New York Times bestselling author of The Sisterhood: The Secret History of Women at the CIA
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Before she was the Duchess of Windsor, Bessie Wallis Warfield was Mrs. Wallis Spencer, wife of Earl “Win” Spencer, a US Navy aviator. From humble beginnings in Baltimore, she rose to marry a man who gave up his throne for her. But what made Wallis Spencer, Navy Wife, the woman who could become the Duchess of Windsor? The answers lie in her one-year sojourn in China. In her memoirs, Wallis described her time in China as her “Lotus Year,” referring to Homer’s Lotus Eaters, a group living in a state of dreamy forgetfulness, never to return home.
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An interesting new look at Wallis Simpson
- By boleyn1532 on 12-09-24
By: Paul French
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The Friday Afternoon Club
- A Family Memoir
- By: Griffin Dunne
- Narrated by: Griffin Dunne
- Length: 12 hrs and 19 mins
- Unabridged
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At nine, Sean Connery saved him from drowning. At thirteen, desperate to hook up with Janis Joplin, he attended his aunt Joan Didion and uncle John Gregory Dunne’s legendary LA launch party for Tom Wolfe’s The Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test. At sixteen, he got kicked out of boarding school, ending his institutional education for good.
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Griffiths phrasing made it easy to listen and absorb.
- By Nancie Keay on 06-17-24
By: Griffin Dunne
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The Daughters of Yalta
- The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War
- By: Catherine Grace Katz
- Narrated by: Christine Rendel
- Length: 14 hrs and 55 mins
- Unabridged
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Tensions during the Yalta Conference in February 1945 threatened to tear apart the wartime alliance among Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin just as victory was close at hand. Catherine Grace Katz uncovers the dramatic story of the three young women who were chosen by their fathers to travel with them to Yalta, each bound by fierce family loyalty, political savvy, and intertwined romances that powerfully colored these crucial days.
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Engaging
- By Jean on 06-19-21
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The Woman Who Knew Everyone
- The Power of Perle Mesta, Washington's Most Famous Hostess
- By: Meryl Gordon
- Narrated by: Carrington MacDuffie
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Perle Mesta was a force to be reckoned with. In her heyday, this wealthy globe-trotting Washington widow was one of the most famous women in America, garnering as much media attention as Eleanor Roosevelt. Renowned for her world-class parties featuring politicians and celebrities, she was very close to three presidents–Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson. Truman named her as the first female envoy to Luxembourg, which inspired the hit musical based on Perle’s life – “Call Me Madam” – which starred Ethel Merman, ran on Broadway for two years and later became a movie.
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A Breathtaking Life!
- By Barbara Kenley on 01-24-25
By: Meryl Gordon
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1939
- The Last Season
- By: Anne deCourcy
- Narrated by: Maggie Ollerenshaw
- Length: 10 hrs and 33 mins
- Unabridged
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The season of 1939 brought all those "in Society" to London. The young debutante daughters of the upper classes were presented to the king and queen to mark their acceptance into the new adult world of their parents. They sparkled their way through a succession of balls and parties and sporting events. The season brought together influential people not only from society but also from government at the various events of the social calendar.
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Costume, Movement and Manners...
- By Elisa R. Goodman on 04-19-22
By: Anne deCourcy
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The Princess Spy
- The True Story of World War II Spy Aline Griffith, Countess of Romanones
- By: Larry Loftis
- Narrated by: Kate Reading
- Length: 9 hrs and 46 mins
- Unabridged
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When Aline Griffith was born in a quiet suburban New York hamlet, no one had any idea that she would go on to live “a life of glamour and danger that Ingrid Bergman only played at in Notorious” (Time). As the United States enters the Second World War, the young college graduate is desperate to aid in the war effort, but no one is interested in a bright-eyed young woman whose only career experience is modeling clothes.
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Repeat of spy wore red
- By Theresa Pease on 02-18-21
By: Larry Loftis
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Jennie
- The Life of the American Beauty Who Became the Toast—and Scandal—of Two Continents, Ruled an Age and Raised a Son—Winston Churchill—Who Shaped History
- By: Ralph G. Martin
- Narrated by: Pearl Hewitt
- Length: 26 hrs and 24 mins
- Unabridged
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Sourcebooks is bringing the internationally acclaimed New York Times bestseller back for a new generation of listeners. Jennie Churchill was not merely Winston’s mother. She was the most captivating and desired woman of her age. Originally from Brooklyn, Jennie became the reigning queen of British society. Beautiful and defiant, she lived with an honesty that made her the talk of two continents.
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Excellent
- By appreciative reader on 02-13-23
By: Ralph G. Martin
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Churchill's Citadel
- Chartwell and the Gatherings Before the Storm
- By: Katherine Carter
- Narrated by: Harrie Dobby
- Length: 12 hrs and 58 mins
- Unabridged
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In the 1930s, amidst an impending crisis in Europe, Winston Churchill found himself out of government and with little power. In these years, Chartwell, his country home in Kent, became the headquarters of his campaign against Nazi Germany. He invited trusted advisors and informants, including Albert Einstein and T. E. Lawrence, who could strengthen his hand as he worked tirelessly to sound the alarm at the prospect of war.
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Excellent Book, Narrator Good but “Admirality”??
- By J P. Rich on 04-02-25
By: Katherine Carter
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Ghost Dogs
- On Killers and Kin
- By: Andre Dubus III
- Narrated by: Andre Dubus III
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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In Ghost Dogs, Dubus’s nonfiction prowess is on full display in his retelling of his own successes, failures, triumphs, and pain. In his longest essay, “If I Owned a Gun,” Dubus reflects on the empowerment and shame he felt in keeping a gun, and his decision, ultimately, to give it up. Elsewhere, he writes of a violent youth and of settled domesticity and fatherhood, about the omnipresent expectations and contradictions of masculinity, about the things writers remember and those they forget.
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boring
- By Anthony on 11-16-24
By: Andre Dubus III
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Society's Queen
- The Life of Edith, Marchioness of Londonderry
- By: Anne de Courcy
- Narrated by: Charlotte Strevens
- Length: 14 hrs and 32 mins
- Unabridged
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At the age of 21, Edith Chaplin married one of the most eligible bachelors of the day, the eldest son of the sixth marquess of Londonderry. Her husband served in the Ulster cabinet and was air minister in the National Government of 1934-5. Edith founded the Women's Legion during the First World War and was also an early campaigner for women's suffrage. She created the renowned Mount Stewart Gardens in County Down that are now owned by the National Trust.
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Disappointing
- By Etoile NEOhio on 02-02-22
By: Anne de Courcy
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The Phantom of Fifth Avenue
- The Mysterious Life and Scandalous Death of Heiress Huguette Clark
- By: Meryl Gordon
- Narrated by: Bernadette Dunne
- Length: 13 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Born in 1906, Huguette Clark grew up in her family's 121-room Beaux Arts mansion in New York and was one of the leading celebrities of her day. Her father, William Andrews Clark, was the second richest man in America. Huguette attended the coronation of King George V. And at 22, with a personal fortune of $50 million, she married a Princeton man and childhood friend. Two-years later the couple divorced. After a series of failed romances, Huguette began to withdraw from society. What happened to Huguette that turned a vivacious, young socialite into a recluse?
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The OTHER Huguette Clark Book
- By Teadrinker on 03-24-15
By: Meryl Gordon
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Family Romance
- John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers
- By: Jean Strouse
- Narrated by: Susan Ericksen
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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Jean Strouse's Family Romance: John Singer Sargent and the Wertheimers looks at twelve portraits of one English family painted by the expatriate American artist at the height of his career—and at the intersections of all these lives with the sparkle and strife of the Edwardian age.
By: Jean Strouse
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No Ordinary Time
- By: Doris Kearns Goodwin
- Narrated by: Edward Herrmann
- Length: 6 hrs and 11 mins
- Abridged
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Presenting an aspect of American history that has never been fully told, Doris Kearns Goodwin describes how the isolationist and divided United States of 1940 was unified under the extraordinary leadership of Franklin Roosevelt to become, only five years later, the preeminent economic and military power in the world. Using diaries, interviews, and White House records, Goodwin paints an intimate, detailed portrait not only of the presidency during wartime but also of Franklin and Eleanor themselves.
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Good enough that I wish it were unabridged.
- By Kathryn Kienholz on 05-29-03
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Mrs. Kennedy
- The Missing History of the Kennedy Years
- By: Barbara Leaming
- Narrated by: Elizabeth Wiley
- Length: 19 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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New York Times bestselling author Barbara Leaming answers the question: What was it like to be Mrs. John F. Kennedy during the dramatic thousand days of the Kennedy presidency? Here for the first time is the full story of the extravagant interplay of sex and politics that constitutes one of modern history's most spectacular dramas.
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An amazing woman who led a truly amazing life.
- By Jn on 02-04-24
By: Barbara Leaming
What listeners say about Kingmaker
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- Amazon Customer
- 01-15-25
Excellent in every way!
Enlightening, educational, humanizing portrayal of a great female historical and world figure. Not a dull moment. Excellent writing and beautifully narrated. May purchase hard copy for my home library.
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-27-25
What a remarkable real person!
Great narration and very interesting subject. A mixture of great and not great choices in life. Her family had issues and she was one who gave much to the world.
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- Michael D. Whitty
- 04-22-25
Enjoyable for history, buffs, and political junkies
First half appealed to me as a history, buff, the second half appealed to me as a political junkie
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- ian
- 11-04-24
Fascinating life. Well researched and written.
This woman did many great things for the world. Had a lot of enemies but this author is not one of them. Arguably helped win WW2 with her vagina and helped create the modern democratic party with her keen mind. What a life!
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- Amazon Customer
- 12-31-24
Surname pronunciation
Sandy Berger is pronounced BURGER. Pretty sure she mispronounced Peter Duchin last name also. Overall excellent
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- Amazon Customer
- 02-21-25
What an extraordinary woman
I absolutely loved this book. Just fascinating from start to end. I’ll read every title by this author after reading this book.
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- Anonymous User
- 04-04-25
Kingmaker indeed.
Not a fan of the narrator and her pretentious speech. Her mispronunciation of so many names and words was tough to listen to, especially when there are a plethora of pleasant English accents. But it’s a ferocious biography and I enjoyed every bit of it.
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- Thomas S.
- 11-01-24
Amazing story & narrator
The author once again has dug deep into the life of an incredible woman overlooked by history. I thoroughly enjoyed learning so much about a woman who, while not perfect, gives us much to look up to. And the narrator was fabulous!
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- Tampa Views
- 11-24-24
The depth of history she participated in
Sometimes there was too much personal detail of non important things and at times perhaps exaggerated positive spin
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- Kindle Customer
- 11-12-24
The detail was exceptional, yet never became boring with details.
History from pre- WWII through the 1990's written from a different perspective. If only High School world history was written this way, more students would pay attention.
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