Sleeping with the Enemy
Coco Chanel's Secret War
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Narrated by:
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Susan Denaker
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Mark Deakins
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By:
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Hal Vaughan
About this listen
From this century, in France, three names will remain: De Gaulle, Picasso, and Chanel.” (André Malraux).
Coco Chanel created the look of the modern woman and was the high priestess of couture.
She believed in simplicity, and elegance, and freed women from the tyranny of fashion. She inspired women to take off their bone corsets and cut their hair. She used ordinary jersey as couture fabric, elevated the waistline, and created bell-bottom trousers, trench coats, and turtleneck sweaters. In the 1920s, when Chanel employed more than 2,000 people in her workrooms, she had amassed a personal fortune of $15 million and went on to create an empire.
Jean Cocteau once said of Chanel that she had the head of “a little black swan”. And, added Colette, “the heart of a little black bull”. At the start of World War II, Chanel closed down her couture house and went across the street to live at the Hôtel Ritz. Picasso, her friend, called her “one of the most sensible women in Europe”. She remained at the Ritz for the duration of the war, and after, went on to Switzerland. For more than half a century, Chanel’s life from 1941 to 1954 has been shrouded in vagueness and rumor, mystery, and myth. Neither Chanel nor her many biographers have ever told the full story of these years.
Now Hal Vaughan, in this explosive narrative - part suspense thriller, part wartime portrait - fully pieces together the hidden years of Gabrielle “Coco” Chanel’s life, from the Nazi occupation of Paris to the aftermath of World War II. Vaughan reveals the truth of Chanel’s long-whispered collaboration with Hitler’s high-ranking officials in occupied Paris from 1940 to 1944. He writes in detail of her decades-long affair with Baron Hans Günther von Dincklage, “Spatz” (“sparrow” in English), described in most Chanel biographies as being an innocuous, English-speaking tennis player, playboy, and harmless dupe - a loyal German soldier and diplomat serving his mother country and not a member of the Nazi party.
In Vaughan’s absorbing, meticulously researched book, Dincklage is revealed to have been a Nazi master spy and German military intelligence agent who ran a spy ring in the Mediterranean and in Paris and reported directly to Nazi propaganda minister Joseph Goebbels, right hand to Hitler.
The book pieces together how Coco Chanel became a German intelligence operative; how and why she was enlisted in a number of spy missions; how she escaped arrest in France after the war, despite her activities being known to the Gaullist intelligence network; how she fled to Switzerland for a nine-year exile with her lover Dincklage. And how, despite the French court’s opening a case concerning Chanel’s espionage activities during the war, she was able to return to Paris at age 70 and triumphantly resurrect and reinvent herself - and rebuild what has become the iconic House of Chanel.
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- By Kindle Customer on 12-28-19
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Mademoiselle
- Coco Chanel and the Pulse of History
- By: Rhonda Garelick
- Narrated by: Tavia Gilbert
- Length: 16 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Little black dresses. Fake pearls. Jersey knit. Blazers. Ballet flats. Today - and for nearly the last hundred years - we all see some version of Gabrielle "Coco" Chanel every time we pass a woman on the street. But few among us realize that Chanel’s role in the events of the twentieth century was as pervasive as her influence on fashion, or how deeply she absorbed and then brilliantly reimagined the historical currents around her.
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An Unlikable Portrait
- By Sara on 09-25-16
By: Rhonda Garelick
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A Spy Among Friends
- Kim Philby and the Great Betrayal
- By: Ben Macintyre
- Narrated by: John Lee
- Length: 11 hrs
- Unabridged
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Who was Kim Philby? Those closest to him—like his fellow MI6 officer and best friend since childhood, Nicholas Elliot, and the CIA’s head of counterintelligence, James Jesus Angleton—knew him as a loyal confidant and an unshakeable patriot. Philby was a brilliant and charming man who rose to head Britain’s counterintelligence against the Soviet Union. Together with Elliott and Angleton he stood on the front lines of the Cold War, holding Communism at bay. But he was secretly betraying them both: He was working for the Russians the entire time.
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The narrator is incorrectly identified.
- By Greenlake DD on 07-30-14
By: Ben Macintyre
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Paris
- After the Liberation 1944-1949
- By: Antony Beevor, Artemis Cooper
- Narrated by: John Curless
- Length: 18 hrs and 12 mins
- Unabridged
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In this brilliant synthesis of social, political, and cultural history, Antony Beevor and Artemis Cooper present a vivid and compelling portrayal of the City of Lights after its liberation. Paris became the diplomatic battleground in the opening stages of the Cold War.
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Worthwhile listen
- By DanBudda on 07-27-16
By: Antony Beevor, and others
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Young Stalin
- By: Simon Sebag Montefiore
- Narrated by: James Adams
- Length: 16 hrs and 27 mins
- Unabridged
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Young Stalin tells the story of an exceptional, charismatic, darkly turbulent young man born into obscurity, fancying himself a poet and a priest, and finally embracing revolutionary idealism as his Messianic mission in life. Equal parts scholar and terrorist, a mastermind of bank robberies, extortion, piracy, and murder, he was so impressive in his brutality that Lenin made him, along with Trotsky, his chief henchman.
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Really Good Read/Listen
- By Jim on 02-20-11
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In the Garden of Beasts
- Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
- By: Erik Larson
- Narrated by: Stephen Hoye
- Length: 12 hrs and 52 mins
- Unabridged
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The time is 1933, the place, Berlin, when William E. Dodd becomes America’s first ambassador to Hitler’s Germany in a year that proved to be a turning point in history. A mild-mannered professor from Chicago, Dodd brings along his wife, son, and flamboyant daughter, Martha. At first Martha is entranced by the parties and pomp, and the handsome young men of the Third Reich with their infectious enthusiasm for restoring Germany to a position of world prominence. Enamored of the “New Germany,” she has one affair after another....
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I loved it ... and hated it ... simultaneously
- By History on 11-21-11
By: Erik Larson
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Children of the Night
- The Strange and Epic Story of Modern Romania
- By: Paul Kenyon
- Narrated by: Paul Kenyon
- Length: 19 hrs and 38 mins
- Unabridged
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The country that gave us Vlad Dracula, and whose citizens consider themselves descendants of ancient Rome, has traditionally preferred the status of enigmatic outsider. But this beautiful and unexplored land has experienced some of the most disastrous leaderships of the last century. After a relatively benign period led by a dutiful king and his vivacious, British-born queen, the country oscillated wildly.
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A haunting look at Romanian history
- By Steve Adams on 07-19-24
By: Paul Kenyon
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The Irregulars
- Roald Dahl and the British Spy Ring in Wartime Washington
- By: Jennet Conant
- Narrated by: Simon Prebble
- Length: 11 hrs and 36 mins
- Unabridged
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Prior to the U.S. entering WWII, a small coterie of British spies in Washington, D.C., was formed. They called themselves the Baker Street Irregulars after the band of street urchins who were the eyes and ears of Sherlock Holmes in some Arthur Conan Doyle stories.
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Spying in Washington
- By Sara on 10-03-14
By: Jennet Conant
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Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy
- Ernest Hemingway's Secret Adventures, 1935-1961
- By: Nicholas Reynolds
- Narrated by: Fred Sanders
- Length: 9 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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While he was the curator of the CIA Museum, Nicholas Reynolds, a longtime military intelligence expert, began to discover tantalizing clues that suggested Ernest Hemingway's involvement in the Second World War was much more complex and dangerous than has been previously understood. Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy brings to light for the first time this riveting secret side of Hemingway's life - when he worked closely with both the American OSS and the Soviet NKVD to defeat Adolf Hitler and the Nazis.
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So entertaining you'd think it was fiction
- By Austin on 03-16-17
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The Riviera Set
- Glitz, Glamour, and the Hidden World of High Society
- By: Mary S. Lovell
- Narrated by: Jill Rolls
- Length: 10 hrs and 51 mins
- Unabridged
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The Riviera Set reveals the story of the group of people who lived, partied, bed-hopped, and politicked at the Château de l'Horizon near Cannes, over the course of 40 years from the time when Coco Chanel made southern French tans fashionable in the twenties to the death of the playboy Prince Aly Khan in 1960. At the heart of dynamic group was the amazing Maxine Elliott, the daughter of a fisherman from Connecticut, who built the beautiful art deco Château.
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Riviera Set
- By Lois Kelly on 05-04-18
By: Mary S. Lovell
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Agent 110
- An American Spymaster and the German Resistance in WWII
- By: Scott Miller
- Narrated by: Noah Michael Levine
- Length: 8 hrs and 47 mins
- Unabridged
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This is the secret and suspenseful account of how OSS spymaster Allen Dulles led a network of Germans conspiring to assassinate Hitler and negotiate surrender to bring about the end of World War II before the Soviet's advance. Agent 110 is Allen Dulles, a newly minted spy from an eminent family. Dulles met with and facilitated the plots of Germans who were trying to destroy the country's leadership.
By: Scott Miller
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The Devil's Diary
- Alfred Rosenberg and the Stolen Secrets of the Third Reich
- By: Robert K. Wittman, David Kinney
- Narrated by: P. J. Ochlan
- Length: 15 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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A groundbreaking historical contribution, The Devil's Diary is a chilling window into the mind of Adolf Hitler's "chief social philosopher", Alfred Rosenberg, who formulated some of the guiding principles behind the Third Reich's genocidal crusade.
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Fresh perspective on terrible events.
- By Sparkly on 04-20-16
By: Robert K. Wittman, and others
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When Paris Sizzled
- The 1920s Paris of Hemingway, Chanel, Cocteau, Cole Porter, Josephine Baker, and Their Friends
- By: Mary McAuliffe
- Narrated by: Saskia Maarleveld
- Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins
- Unabridged
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When Paris Sizzled vividly portrays the City of Light during the fabulous 1920s, les Annees folles, when Parisians emerged from the horrors of war to find that a new world greeted them - one that reverberated with the hard metallic clang of the assembly line, the roar of automobiles, and the beat of jazz. Mary McAuliffe traces a decade that saw seismic change on almost every front, from art and architecture to music, literature, fashion, entertainment, transportation, and, most notably, behavior.
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Informative, but no sizzle
- By OzEnigma on 06-01-17
By: Mary McAuliffe
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Lenin
- The Man, the Dictator, and the Master of Terror
- By: Victor Sebestyen
- Narrated by: Jonathan Aris
- Length: 20 hrs and 3 mins
- Unabridged
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Drawing on new research, including the diaries, memoirs, and personal letters of both Lenin and his friends, Victor Sebestyen's unique biography - the first in English in nearly two decades - is not only a political examination of one of the most important historical figures of the 20th century but a portrait of Lenin the man. Unexpectedly, Lenin was someone who loved nature, hunting, and fishing and could identify hundreds of species of plants, a despotic ruler whose closest ties and friendships were with women.
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Lenin totally took an extra piece of that cake.
- By John Gathly on 05-14-19
By: Victor Sebestyen
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Like a lengthy "Vanity Fair" magazine article.
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What listeners say about Sleeping with the Enemy
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Etoile NEOhio
- 01-15-22
Coco remains a mystery
I've just completed this, a 3rd book, about the life and loves of Coco Chanel. As in b life, she continues to fascinate, befuddle, and evade even this long after her death. My uncle brought Chanel No. 5 home from Paris after The War; I wonder if it was one of the free bottles or if he bought it at the PX? Sad that during his lifetime I didn't know enough about Coco to ask the right questions.
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- CheyenneQBU
- 02-02-23
Surprisingly engaging.
How often I select fiction over fact and yet this was a wonderful example of how engaging and interesting a factual plot can be! Great experience,
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- Newme
- 03-16-18
Meh
At times convoluted. History was presented non-linearly, and actors were not reintroduced to remind the reader who they were and why they were significant.
What really bothered me was the sympathy and admiration with which Chanel was portrayed. Takeaway message seemed to be: “She was a remarkable woman of great talent who became a Nazi collaborator because the men she loved happened to be Nazi sympathizers.” Utterly mundane and uninspired.
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1 person found this helpful
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- Fabiola
- 03-29-24
Very well documented
To many details in some parts, making it a bit confusing. But overall needed in order to understand the whole picture.
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- Barbara
- 05-31-12
Chanel was such a complex woman!
I have read a couple biographies on CoCo Chanel, and this one does not disappoint. She had a way of telling different versions about her past to many friends and biographers, so it is hard to establish the truth of Chanel's life, but this book is very well researched. The narrator is very good, using French, German, British and American accents when quoting people. The tempo is very good and an easy listen. There are a lot of names and dates to keep track of, and when listening in small spurts, found it difficult to keep track of all the players.
I would recommend this book if you have an interest in Chanel, the woman. The book touches on her relationships with friends, family, her many romances but also on her relationship with the perfume makers of Chanel No. 5 which I found very interesting.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Susan
- 12-01-13
Wonderful, Insightful Book
I wish there were more books like this one. I loved it. The story is incredible, and it interweaves a lot of big names and historical figures you may not associate with Coco Chanel (such as Churchill). I loved the complexity. The book is stark at times, but the author has a light touch and includes many fascinating details throughout. There is so much more to Chanel than most people realize (both good and bad). I loved that the book wasn't just a total fan-girl type vibe like some books on Chanel, but still revered her persistence and creativity as an entrepreneur and artist, while recognizing her involvement with the Nazi party (truly amazing this has been overlooked by so many!).
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1 person found this helpful
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- Renata
- 09-20-11
If we all knew how things went...
Very interesting book with lots of details. When we see the famous people and their creations we never imagine what there was behind the curtains. Worth listening to the story. The good thing about the book is that it is not about fashion, but about the time in history with its players.
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6 people found this helpful
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- Anonymous
- 09-19-11
Informative but very dry
I liked that this book was about Chanel. I wasn't pleased with how often the author repeated himself on previously stated facts, as if I had put the book down for a few months, picked it back up,and couldn't be bothered to skim back a few pages to refamiliarize myself with where I'd left off. Also, there is some jumping forwards and backwards in the timeline of the story that I found confusing in a few parts. Overall, I recommend this because it's informative but I only made it through to the last two hours of the book.
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3 people found this helpful
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- Fictionwriter
- 03-06-13
Fascinating under the covers look at Coco Chanel
The things we didn't know about Chanel... her dark side. Well told and well read.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Becca R
- 05-30-23
Behind Every Successful Woman Is a Wealthy Man.
Chanel was a certain type of woman who used everything and everyone to advance her ambitions. She was a manipulative social climber as well as a drug addict and disembler equipped with some fashion talent. She knew what she wanted, and nothing could stand in her way. The only one who got the better of the deal was the extremely shrewd Pierre Wertheimer, ironically a Jew. It is hard to blame her for her flagrant anti semitism. Let's lay the blame at the feet of the Catholic Church, for instilling antisemitism in children, labeling the Jews as Christ killers. Chanel was brought up by the nuns in an orphanage. As my dad used to say back.in the day, as per the Catholic Chrch"give me a child of five, and we have him for life."
I have been interested in fashion my entire life. I was 5 years old when I saw a 255 hanging on its plain gold chain from the closet door of my older cousin. I was hooked for life. Well, not so much lately. As a brand Chanel has lost the plot, somewhat.
But that is another story.
This book is a fascinating tale about an outsized character who operated during an outsized period of modern history. All of the players had everything to gain, and just as much to.lose and lived that way. Well researched from French, Russian, and American archives, the author paints a picture of a not so lovely woman. The book lifts the veil off some of the sanitized biographies of Mademoiselle CC.
The narrator is superb. She needs to throw off a phrase in foreign tongues from time to time and does so excellently.
I could not stop listening, except when I had to for sleep and other telephone tasks.
I highly recommend to anyone with an interest in the machinations of quite a few players leading up to and during the WWII era.
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1 person found this helpful