The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War
by Catherine Grace Katz
Critics' Opinion:
Readers' rating:
Published Sep 2020
416 pages
Genre: History, Current Affairs and Religion
Publication Information
The untold story of the three intelligent and glamorous young women who accompanied their famous fathers to the Yalta Conference with Stalin, and of the fateful reverberations in the waning days of World War II.
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. Kathleen Harriman was a champion skier, war correspondent, and daughter of US ambassador to the Soviet Union Averell Harriman. Sarah Churchill, an actress-turned-RAF officer, was devoted to her brilliant father, who depended on her astute political mind. Roosevelt's only daughter, Anna, chosen instead of her mother Eleanor to accompany the president to Yalta, arrived there as keeper of her father's most damaging secrets.
Situated in the political maelstrom that marked the transition to a post-war world, The Daughters of Yalta is a remarkable story of fathers and daughters whose relationships were tested and strengthened by the history they witnessed and the future they crafted together.
"[V]ivid and revealing...This sparkling account offers a fresh take on a decisive moment in the history of WWII and the Cold War." - Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"A singular take on the history of the Yalta Conference, viewed through the eyes of the three notable daughters who supported their famous fathers...Engaging, multilayered history of the best kind, grounded in telling detail and marvelous personalities." - Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"This impressively researched book will appeal to general history readers interested in untold perspectives of World War II." - Library Journal
"A stirring account of one momentous week that would unleash fifty years of tyranny for half of Europe and plunge the world into the Cold War, as seen through the eyes of three young women. Catherine Grace Katz's debut book, The Daughters of Yalta, is a marvelous and extraordinary work that reveals the human experience of the conference, with all its tragedy, love, betrayal, and even humor. She defines the relationships that shaped our world, and continue to shape our future." - Julian Fellowes, Oscar-winning writer and creator of Downton Abbey
"Catherine Grace Katz paints a vivid portrait of one of history's great international summits through the eyes of three young women, each a daughter of a key participant. We get the inside story, and learn the compelling details that bring history to life." - Erik Larson, author of The Splendid and the Vile
"Catherine Grace Katz's Daughters of Yalta is a revelation. It's a story of World War II, the origins of the Cold War, a key moment in diplomatic history, but above all a coming-of-age tale about three fascinating women in an extraordinary time." - Jeffrey Toobin, author of True Crimes and Misdemeanors and American Heiress
"Both intimate and sweeping, Catherine Grace Katz vividly captures a little known story against the backdrop of a very big one. Meticulously researched and emotionally gripping." - Amy Pascal, Producer, Little Women (2019)
This information about The Daughters of Yalta was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Catherine Grace Katz is a writer and historian from Chicago. She holds degrees in history from Harvard and Cambridge and is currently pursuing her JD at Harvard Law School.
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