Kingmaker: Pamela Harriman's Astonishing Life of Power, Seduction, and Intrigue
Rigorous but rollicking ... Purnell seeks nobly to highlight Harriman’s involvement in public as well as private affairs ... The majority of biographies lose steam as the subject ages; Kingmaker gets a strong second wind with Harriman’s early talent spotting of Bill Clinton ... If Purnell’s prose sometimes lapses into breathlessness, who can blame her? Like her beloved horses, Harriman went through her days at full gallop, and it would be hard for even the most devoted stable mistress to keep up.
Read Full Review >>
A feminist reclamation project, bent on producing a more respectful portrait than those found in two earlier books ... A thorough account of Harriman’s rise which also manages to be a brisk, twisty read ...Purnell has found plenty of people to talk to about their memories of Harriman, along with archival sources ... The section of Kingmaker devoted to its subject’s war years was, I found, the most riveting and revelatory ... Though Purnell contends here and there that Harriman was a woman of ideas, there’s not a whole lot to support that...and what glimpses we get of her policy commitments mark her as a fairly conventional centrist.
Read Full Review >>
Purnell makes large claims for Pamela Churchill Harriman.
Read Full Review >>
