William Stadiem – författare

In this historically momentous memoir, the segregationist senator''s mixed-race daughter speaks out about her life in the shadows.Breaking nearly eight decades of silence, Essie Mae Washington–Williams comes forward with the dramatic story of her life. Her father, the late Strom Thurmond, had been the nation''s leading proponent of racial segregation. He famously undertook a twenty-four–hour filibuster against the Civil Rights Act of 1957, a desperate attempt to save the South from "mongrelization". Her mother, however, was a black teenager named Carrie Butler who worked as a maid on the Thurmond family''s South Carolina plantation.Set against the explosive civil rights era, this poignant memoir recalls how Essie Mae struggled with the discrepancy between the generous and even affectionate father she knew privately, and the Old Southern politician, railing against greater racial equality, who refused to acknowledge her publicly. From her richly told narrative, as well as the letters she and Thurmond wrote to each other over the years, emerges a fascinating portrait of a father who counseled and supported his daughter, yet would not break with the values of his Dixiecrat constituents.

Frank Sinatra''s former valet & aide dishes on the fifteen years he spent working for Ol'' Blue Eyes in this memoir that''s "sordid, trashy, funny, and so rat-a-tat with its smart inside info" (Liz Smith)."With its improbably witty prose, this exercise in deep dish never makes you feel like taking a shower. It''s the one Sinatra tome that doesn''t stint on rageaholism or sexual addiction or the affection this kind of split personality still engenders. A." —Entertainment WeeklyAs the right hand of Frank Sinatra from 1953 to 1968, George Jacobs had one of the coolest jobs in the world at the time when Sinatra was the undisputed master of the entertainment universe. Jacobs rose from his humble beginnings in New Orleans to join Sinatra in the mansions of Beverly Hills, the penthouses of Manhattan, the palaces of Europe, the pinnacles of world power. George Jacobs saw it all, did it all.Sinatra took Jacobs with him on the ride of the century, from blacklist Hollywood to gangland Chicago to an emerging Las Vegas to Camelot, not to mention dolce vita Rome and swinging London. As a member of Sinatra''s inner circle, Jacobs drank with Ava Gardner, danced with Marilyn Monroe, massaged John F. Kennedy, golfed with Sam Giancana, and played jazz with the Prince of Monaco while his boss secretly pursued Princess Grace. He also partied with Mia Farrow, but that one cost him his job of a lifetime.Through the ring-a-ding-ding and the stars, royals, politicians, moguls, and mobsters emerged a warm and intimate relationship that reveals a complex Sinatra: vulnerable and arrogant, charismatic and violent, loving and disdainful, confident and painfully self-conscious."A juicy tell-all book that entertains mightily. . . . The book runs with the kind of spicy details that make for the most captivating cocktail hour chatter. . . . While much has been written about Sinatra''s life and times, Jacobs add more with his intimate persona spin on the legendary man." —Denver Rocky Mountain News"A complex portrait of two complex men at a crossroads in history . . . full of the expected tantalizing tidbits about Sinatra, his women, the mob, Joe and Jack Kennedy, Dino and Sammy. . . . The requisite sex and drink and dusk-to-dawn partiers are in there." —Los Angeles Times

In October 1958, Pan American World Airways began making regularly scheduled flights between New York and Paris, courtesy of its newly minted wonder jet, the Boeing 707. Almost overnight, the moneyed celebrities of the era made Europe their playground. At the same time, the dream of international travel came true for thousands of ordinary Americans who longed to emulate the “jet set” lifestyle.   Bestselling author and Vanity Fair contributor William Stadiem brings that Jet Age dream to life again in the first-ever book about the glamorous decade when Americans took to the skies in massive numbers as never before, with the rich and famous elbowing their way to the front of the line. Dishy anecdotes and finely rendered character sketches re-create the world of luxurious airplanes, exclusive destinations, and beautiful, wealthy trendsetters who turned transatlantic travel into an inalienable right. It was the age of Camelot and “Come Fly with Me,” Grace Kelly at the Prince’s Palace in Monaco, and Mary Quant miniskirts on the streets of Swinging London. Men still wore hats, stewardesses showed plenty of leg, and the beach at Saint-Tropez was just a seven-hour flight away.   Jet Set reads like a who’s who of the fabulous and well connected, from the swashbuckling “skycoons” who launched the jet fleet to the playboys, moguls, and financiers who kept it flying. Among the bold-face names on the passenger manifest: Juan Trippe, the Yale-educated WASP with the Spanish-sounding name who parlayed his fraternity contacts into a tiny airmail route that became the world’s largest airline, Pan Am; couturier to the stars Oleg Cassini, the Kennedy administration’s “Secretary of Style,” and his social climbing brother Igor, who became the most powerful gossip columnist in America—then lost it all in one of the juiciest scandals of the century; Temple Fielding, the high-rolling high priest of travel guides, and his budget-conscious rival Arthur Frommer; Conrad Hilton, the New Mexico cowboy who built the most powerful luxury hotel chain on earth; and Mary Wells Lawrence, the queen bee of Madison Avenue whose suggestive ads for Braniff and other airlines brought sex appeal to the skies.   Like a superfueled episode of Mad Men, Jet Set evokes a time long gone but still vibrant in American memory. This is a rollicking, sexy romp through the ring-a-ding glory years of air travel, when escape was the ultimate aphrodisiac and the smiles were as wide as the aisles.   Praise for Jet Set  “Aeronautics history, high times from the 1950s and ’60s, incredibly versatile name-dropping (from Mrs. John Jacob Astor to Christine Keeler of the Profumo scandal) and Sinatra’s ‘Come Fly With Me’ as a kind of theme song [all] connected to the glamorous days of air travel.”—Janet Maslin, The New York Times   “What a book William Stadium has written. . . . The Kennedys, the Rat Pack, Frank Sinatra, and early financiers like Eddie Gilbert are dealt with in depth. . . . I lived intimately through it all in the ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s and I am yet to find a mistake in author Stadiem’s amazing book. Order it now. All the players are here.”—Liz Smith, syndicated columnist   “William Stadiem sexes up the glory days of aviation in Jet Set. Fly me!”—Vanity Fair   “William Stadiem’s Jet Set takes you where no modern airliner can: to a time . . . when the means of travel was as exotic as the destination, and sometimes more so.”—Town & CountryFrom the Hardcover edition.

The witty and entertaining New York Times bestselling memoir from the urbane and ultra-tanned icon himself—George Hamilton.Don''t let that tanned, handsome, charming surface fool you. Beneath the bronzed façade is a mischievous mind with a wicked wit. George Hamilton doesn''t miss a thing. With a front row seat for classic Hollywood''s biggest secrets and scandals, George has the intelligence, heart, and unflappable spirit to tell his story, and the story of Tinseltown''s heyday, with great good humor and delicious candor—as only he can. From Where the Boys Are to Dancing with the Stars; from Mary Pickford to Elizabeth Taylor; from smalltown Arkansas to the capitals of Europe—it''s all here, and George has lived to tell and to laugh about it. As the child of a Dartmouth-educated bandleader father and a glamorous Southern debutante mother whose marriage crumbled early on, George had a childhood filled with misadventures and challenges that his mother always seemed able to turn from tragedy to comedy. Her idea of changing the family''s fortunes involved a trip cross-country with three sons and a poodle in a Lincoln Continental, making stops along the way to search for husband/father number three. And she was quick to recognize that George''s potential success lay in Hollywood. George starved nobly for his art in the late 1950s, but was soon starring in major motion pictures directed by the likes of Vincente Minnelli and Louis Malle. He has forgotten more about Hollywood than most movie experts will ever know and shares intimate and hugely entertaining stories of his friendships with Cary Grant; Brigitte Bardot; Robert Mitchum; Merle Oberon; Mae West; Sammy Davis, Jr.; and Judy Garland—not to mention Lyndon B. Johnson and Elvis''s Colonel Tom Parker as well as the King himself—among others. The world is Hamilton''s oyster, and this ultimate insider is ready to share it with us. So fasten your seat belt. We''ll tell you when it''s safe to move about the cabin again.

Enter the glamorous domain of world-famous jewellery house, Harry Winston, and discover the true rags-to-riches story of the immigrant family behind the phenomenon.Harry Winston’s famous slogan for his success was: “knowledge, courage, and the ability to finance.” King of Diamonds: The Flawless World of Harry Winston is the quintessential rags-to-riches success story of a very poor immigrant family emigrating from Ukraine to America. It is the story of how one man, Harry Winston, created a famous name with his company, founded in New York City in 1932. Winston became known for the owning and sales of very large diamonds. At one point, he owned a third of the world’s most famous gems, including the Hope Diamond, which earned him the moniker “King of Diamonds.”The book details how author Ronald Winston’s father got his start and began what would eventually become the most famous jewellery house in the world. Peek inside his first office, an upstairs Fifth Ave location, followed by subsequent locations in Rockefeller Centre, an office across from St. Patrick's Cathedral, and finally an image-building store on Fifth Avenue.Known as the “Jewelleer to the Stars,” Winston’s gems have appeared both on the Hollywood red carpet and in famous Hollywood films like Notorious starring Ingrid Bergman and Cary Grant, The Graduate starring Dustin Hoffman and Anne Bancroft, and How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days starring Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey. Celebrities such as Marilyn Monroe, Viola Davis, Helen Mirren, Gwyneth Paltrow, and many more have worn Winston pieces on Hollywood’s biggest nights.The story then follows Harry Winston’s successor and heir, Ronald Winston, and his making of the family name. Under Ronald, the company’s name would not remain just famous, but would become world-famous. Ronald built locations in Los Angeles, Hawaii, Japan, and China. Ronald’s saga continued with his entry into the revolution in Angola, buying diamonds from its charismatic leader, Jonas Savimbi. Ronald Winston risked his life in order to make profits that repaid the death taxes caused by his father’s passing.In all, King of Diamonds is a joyous evocation of two men who added an innumerable amount to the image, story, and marketing of luxury products, as well as to the joy of people who love and purchase these objects.After all, as frequent Winston jewellery-wearer Marilyn Monroe would say, “diamonds are a girl’s best friend.”

This authoritative and intimate biography, written by his only living son, Ronald Winston, marries the Gilded Age glamour and romance of Edith Wharton with the ruthless family dynamics of HBO’s hit series, Succession.   Few American success stories rival that of Harry Winston. Born Harry Weinstein, he came from humble roots—his parents were poor Jewish immigrants who left Ukraine around 1890 for New York, where they settled and started a small jewelry business.  His genius for spotting priceless gems emerged young. When Harry was twelve years old, he recognized a two-carat emerald in a pawn shop and bought it for 25 cents, selling it two days later for $800—a massive sum in the early 1900s. From that moment on, Harry became obsessed with gems, especially diamonds. A compact, unassuming man with no formal education, but unlimited drive and ambition, Harry Weinstein transformed himself into Harry Winston, the enigmatic figure who created the world’s most prestigious luxury brand.    Harry Winston built his empire while the Depression raged, World War II reshaped the world, and America entered its post-war period of prosperity. In this riveting biography, readers get a bird’s eye view of the dangers of the diamond trade and the lengths men would go to get their hands on the best of the “rough.” There’s also a glimpse into the lives of the rich and famous, who clamored for Winston’s gems. Although he traveled the world doing business with kings, queens, and movie stars, Winston remained a devoted family man, whose chief wish was that his sons carry on the legacy he had built.   Harry’s older son Ronald Winston worked alongside his father for decades. After Harry’s death, Ron grew the company into the international brand that is still revered today. He ran it expertly, until he was forced to sell the company, due to his younger brother’s maligning litigation. This is the story of a family business that survived and thrived for more than a century, until it was undone by one, bitter family member.  KING OF DIAMONDS is at once a portrait of American ingenuity at its best, and the story of sibling rivalry that is Shakespearean in its tragedy.