"The Diana Chronicles" by Tina Brown

[hibou]

Originally Posted by Skydragon

The only people who could possibly have all the facts, have never spoken. Diana gave her distorted version to Morton, some of which Brown disputes, but apart from that no one else has spoken. Charles hasn't spoken, Camilla hasn't spoken, Charles' friends haven't spoken, Camillas friends haven't spoken, HM etc, etc. So if all these key players have never spoken to Brown or the press, I am puzzled as to how the picture becomes clearer.

As with any book or article, without statements from all sides involved, it can only be someone else's idea of what they think may have happened in the relationship. Their interpretation, good or bad, that is still, all it is.

I see where you are coming from. No I don't put a grain of salt in the who was supposed to have said what to whom. I'm looking at it from a further away. She lays out the time frame of events so that one can follow the escalation of the dissolution of the relationship. I have a keener sense of the PR wars that were waged on both sides. Both Charles and Diana gave interviews in which both were advised against doing them for example. It was a high profile divorce with both sides putting out their side -attacks and counter attacks. Camilla is actually the only one that has not spoken publicly. There was a lot of damage done with the boys caught in the middle as is the case in a divorce. A lot of people made money off of this mess. Charles should never have published his book-bio (not that he didn't deserve to have one done it was the timing of it's publication) when he did as it looked like a response to the Morton book. Depending on which side one comes down on and I am neutral I can see where people can get upset. It was sadly and all to public divorce. I wish the boys well. They were really the ones that got the brunt of it no matter which side anyone is on. JMO

[Skydragon]

Originally Posted by hibou

I see where you are coming from.

Thank you for your reply, I can now also 'see where you are coming from'.

[hibou]

Originally Posted by Skydragon

Thank you for your reply, I can now also 'see where you are coming from'.

Your welcome. I like to discuss biographies and I am usually careful which authors I choose as some are more into "dirt" rather than getting at the heart of the personality. I think it will be a very long long time (if ever) that the real facts all come out. I just feel sorry for the boys.

[Duchess]

i'm reading it now and will say that it's refreshing that brown doesn't take sides...everyone's an equal target and she doen't play favorites. not sure how reliable her information is but it's nice to read a book that isn't sympathetic to one side or the other.

[Olishka]

Originally Posted by georgiea

I think Diana looks very much like Cynthia Spencer, her grandmother. The only resemblance to Jemima is her thick hair, color of hair and nose. Jemima looks a lot like her mother, Annebelle. But Diana looks like her sister Jane and her mother Francis. Diana had her mother's hair and nose.

I really think Diana is a true Spencer looking at her grandmother Spencer portrait. She also had a special bond with Cynthia Spencer-I wish her grandmother would have lived longer to help guide Diana. Diana is REALLY a Spencer in looks and personality. This NEW BOOK IS TRASH!!!!

Glad I didn't buy it, then. No wonder it was marked down!

[TheTruth]

Originally Posted by Olishka

Glad I didn't buy it, then. No wonder it was marked down!

Well in a book there's always something to take and something to leave (I'm talking of biography books). A reading is never useless although I agree that some can make you believe the contrary

[TheTruth]

Article from Vanity Fair
Diana's Final Heartbreak: Fame & Scandal: vanityfair.com

[TheTruth]

YouTube - Q&A Cafe at Nathans - Tina Brown on Becoming an American

Video of Tina Brown:
There Are Jewels In The Crown Of England's Glory: Tina Brown Dishes On Princess Diana's Sex Life - Gawker


CBS interview, Tina Brown
CBS News Video - Top Stories and Video News Clips at CBSNews.com

[TheTruth]

Blog of The Diana Chronicles :
The Diana Chronicles, the Life and Death of Princess Diana, by Tina Brown - Salon

"Is Paris Hilton the Princess Diana of today?" Aside from the blond hair there is no one on the planet more unlike Diana than Paris .

I think we agree on that Mrs. Brown .

"Intensely well researched and an unputdownable read, Tina Brown's extraordinary book parts the brocaded velvet, lifts the expensive net curtains and allows us an unprecedented look at the world and the mind of the most famous person on the planet. It is a tragi-comedy, a soap opera, a social commentary a historical document and a psychological examination, written by a superb investigative journalist."
– Helen Mirren, Academy Award®-winning actress

Even the 'Queen-of-Stephen Frears' made a review

[Lady Marmalade]

I just completed Ms. Brown's book and have to say it is one of the best reads of Diana I have ever gone through. I agree with some above, she is not only meticulous in her research and desire to get EVERY detail absolutely correct, but she is very fair to all sides showing the "warts and all" look to each person mentioned, including Diana herself.

I found it to be a very fair documentation, and it illustrates there are journalists and authors out there who do strive to tell the truth, and not their own peverse version of it.

[Skydragon]

It would have been a worthwhile read if Brown had done a little more research, rather than read and copy other peoples books. If her desire was to get every detail correct, it is a great pity she wrote what she expected people wanted to hear about the aristocrats and royals, rather than what is likely.

The only facts that seem to be available from this book are the facts that are readily available anywhere, with many rumours now passed off as fact, because they have been published before.

Perhaps the differences in the perception of this book, is as we have discussed before, it is a book written for an american market, by an americanised woman.

[Lady Marmalade]

There were to me many new insights written here that I have not read anywhere else. True, she does quote previously written books by other authors, but there was plenty of fresh detail anew and also, for once, a step by step review of previously read and heard detail from years past.

I also think it is one of the few books written which shows them all not as saints, but flawed humans, equal in her descriptive applications written to give us and understanding of why and how their behavior is played out over the years.

[TheTruth]

I'm reading it right now and I think it summarizes well all the 'notions' about or related to Diana that have been published over the past 10 years. It gives the impression of a serious research based on many steps which took some time and some perseverance. I believe it wasn't easy every day to get this interview or that information. It must have been quite a job.

[Duchess]

i've just finished the book (yes it took me a while but i was picking away at it) and i have to say that i was really impressed. i thought she gave a fair and balanced representation of all the parties that played a major role in diana's life. i thought it would just be another book that painted the whole story either pro or anti but i liked it and plan to read it again.

[Ccile]

I've just ordered it on internet!!! I can't wait to receive it and read it!!!

[pinkie40]

Originally Posted by hibou

Your welcome. I like to discuss biographies and I am usually careful which authors I choose as some are more into "dirt" rather than getting at the heart of the personality. I think it will be a very long long time (if ever) that the real facts all come out. I just feel sorry for the boys.

I don't think the average person can grasp the life and lifestyles, mores and life ambitions of a member of the British aristocracy. They tend to have deeply ingrained patterns of behavior that the "average Joe or Jane" would find a bit strange. To inherit is something totally different than to merit.

I think it will be the boys who will somehow make the facts known....They will be concerned for their children having to bear the burdens of the secrets.....

[Polly]

Originally Posted by Skydragon

It would have been a worthwhile read if Brown had done a little more research, rather than read and copy other peoples books. If her desire was to get every detail correct, it is a great pity she wrote what she expected people wanted to hear about the aristocrats and royals, rather than what is likely.

The only facts that seem to be available from this book are the facts that are readily available anywhere, with many rumours now passed off as fact, because they have been published before.

Perhaps the differences in the perception of this book, is as we have discussed before, it is a book written for an american market, by an americanised woman.

I've just read this comment.

Really, what more research could Brown have done? Explicit examples, please. She did well enough, in my opinion.

Also, just what do you mean by the comment that 'it is a book written for an American market, by an Americanised woman'?

What, precisely, does this mean?

Are Americans, ipso facto, inherently, more dumb, or more gullible, or less knowledgeable than the rest of us?

That's never been my experience. Why! I've known and still know some really clever, well-educated and informed Americans.

[selrahc4]

Originally Posted by pinkie40

I think it will be the boys who will somehow make the facts known....They will be concerned for their children having to bear the burdens of the secrets.....

While this is possible, I doubt that this knowledge would be presented to the general public by them. I'm not sure what you mean by "the burdens of the secrets", but I'm of the opinion that if there are facts that they think should be made known, those facts will be privately communicated to their children.

[sirhon11234]

Diana legacy lives on through book
NDTV.com: Diana legacy lives on through book

[TheTruth]

Brown's book is indeed a good book but a very "personal" one IMO. The author gives totally her perspective of Diana, not always the one that someone could have if you presented them the facts in an objective way. I realised Brown took alot from Sarah Bradford's biography which I find far more balanced but Tina judged those facts and gave her opinion on them. It's a nice, very well research book but if you want to make your own opinion about Diana without being influenced, Bradford's is the best.