Barbara Leaming

"Kathleen "Kick" Kennedy was the incandescent life force of the fabled Kennedy family, her father's acknowledged "favorite of all the children" and her brother Jack's "psychological twin." She was the Kennedy of Kennedys, sure of her privilege, magnetically charming and somehow not quite like anyone else on whatever stage she happened to grace. The daughter of the American ambassador to the Court of St. James's, Kick swept into Britain's aristocracy...

New York Times bestselling author Barbara Leaming answers the question: What was it like to be Mrs. John F. Kennedy during the dramatic thousand days of the Kennedy presidency? Here for the first time is the full story of the extravagant interplay of sex and politics that constitutes one of modern history's most spectacular dramas. Drawing from recently declassified top-secret material, as well as revelatory eyewitness accounts, Secret Service records,...

The legendary “Love Goddess” was a huge box-office star, and her sultry beauty and sensational figure turned her into the ultimate sex-symbol. Yet behind the smoldering image lay a tragic secret that wrecked her private life. Extremely shy as a child, Rita Hayworth was forced by her vaudevillian father to be his dancing partner—and he abused her as well. Her need for protection led her into five disastrous marriages. If This Was Happiness...

Genius, artist, monstre sacré, Orson Welles had one of the most brilliant and tempestuous careers in show business. Here he confides his most intimate feelings and recollections of his extraordinary life. In this biography, Barbara Leaming reveals the private Welles: from child prodigy and young lion in Dublin and New York, to the succès de scandale of his The war of the worlds broadcast; from his auspicious directing debut with the legendary Citizen...