Dianaworld: An Obsession

(Hardback)

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A brilliant new cultural history of the Queen of Hearts For more than forty years, Diana, Princess of Wales, has been mythologized to the most extraordinary degree. Adored and lionized by some, ridiculed and traduced by others, Diana has always commanded a cultural presence unmatched by any other member of the royal family. In Dianaworld, Edward White offers both a portrait of the princess and a group portrait of those who existed in her orbit-from her royal in-laws, her servants, and the dilapidated ranks of the British aristocracy from which she rose, to drag performers, artists, Britain's ethnic minorities, and the Gen Z superfans who maintain her status as a cultural icon. Drawing on a wide array of sources and perspectives, many never used in books about Diana or the royal family, White vividly recreates the world Diana lived in, explores the growth of her global reputation, and illuminates her lasting impact on the world she left behind.

Reviews

A kaleidoscopic portrait of Princess Diana (19611997), as viewed by the people whose lives she touched... White takes an evenhanded perspective on his subject... his panoramic approach attests to her lasting influence across the world. This achieves the difficult task of finding a novel take on the much-discussed former royal. * Publishers Weekly *
Praise for Edward Whites The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock * : *
[A] masterful study There have been thousands of books about Hitchcock. This is the best of the bunch, a brilliant investigation of a man full both of ego and fragile self-esteem, a sour mixture of self-disgust and self-regard -- Roger Lewis * The Daily Mail *
Anatomising someone of Hitchcocks stature risks an equally chaotic frenzy of stabs, but with these 12 scalpel strokes White cuts close to his subjects heart -- Victoria Segal * The Sunday Times *
The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock is overflowing with anecdotes, memories and curiosities the book offers lots of insights into what made him such a revolutionary director of masterpieces such as North by Northwest and Rear Window -- Martin Chilton * The Independent *
Perceptive and gracefully written, The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock is a bracing study of the master of suspense it is a rare book that could pleasurably be twice as long * The Economist *
Using an approach that manages to balance chronology and theme, [White] presents the subject from a dozen angles, many of them in implicit opposition his use of sources is inventive, and he exhibits breezy authority on a range of relevant themes, from dietetics and mid-century slimming to Catholic prayer -- Leo Robson * New Statesman *
[The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock] is entirely accessible without being glib or sensationalist; it is well-researched and wide-ranging in its cultural references without being pedantic or effete... One completes this book feeling one knows Hitchcock as well as he could be known, and with renewed respect for his gifts and his influence on culture -- Paula Marantz Cohen * The Times Literary Supplement *
A provocative new way of thinking about biography....The radial structure vibrates, like Hitchcocks best films, with intuition and mystery -- Parul Sehgal * The New York Times *
Running the gamut from 'The Boy Who Couldn't Grow Up' to 'The Man Of God', White's book deftly divvies up the director's 80 years into a dozen readable chunks -- Neil Smith * Total Film *

Author Bio

Edward White is the author of widely praised The Twelve Lives of Alfred Hitchcock and The Tastemaker- Carl Van Vechten and the Birth of Modern America. He has written for publications including the Paris Review. He lives in Kent.