The Daughters of Yalta

Starred review from July 13, 2020
Historian Katz debuts with a vivid and revealing account of the backstage roles played by the daughters of Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union W. Averell Harriman at the 1945 Yalta Peace Conference. Recently diagnosed with acute congestive heart failure, Roosevelt relied on his daughter, Anna, to help conceal his poor health from other attendees. Kathy Harriman learned Russian in order to serve as her father’s de facto protocol officer, Katz writes, and oversaw final preparations at the U.S. delegation’s residence. Actor Sarah Churchill had a “deep connection” with her father, according to Katz, and, despite tensions over her marriage to an older man, was the “ideal choice” to serve as his “all-around protector, supporter, and confidant.” Gleaning a treasure trove of details from memoirs, diaries, and letters, Katz documents poor sanitary conditions (too few bathrooms, too many bed bugs) at the ransacked summer palaces where the delegations stayed, analyzes diplomatic maneuverings, and shares plenty of spicy gossip, including Averell Harriman’s affair with Winston Churchill’s much younger daughter-in-law. This sparkling account offers a fresh take on a decisive moment in the history of WWII and the Cold War. Agent: Michael Carlisle, InkWell Management.

September 1, 2020
When the Allies met at Yalta in 1945, the British and American delegations included three unusual members. Kathleen Harriman, who served as her ambassador father's official hostess in Moscow, coordinated the American arrangements. Sarah Churchill, a wartime intelligence analyst, acted as her father's aide-de-camp. And "surrogate first lady" Anna Roosevelt Boettiger was her father's gatekeeper and sought to protect his failing health. First-time author Katz centers the perspectives of these women in an intricately detailed history of the Yalta conference that presents its activities and negotiations from their positions on the fringes of the official business. Drawing on letters, diaries, and personal papers, she offers an intimate portrait of the networks of friendships, shared professional histories, and other links that were forged in Anglo-American diplomatic circles and which shaped the conference's progress. Additionally, she shows how for the three daughters, like all who were touched by WWII, the conference and the war were transformative experiences. This work will appeal to readers intrigued by diplomatic history and the WWII era.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

September 1, 2020

Drawing on U.S. and British archives, interviews, and memoirs, this narrative by historian Katz tells the story of the historic World War II Yalta conference from the perspective of three women: Anna Roosevelt, daughter of Franklin D. Roosevelt; Sarah Churchill, daughter of Winston Churchill; and Kathy Harriman, daughter of Averell Harriman, U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union. Katz chronicles 11 days of the 1945 meeting, exploring personal and historical facets of this iconic example of political power. A general history rather than an academic argument, Katz's book adds new perspectives on Yalta by showing the impact of women on the margins. Besides showing how the women interacted with each other, she portrays their sometimes close, sometimes distant relationships with their fathers. At the book's heart is a mindset extending beyond the heroines and promising wide appeal: "wanting nothing more than to feel like you matter to your dad." While missing a nuanced Soviet perspective and seeming at times too close to its sources to be balanced, Katz's work is invaluable for bringing to life a historical moment in ways that are almost novelistic. VERDICT This impressively researched book will appeal to general history readers interested in untold perspectives of World War II.--Jennifer Flaherty, Univ. of California, Berkeley

Copyright 2020 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from July 1, 2020
A singular take on the history of the Yalta Conference, viewed through the eyes of the three notable daughters who supported their famous fathers, the "Big Three," and contributed in heretofore undocumented ways. In a substantive debut work of first-rate scholarship, Katz--a Cambridge- and Harvard-educated historian now pursuing a degree at Harvard Law School--delves into the behind-the-scenes soft diplomacy of the "Little Three": Kathleen Harriman, the "glamorous" daughter of the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union; Anna Roosevelt, a mother of three and former newspaper editor; and Sarah Churchill, an aerial reconnaissance intelligence analyst in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Each has a fascinating backstory involving the relationship with her respective father, and each played an important role during what promised to be an arduous meeting to figure out the endgame of World War II and postwar reorganization of Europe. Through letters home and dispatches written by the three young women, Katz efficiently relays this fly-on-the-wall account of how the three sprawling delegations managed to get any business accomplished. FDR was housed in the czar's former summer palace of Livadia, on the Black Sea, which had been occupied and trashed by the Nazi invaders; Churchill and the British billeted at nearby Vorontsov Palace; and Stalin and his people at the Koriez Villa and Yusupov Palace, situated between the American and British residences. The main topics of discussion were Polish nationality, the methods by which to deal with a defeated Germany, and how to draw the Soviets into the Pacific theater to aid the Americans. Hanging over the meetings and social gatherings was the specter of FDR's grave health--only Anna knew the truth of his heart disease--and the Russian intentions to expand into Eastern Europe. Katz effectively shows how these three often overlooked women proved to be indispensable in a variety of ways. Engaging, multilayered history of the best kind, grounded in telling detail and marvelous personalities.

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