Overview
#1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Years after her death, Princess Diana remains a mystery. This ""insanely readable and improbably profound"" biography (Chicago Tribune) reveals the truth as only famed journalist Tina Brown could tell it. ""The best book on Diana."" —The New Yorker Was she “the people’s princess,” who electrified the world with her beauty and humanitarian missions? Or was she manipulative and media-savvy and nearly brought down the monarchy? Tina Brown, former Editor-in-Chief of Tatler, England’s glossiest gossip magazine; Vanity Fair; and The New Yorker gives us the answers. Tina knew Diana personally and has far-reaching insight into the royals and the Queen herself. In The Diana Chronicles, you will meet a formidable female cast and understand as never before the society that shaped them: Diana's sexually charged mother, her scheming grandmother, the stepmother she hated but finally came to terms with, and bad-girl Fergie, her sister-in-law, who concealed wounds of her own. Most formidable of them all was her mother-in-law, the Queen, whose admiration Diana sought till the day she died. Add Camilla Parker-Bowles, the ultimate ""other woman"" into this combustible mix, and it's no wonder that Diana broke out of her royal cage into celebrity culture, where she found her own power and used it to devastating effect.
Reviews
PRAISE FOR THE DIANA CHRONICLES Amazingly detailed . . . Brown's jam-packed, juicy roll in the high cotton is...a walloping good read. --Washington Post [An] insanely readable and improbably profound new biography. --Chicago Tribune Intensely well researched and an unputdownable read. --Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren It's Dianamite! --Tom Wolfe Tina Brown knows this world much better than many who inhabit it.... This book resembles the Queen in its calm, credible, quietly chattering view of life inside the royal hothouse. --The New York Times [Tina Brown] tells the story fluently, with engrossing detail on every page, and with the mastery of tone that made her Tatler famous for being popular with the people it was laughing at. --The New Yorker The Diana Chronicles, by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, peels many layers of...mystery away and even makes the old horror stories of [Diana's] life seem fresh...Brown gives them new vigor, with insights based on her own exhaustive research and a wickedly canny, celebrity-trained eye for detail. --Boston Globe The book's greatest attraction...is its sheer wealth of detail, by turns salacious, vinegary, depressing, and hilarious...a psychodrama, a morality play, a pageant of recklessness and revenge, of passion and pity, of loneliness and looniness. --The Wall Street Journal The Diana Chronicles...has enough of Diana's hairpin personality turns, emotional drops, and gleeful summits to be a Disneyland thrill ride...Brown reminds us of her instantly intimate, magical presence. --Los Angeles Times PRAISE FOR THE DIANA CHRONICLES Amazingly detailed . . . Brown's jam-packed, juicy roll in the high cotton is...a walloping good read. --Washington Post [An] insanely readable and improbably profound new biography. --Chicago Tribune Intensely well researched and an unputdownable read. --Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren It's Dianamite! --Tom Wolfe Tina Brown knows this world much better than many who inhabit it.... This book resembles the Queen in its calm, credible, quietly chattering view of life inside the royal hothouse. --The New York Times [Tina Brown] tells the story fluently, with engrossing detail on every page, and with the mastery of tone that made her Tatler famous for being popular with the people it was laughing at. --The New Yorker The Diana Chronicles, by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, peels many layers of...mystery away and even makes the old horror stories of [Diana's] life seem fresh...Brown gives them new vigor, with insights based on her own exhaustive research and a wickedly canny, celebrity-trained eye for detail. --Boston Globe The book's greatest attraction...is its sheer wealth of detail, by turns salacious, vinegary, depressing, and hilarious...a psychodrama, a morality play, a pageant of recklessness and revenge, of passion and pity, of loneliness and looniness. --The Wall Street Journal The Diana Chronicles...has enough of Diana's hairpin personality turns, emotional drops, and gleeful summits to be a Disneyland thrill ride...Brown reminds us of her instantly intimate, magical presence. --Los Angeles Times PRAISE FOR THE DIANA CHRONICLES -Amazingly detailed . . . Brown's jam-packed, juicy roll in the high cotton is...a walloping good read.---Washington Post-[An] insanely readable and improbably profound new biography.- --Chicago Tribune -Intensely well researched and an unputdownable read.---Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren -It's Dianamite!---Tom Wolfe -Tina Brown knows this world much better than many who inhabit it.... This book resembles the Queen in its calm, credible, quietly chattering view of life inside the royal hothouse.---The New York Times -[Tina Brown] tells the story fluently, with engrossing detail on every page, and with the mastery of tone that made her Tatler famous for being popular with the people it was laughing at.---The New Yorker -The Diana Chronicles, by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, peels many layers of...mystery away and even makes the old horror stories of [Diana's] life seem fresh...Brown gives them new vigor, with insights based on her own exhaustive research and a wickedly canny, celebrity-trained eye for detail.---Boston Globe -The book's greatest attraction...is its sheer wealth of detail, by turns salacious, vinegary, depressing, and hilarious...a psychodrama, a morality play, a pageant of recklessness and revenge, of passion and pity, of loneliness and looniness.---The Wall Street Journal -The Diana Chronicles...has enough of Diana's hairpin personality turns, emotional drops, and gleeful summits to be a Disneyland thrill ride...Brown reminds us of her instantly intimate, magical presence.---Los Angeles Times PRAISE FOR THE DIANA CHRONICLES Amazingly detailed . . . Brown's jam-packed, juicy roll in the high cotton is...a walloping good read. Washington Post [An] insanely readable and improbably profound new biography. Chicago Tribune Intensely well researched and an unputdownable read. Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren It's Dianamite! Tom Wolfe Tina Brown knows this world much better than many who inhabit it.... This book resembles the Queen in its calm, credible, quietly chattering view of life inside the royal hothouse. The New York Times [Tina Brown] tells the story fluently, with engrossing detail on every page, and with the mastery of tone that made her Tatler famous for being popular with the people it was laughing at. The New Yorker The Diana Chronicles, by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, peels many layers of...mystery away and even makes the old horror stories of [Diana's] life seem fresh...Brown gives them new vigor, with insights based on her own exhaustive research and a wickedly canny, celebrity-trained eye for detail. Boston Globe The book's greatest attraction...is its sheer wealth of detail, by turns salacious, vinegary, depressing, and hilarious...a psychodrama, a morality play, a pageant of recklessness and revenge, of passion and pity, of loneliness and looniness. The Wall Street Journal The Diana Chronicles...has enough of Diana's hairpin personality turns, emotional drops, and gleeful summits to be a Disneyland thrill ride...Brown reminds us of her instantly intimate, magical presence. Los Angeles Times PRAISE FOR THE DIANA CHRONICLES Amazingly detailed . . . Brown's jam-packed, juicy roll in the high cotton is...a walloping good read. -- Washington Post [An] insanely readable and improbably profound new biography. -- Chicago Tribune Intensely well researched and an unputdownable read. --Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren It's Dianamite! --Tom Wolfe Tina Brown knows this world much better than many who inhabit it.... This book resembles the Queen in its calm, credible, quietly chattering view of life inside the royal hothouse. -- The New York Times [Tina Brown] tells the story fluently, with engrossing detail on every page, and with the mastery of tone that made her Tatler famous for being popular with the people it was laughing at. -- The New Yorker The Diana Chronicles , by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker , peels many layers of...mystery away and even makes the old horror stories of [Diana's] life seem fresh...Brown gives them new vigor, with insights based on her own exhaustive research and a wickedly canny, celebrity-trained eye for detail. -- Boston Globe The book's greatest attraction...is its sheer wealth of detail, by turns salacious, vinegary, depressing, and hilarious...a psychodrama, a morality play, a pageant of recklessness and revenge, of passion and pity, of loneliness and looniness. -- The Wall Street Journal The Diana Chronicles ...has enough of Diana's hairpin personality turns, emotional drops, and gleeful summits to be a Disneyland thrill ride...Brown reminds us of her instantly intimate, magical presence. -- Los Angeles Times PRAISE FOR THE DIANA CHRONICLES Amazingly detailed . . . Brown's jam-packed, juicy roll in the high cotton is...a walloping good read. -- Washington Post [An] insanely readable and improbably profound new biography. -- Chicago Tribune Intensely well researched and an unputdownable read. --Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren It's Dianamite! --Tom Wolfe Tina Brown knows this world much better than many who inhabit it.... This book resembles the Queen in its calm, credible, quietly chattering view of life inside the royal hothouse. -- The New York Times [Tina Brown] tells the story fluently, with engrossing detail on every page, and with the mastery of tone that made her Tatler famous for being popular with the people it was laughing at. -- The New Yorker The Diana Chronicles, by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, peels many layers of...mystery away and even makes the old horror stories of [Diana's] life seem fresh...Brown gives them new vigor, with insights based on her own exhaustive research and a wickedly canny, celebrity-trained eye for detail. -- Boston Globe The book's greatest attraction...is its sheer wealth of detail, by turns salacious, vinegary, depressing, and hilarious...a psychodrama, a morality play, a pageant of recklessness and revenge, of passion and pity, of loneliness and looniness. -- The Wall Street Journal The Diana Chronicles,. .has enough of Diana's hairpin personality turns, emotional drops, and gleeful summits to be a Disneyland thrill ride...Brown reminds us of her instantly intimate, magical presence. -- Los Angeles Times Tina Brown knows this world much better than many who inhabit it...this book resembles The Queen in its calm, credible, quietly shattering view of life inside the royal hothouse. --Janet Maslin, The New York Times The best book on Diana is the newest, The Diana Chronicles,. .is, among other things, a miracle of access. --John Lanchester, The New Yorker Tina Brown breathes new life into the saga of this royal icon...an insightful, absorbing account of the pas de deux into which, to her eventual peril, Diana joined with the paparazzi. --Caroline Weber, The New York Times Book Review [An] insanely readable and improbably profound new biography. --Julia Keller, The Chicago Tribune REVIEWS From The New York Times Book Review: With The Diana Chronicles, Tina Brown breathes new life into the saga of this royal icon of blondness by astutely revealing just how powerful, and how marketable, her story became in the age of modern celebrity journalism....Brown offers an insightful, absorbing account of the pas de deux into which, to her eventual peril, Diana joined with the paparazzi. As the former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, Brown certainly has the authority to examine the Princess of Wales as a creation and a casualty of the media glare.-Caroline Weber From The New Yorker: By now, there have been dozens of books....But the best book on Diana is the newest, The Diana Chronicles.,. by Tina Brown....her book is, among other things, a miracle of access....She tells the story fluently, with engrossing detail on every page, and the mastery of tone which made her Tatler famous for being popular with the people it was laughing at. -John Lanchester From The Chicago Tribune: ...[An] insanely readable and improbably profound new biography.... The Diana Chronicles, Brown's hotly awaited dish on the princess, [is] more than a mere gossip-fest....real charm and substance lie in Brown's analysis of contemporary media....It is terrifically well written, with motion-capture phrases that instantly distill some complicated essence of contemporary life into a few deft adjectives. -Julia Keller From The Boston Globe: The Diana Chronicles, by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, peels many layers of... mystery away and even makes the old horror stories of [Diana's] life seem fresh....Brown givesthem new vigor, with insights based on her own exhaustive research and a wickedly canny, celebrity-trained eye for detail.-Amy Graves From The Washington Post: ...Brown's jam-packed, juicy roll in the high cotton is... fragrant with the rich schadenfreude that makes Top People so much easier to bear. And in return for its rumored $2 million advance, it includes shovelfuls of hot fresh dirt, tucked among the standard (and amazingly detailed) iconic fare. Remember the sex-soaked phone tapes (Diana as Squidgy, or Charles's Tampax fantasy)? Remember the Royal Love Train? Dueling media manipulation? Jealous attention-grabbing? Top-of-the-line adultery, divorce and money-grubbing?...The sour wisdom Brown gleaned during decades spent editing chic magazines glints throughout her book, like rhinestones under sackcloth....Diana's tragicomedy is Shakespearean in scale, with its slippery royal machinations, its agonized ironies, its seething jealousies and heartbreaking inevitability....a walloping good read.-Diana McLellan From The Wall Street Journal: Only Ms. Brown could deploy such words as hottie and propinquity in the same sentence. In her hands, a trashy (if delicious) tale is rendered vividly mordant. She writes with the feline flair of a woman who has met, but not necessarily liked, most of the characters in her book and who has an uncommonly good way with characterization....The book's greatest attraction, however, is its sheer wealth of detail, by turns salacious, vinegary, depressing and hilarious....a psychodrama, a morality play, a pageant of recklessness and revenge, of passion and pity, of loneliness and looniness.-Tunku Varadarajan From The LATimes: -Patt Morrison MORE PRAISE FOR THE DIANA CHRONICLES: Nothing comes close to Tina Brown's book for its tight grip on the dark human comedy that was Diana's life and death. Brown knows the ritual dances, the shouts and whispers of the tribes of Britain better than anyone who has ever written this story but she also has a perfect ear for the way ordinary people responded to the doomed Princess. The result is a compulsively page-turning trip to the poisoned place where class met glamour and the result was catastrophe. -Simon Schama, author of A History of Britain This is not only first-rate biography, but a marvelous social history, and a bitingly accurate portrait of the English upper classes. -Michael Korda, author of Charmed Lives and Ike Tina Brown has produced something that is, as well as absorbing and stirring, witty and penetrating. -Christopher Hitchens, author of God Is Not Great A delightfully smart and insightful book that... weaves a compelling human drama into a rich social history. -Walter Isaacson, author of Einstein: His Life and Universe From the Hardcover edition.
PRAISE FOR THE DIANA CHRONICLES Amazingly detailed . . . Brown's jam-packed, juicy roll in the high cotton is...a walloping good read. --Washington Post [An] insanely readable and improbably profound new biography. --Chicago Tribune Intensely well researched and an unputdownable read. --Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren It's Dianamite! --Tom Wolfe Tina Brown knows this world much better than many who inhabit it.... This book resembles the Queen in its calm, credible, quietly chattering view of life inside the royal hothouse. --The New York Times [Tina Brown] tells the story fluently, with engrossing detail on every page, and with the mastery of tone that made her Tatler famous for being popular with the people it was laughing at. --The New Yorker The Diana Chronicles, by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, peels many layers of...mystery away and even makes the old horror stories of [Diana's] life seem fresh...Brown gives them new vigor, with insights based on her own exhaustive research and a wickedly canny, celebrity-trained eye for detail. --Boston Globe The book's greatest attraction...is its sheer wealth of detail, by turns salacious, vinegary, depressing, and hilarious...a psychodrama, a morality play, a pageant of recklessness and revenge, of passion and pity, of loneliness and looniness. --The Wall Street Journal The Diana Chronicles...has enough of Diana's hairpin personality turns, emotional drops, and gleeful summits to be a Disneyland thrill ride...Brown reminds us of her instantly intimate, magical presence. --Los Angeles Times
PRAISE FOR THE DIANA CHRONICLES <br> Amazingly detailed . . . Brown's jam-packed, juicy roll in the high cotton is...a walloping good read. <br>-- Washington Post<br> <br> [An] insanely readable and improbably profound new biography. <br>-- Chicago Tribune <br> Intensely well researched and an unputdownable read. <br>--Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren <br> It's Dianamite! <br>--Tom Wolfe <br> Tina Brown knows this world much better than many who inhabit it.... This book resembles the Queen in its calm, credible, quietly chattering view of life inside the royal hothouse. <br>-- The New York Times <br> [Tina Brown] tells the story fluently, with engrossing detail on every page, and with the mastery of tone that made her Tatler famous for being popular with the people it was laughing at. <br>-- The New Yorker <br> The Diana Chronicles, by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, peels many layers of...mystery away and even makes the old horror stories of [Diana's] life seem fresh...Brown gives them new vigor, with insights based on her own exhaustive research and a wickedly canny, celebrity-trained eye for detail. <br>-- Boston Globe <br> The book's greatest attraction...is its sheer wealth of detail, by turns salacious, vinegary, depressing, and hilarious...a psychodrama, a morality play, a pageant of recklessness and revenge, of passion and pity, of loneliness and looniness. <br>-- The Wall Street Journal <br> The Diana Chronicles,. .has enough of Diana's hairpin personality turns, emotional drops, and gleeful summits to be a Disneyland thrill ride...Brown reminds us of her instantly intimate, magical presence. <br>-- Los Angeles Times <br>
PRAISE FOR THE DIANA CHRONICLES Amazingly detailed . . . Brown's jam-packed, juicy roll in the high cotton is...a walloping good read. --Washington Post [An] insanely readable and improbably profound new biography. --Chicago Tribune Intensely well researched and an unputdownable read. --Academy Award-winning actress Helen Mirren It's Dianamite! --Tom Wolfe Tina Brown knows this world much better than many who inhabit it.... This book resembles the Queen in its calm, credible, quietly chattering view of life inside the royal hothouse. --The New York Times [Tina Brown] tells the story fluently, with engrossing detail on every page, and with the mastery of tone that made her Tatler famous for being popular with the people it was laughing at. --The New Yorker The Diana Chronicles, by Tina Brown, former editor of Vanity Fair and The New Yorker, peels many layers of...mystery away and even makes the old horror stories of [Diana's] life seem fresh...Brown gives them new vigor, with insights based on her own exhaustive research and a wickedly canny, celebrity-trained eye for detail. --Boston Globe The book's greatest attraction...is its sheer wealth of detail, by turns salacious, vinegary, depressing, and hilarious...a psychodrama, a morality play, a pageant of recklessness and revenge, of passion and pity, of loneliness and looniness. --The Wall Street Journal The Diana Chronicles...has enough of Diana's hairpin personality turns, emotional drops, and gleeful summits to be a Disneyland thrill ride...Brown reminds us of her instantly intimate, magical presence. --Los Angeles Times
Author Information
Tina Brown is an award-winning writer, the former editor in chief of Tatler, Vanity Fair, and The New Yorker, and the founder of The Daily Beast and of the live event platform Women in the World. She is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Diana Chronicles, and in 2017 she published The Vanity Fair Diaries, chosen as one of the best books of the year by Time, People, The Guardian, The Economist, Entertainment Weekly, and Vogue. In 2000 she was awarded the CBE (Commander of the British Empire) by Queen Elizabeth II for her services to journalism. She lives in New York City.
