The Diana Chronicles

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The Diana Chronicles is a 2007 book by Tina Brown on the life and death of Diana, Princess of Wales. It was released June 12, 2007. The work's timing coincided with the increased attention Diana received leading up to the ten-year anniversary of her death. The Diana Chronicles was at number one on the New York Times Best Seller list for hardback nonfiction for the weeks of July 8, 2007 to July 15, 2007.[1]

Contents

[edit] Sales

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Further information might be found on the talk page or at requests for expansion. (October 2007)

[edit] Reception

According to The Daily Telegraph:

“ Whichever, the very pink, pictureless cover tells you that this is not a book that men will feel comfortable carrying around. It's aimed at women, American women judging by the way everything British has to be explained. Princess Margaret, for example, was 'the Queen's younger saucier sister'. Oh that Princess Margaret.[2] ”

According to the The Sunday Times:

“ Tina Brown’s The Diana Chronicles is not a book on Diana. It is the book. Not only does it put the story of Diana in its proper historical context of British politics, journalism and the changing mores of the past quarter century, but it is also a perfect example of the nosy-parker’s art. It conveys, better than anything I have ever read, the basic intelligence of its subject.[3] ”

According to The Washington Post:

“ Diana's tragicomedy is Shakespearean in scale, with its slippery royal machinations, its agonized ironies, its seething jealousies and heartbreaking inevitability. Brown is no Shakespeare. But she gives us a walloping good read.[4] ”

According to the The New Republic:

“ So it is all the more delicious to report that The Diana Chronicles is that contradiction in terms: a summer spellbinder for serious people. Its pleasures are owed to more than its sensational subject.[5] ”

John Lanchester wrote in The New Yorker:

“ But the best book on Diana is the newest, "The Diana Chronicles"....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.[6] ”

Other reviews were more critical. According to Christopher Howse's review of the book in The Daily Telegraph:

“ A recurrent word in the book is "complicity". This is not theatre but a video of complicity, as we linger over those moments of intimacy, fast-forwarding, pausing. If the camera rests on the outside of the bathroom door, we are made aware of the noises within. In the end, we hardly know what seems to soil our minds. On the last page should be printed, "Now, wash your hands.'[7] ”

[edit] Author

Tina Brown was a magazine editor for Vanity Fair and the New Yorker before authoring The Diana Chronicles. While at Vanity Fair she previously wrote about Diana's rocky marriage. In her 1985 article, The Mouse that Roared, which was the issue's cover story, she first broke the story of the breakdown in Diana's relationship with Prince Charles.[8]

[edit] Bibliography

  • Brown, Tina (2007). The Diana Chronicles. New York: Doubleday. ISBN 0385517084. 

[edit] References

  1. ^ "Hardcover Nonfiction", New York Times, 2007-07-08. Retrieved on 2007-10-10. 
  2. ^ 'An unedifying but entertaining tale', The Daily Telegraph, 28/06/2007 [1]
  3. ^ "The Diana Chronicles", June 17, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-15. 
  4. ^ McLellan, Diana. "The Princess Bride", The Washington Post, 2007-06-10. Retrieved on 2007-07-27. 
  5. ^ Stansell, Christine. "Death and the Maiden", The New Republic, August 23, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-15. 
  6. ^ Lanchester, John. "The Naked and the Dead", The New Yorker, 2007-06-25. 
  7. ^ Howse, Christopher. "'Evil wickedness incarnate'", The Daily Telegraph, 2007-06-28. Retrieved on 2007-07-27. 
  8. ^ Associated Press. "Tina Brown dives into Diana details", MSNBC, June 20, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-10-15. 

[edit] External links

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