The Daughters of Yalta

That’s my advice to the author. Your generation is overflowing w/ people who went to law school. It is not overflowing w/ writers who can find a unique point of view to an almost forgotten event and make it come alive from a very interesting perspective. In 1944, women of talent were merely tolerated, especially if those women were good at making life tolerable for men. Here are three women, born to a special vantage point, thrust into a place in time which didn’t seem to need them, but in fact would have been hard put to succeed w/o them. Yalta is all but forgotten today. The Cold War is past. Churchill, Stalin, FDR? People in history books.
Ms Katz weaves a fascinating story of these three women; daughters of Churchill, FDR and Averell Harriman. They were present at the Yalta Conference, a fact which never seemed to be important until Ms Katz teased out a fascinating re-telling of the events through the eyes of these women. I’m halfway through the book and I’m hooked.
So, please Ms Katz, give up the notion of lawyering. The world needs your point of view, your superb writing and research skills, and your idea of what makes a good story. Lawyers, we have!

Kathleen Harriman, repeatedly “Kathy” in the text, is fawned over and sanitized by the author. Omitted are her London trysts with Polish pilots in the RAF who, from 1940-42 were the heroes and sexual prey of British society women. Churchill’s famous tribute to the RAF, “Never have so few . . .” applies particularly to the Poles: never have so few bedded so many. It is not until a later chapter that the author reports Beria’s innuendo to her father Averell that his daughter had relations with her guards [Moscow]. And possibly at Yalta, though not mentioned by the author. What is known to Polish historians is two NKVD agents were later executed because of “contact with a foreigner”, Miss Harriman. Kathleen’s father Averell is portrayed by the author favorably, but one wonders about sub rosa meetings with Stalin that rewarded him later with keeping his financial interests in Polish mines, and the gift of two thorough bred horses for him and his daughter. The author asserts that Kathleen Harriman had no more to say about the Katyn Massacre after her testimony at the 82nd House Hearings in 1952. I received a letter from her in 1991 that distanced herself from the matter. Despite my quibbles, I recommend the book to the general reader, particularly for the behind the scenes machinations by the British and Americans. We are not informed about the off-stage Soviet intrigues that assisted their big deception and victory at Yalta. They were well-informed, not just by bugging the rooms , but also by spies such as Alger Hiss and others. Stalin’s brilliant stroke was installing very few toilets for the British and Americans who queued up in the mornings, and at times had to scurry to find a pot or can.

I saw the author speak recently; she’s was totally knowledgeable about her subject as well as the history around it and so enthusiastic about her subject that I was moved to buy the book. I read a lot about history during and before WWII, and this is something I’d never heard about. It’s revealing about the known and unknown figures involved in the Yalta conference. The three women are the daughters of Roosevelt, Churchill, and Averell Harriman, world leaders, including Stalin, with the fate of the post-war world order in their hands. Each of the three men asked his daughter to attend the conference, an invitation that was much sought after and that might enhance or diminish one’s reputation depending on whether one was included or not. Each man deeply respected, relied on, and valued the intellectual and strategic contributions of his daughter. Their roles are invaluable in ways that haven’t been explored until now. It is the authors first book, and she did her homework. It’s firmly grounded in history while also being wonderfully readable. And there’s gossip that’s good enough to chew on. Highly recommend. Especially if you like discovering until-now unknown women in history.

Had high hope to learn unexplored interactions between great statesmen and their trusted daughters at a critical conference, the Yalta. Unfortunately the book contains some but not very interesting, revealing or significant tidbits of a personal nature. Most have been mentioned in other books concerning that period. The relevance to the political or military affairs of the conference is absent. Most discouraging is the writing itself, dry and lack of vigor. One may learn a thing or two by ploughing through this book but overall, not a good read..

This is the best book I have read all year! It is very well written and the characters seem to come to life. Filled with information, descriptions, personal stories, and historical background, one cannot doze off while reading this book. Cant miss a sentence.

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