{"title":"Barbara Amiel","description":"\u003cp\u003eDelve into the sharp and insightful writings of Barbara Amiel, a prominent voice in journalism and commentary. Explore her works for a unique perspective on culture, politics, and society.\u003c\/p\u003e","products":[{"product_id":"friends-and-enemies-book-barbara-amiel-9781472134196","title":"Friends and Enemies","description":"Included in The Times and Daily Telegraph Book of the Year round-ups  'Friends and Enemies is an extraordinary read showing unflinching candour from a truly remarkable woman' Elton John  'Blistering . . . shockingly candid . . . stiletto-sharp memoir of the year' Daily Mail  'Magnetic and magnificent . . . Amiel is superb, furious and, best of all, funny. Say what you like about her - and many have - but the Black Lady can write' The Times  Barbara Amiel's long-awaited memoir is shockingly honest, richly detailed and pulls few punches. An instinctive feminist and now a foe of feminism's political correctness, her own memoirs cover a formidable array of experiences - political, sexual, marital and material. Born in London during the Blitz, the only consistent strain in her early life was a fierce belief in her identity as a Jew even as the Jewish community disowned her and an unquestioned view that women were free to do anything in any arena they chose without any need to win society's approval. Which she very often did not.  Her rise to the senior rungs of journalism began in Canada after the emigration of her family and continued in the United Kingdom on her return. With four marriages and an assorted number of beaus, some famous, some infamous (some rather young, some rather elderly), she moved through different worlds encountering problems made more intractable on occasion by her own faulty choices. It is a measure of her writing skill that she held down plum jobs for many decades in Canadian and British journalism as well as appearances in U.S. publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Vogue.  As a writer of unabashedly libertarian views, she was derided as much for her wardrobe as for her ideas. Pilloried for years in books and television and called every conceivable name by the media, she is philosophical. 'I love fashion, sex and opera,' she once told an interviewer, 'but life would have been easier if my passions had been for train-spotting and stamp collecting.'  Her life has an operatic quality with a wildly diverse cast including Elton John, Henry Kissinger, Anna Wintour, Oscar de la Renta, Princess Diana, Tom Stoppard, Brooke Astor, Ghislaine Maxwell, Ronald Harwood, David Frost and an array of the aristocrats of Manhattan and the stately homes of England. All handled, she writes 'with my fatal combination of naivete and self-absorption'. The epic battle with the U.S. justice system leading to the trial and imprisonment of her husband Conrad Black (eventually substantially vindicated) became a litmus paper for sorting out friends from those who were quick to judge and brutal in their dismissal.  Friends and Enemies is not a book of vengeance but an attempt to find her own truth: a life that reads like a novel, eloquent, surprising, written with deeply personal candour and utterly un-put-downable.  'This is undoubtedly the autobiography of the decade. Barbara Amiel's searing - and sometimes brutal - honesty, both about herself and others, leaves the reader staggered . . . No-one expected a discreet memoir from Barbara Amiel, but few could possibly have imagined that it would be quite this powerfully, dangerously, profoundly self-revelatory' Andrew Roberts","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49513595502865,"sku":"GOR012754495","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":49739012014353,"sku":"NGR9781472134196","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50055204634897,"sku":"GOR013131055","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1472134192.jpg?v=1751405555"},{"product_id":"friends-and-enemies-book-barbara-amiel-9781472134202","title":"Friends and Enemies","description":"Barbara Amiel's long-awaited memoir is shockingly honest, richly detailed and pulls few punches. An instinctive feminist and now a foe of feminism's political correctness, her own memoirs cover a formidable array of experiences - political, sexual, marital and material. Born in London during the Blitz, the only consistent strain in her early life was a fierce belief in her identity as a Jew even as the Jewish community disowned her and an unquestioned view that women were free to do anything in any arena they chose without any need to win society's approval. Which she very often did not.    Her rise to the senior rungs of journalism began in Canada after the emigration of her family and continued in the United Kingdom on her return. With four marriages and an assorted number of beaus, some famous, some infamous (some rather young, some rather elderly), she moved through different worlds encountering problems made more intractable on occasion by her own faulty choices. It is a measure of her writing skill that she held down plum jobs for many decades in Canadian and British journalism as well as appearances in U.S. publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Vogue.    As a writer of unabashedly libertarian views, she was derided as much for her wardrobe as for her ideas. Pilloried for years in books and television and called every conceivable name by the media, she is philosophical. 'I love fashion, sex and opera,' she once told an interviewer, 'but life would have been easier if my passions had been for train-spotting and stamp collecting.'    Her life has an operatic quality with a wildly diverse cast including Elton John, Henry Kissinger, Anna Wintour, Oscar de la Renta, Princess Diana, Tom Stoppard, Brooke Astor, Ghislaine Maxwell, Ronald Harwood, David Frost and an array of the aristocrats of Manhattan and the stately homes of England. All handled, she writes 'with my fatal combination of naivete and self-absorption'. The epic battle with the U.S justice system leading to the trial and imprisonment of her husband Conrad Black (eventually substantially vindicated) became a litmus paper for sorting out friends from those who were quick to judge and brutal in their dismissal.    Friends and Enemies is not a book of vengeance but an attempt to find her own truth: a life that reads like a novel, eloquent, surprising, written with deeply personal candour and utterly un-put-downable.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":49600291012881,"sku":"GOR012108583","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50385128292625,"sku":"CIN1472134206G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":50877905535249,"sku":"GOR011418764","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1472134206.jpg?v=1751420327"},{"product_id":"friends-and-enemies-book-barbara-amiel-9781643135601","title":"Friends and Enemies","description":"\u003cb\u003eShockingly honest, richly detailed, and pulling no punches,\u003ci\u003e Friends and Enemies\u003c\/i\u003e traverses the highs and lows of Barbara Amiel's storied life in journalism and high society.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e From her early childhood in London during the Blitz to emigrating to North America and her rise to the top rungs of journalism; to her four husbands and other assorted beaus both famous and not; and right up to her marriage to Conrad Black and their prolific legal battles against the powerful and vengeful American justice system, Barbara Amiel's life has been as dramatic as it is glamorous. She has been called every conceivable name in the book by the media (and authors of unauthorized biographies about her), pilloried for her extravagant lifestyle and sometimes regrettable quotes to the press (\"My extravagance knows no bounds,\" for instance, to \u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e), not to mention her outspoken conservative political views as stated in her weekly newspaper columns around the world. It's no surprise she remains to this day a subject of utter fascination after over four decades in the public eye.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e But until now, very few people actually know her real story--the break-up of her family when she was a child, her bouts of debilitating depression and other chronic health issues, her thoughts on feminism and #MeToo, her travels with the international jet set and A-list celebrities, and, of course, her unvarnished views on the trial and conviction (since overturned) of Conrad Black and the iron-clad bond they have shared since they were married in 1992. \u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Whether you are an admirer or critic of Amiel's, you will be completely engrossed in her operatic life, one that seems ripped from the pages of a scandalous novel. She also distinguishes herself as a woman well ahead of her time--the first female editor of a national newspaper in Canada, she challenged the sexual mores of society while also angering the feminist establishment. She has certainly had many friends and enemies over the years--Henry and Nancy Kissinger, Elton John, Tom Stoppard, David Frost, Anna Wintour, Oscar de la Renta, Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana, Marie Jose Kravis, to name but a few--and she brings these personalties into the spotlight in this larger-than-life memoir that is sure to cause a sensation with readers everywhere.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":49943049634065,"sku":"CIN1643135600VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51399806320913,"sku":"CIN1643135600G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ WELL_READ \/ SBYB","offer_id":52951644700945,"sku":"CIN1643135600A","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1643135600.jpg?v=1751183573"},{"product_id":"friends-and-enemies-book-barbara-amiel-9781643139555","title":"Friends and Enemies","description":"\u003cb\u003eShockingly honest, richly detailed, and pulling no punches,\u003ci\u003e Friends and Enemies\u003c\/i\u003e traverses the highs and lows of Barbara Amiel's storied life in journalism and high society.\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e From her early childhood in London during the Blitz to emigrating to North America and her rise to the top rungs of journalism; to her four husbands and other assorted beaus both famous and not; and right up to her marriage to Conrad Black and their prolific legal battles against the powerful and vengeful American justice system, Barbara Amiel's life has been as dramatic as it is glamorous. She has been called every conceivable name in the book by the media (and authors of unauthorized biographies about her), pilloried for her extravagant lifestyle and sometimes regrettable quotes to the press (\"My extravagance knows no bounds,\" for instance, to \u003ci\u003eVogue\u003c\/i\u003e), not to mention her outspoken conservative political views as stated in her weekly newspaper columns around the world. It's no surprise she remains to this day a subject of utter fascination after over four decades in the public eye.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e But until now, very few people actually know her real story--the break-up of her family when she was a child, her bouts of debilitating depression and other chronic health issues, her thoughts on feminism and #MeToo, her travels with the international jet set and A-list celebrities, and, of course, her unvarnished views on the trial and conviction (since overturned) of Conrad Black and the iron-clad bond they have shared since they were married in 1992.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cbr\u003e Whether you are an admirer or critic of Amiel's, you will be completely engrossed in her operatic life, one that seems ripped from the pages of a scandalous novel. She also distinguishes herself as a woman well ahead of her time--the first female editor of a national newspaper in Canada, she challenged the sexual mores of society while also angering the feminist establishment. She has certainly had many friends and enemies over the years--Henry and Nancy Kissinger, Elton John, Tom Stoppard, David Frost, Anna Wintour, Oscar de la Renta, Margaret Thatcher, Princess Diana, Marie Jose Kravis, to name but a few--and she brings these personalties into the spotlight in this larger-than-life memoir that is sure to cause a sensation with readers everywhere.","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50176565608721,"sku":"CIN164313955XG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ NEW \/ INGRAM","offer_id":51042855387409,"sku":"NIN9781643139555","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/164313955X.jpg?v=1750895793"},{"product_id":"friends-and-enemies-a-memoir-book-barbara-amiel-9780771006715","title":"Friends and Enemies: A Memoir","description":null,"brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50303683068177,"sku":"CIN0771006713G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":50426705707281,"sku":"CIN0771006713VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/0771006713.jpg?v=1751170007"},{"product_id":"friends-and-enemies-book-barbara-amiel-9781472134220","title":"Friends and Enemies","description":"Included in The Times and Daily Telegraph Book of the Year round-ups  'Friends and Enemies is an extraordinary read showing unflinching candour from a truly remarkable woman' Elton John   'Blistering . . . shockingly candid . . . stiletto-sharp memoir of the year' Daily Mail  'Magnetic and magnificent . . . Amiel is superb, furious and, best of all, funny. Say what you like about her - and many have - but the Black Lady can write' The Times  Barbara Amiel's long-awaited memoir is shockingly honest, richly detailed and pulls few punches. An instinctive feminist and now a foe of feminism's political correctness, her own memoirs cover a formidable array of experiences - political, sexual, marital and material. Born in London during the Blitz, the only consistent strain in her early life was a fierce belief in her identity as a Jew even as the Jewish community disowned her and an unquestioned view that women were free to do anything in any arena they chose without any need to win society's approval. Which she very often did not.  Her rise to the senior rungs of journalism began in Canada after the emigration of her family and continued in the United Kingdom on her return. With four marriages and an assorted number of beaus, some famous, some infamous (some rather young, some rather elderly), she moved through different worlds encountering problems made more intractable on occasion by her own faulty choices. It is a measure of her writing skill that she held down plum jobs for many decades in Canadian and British journalism as well as appearances in U.S. publications ranging from the Wall Street Journal to Vogue.  As a writer of unabashedly libertarian views, she was derided as much for her wardrobe as for her ideas. Pilloried for years in books and television and called every conceivable name by the media, she is philosophical. 'I love fashion, sex and opera,' she once told an interviewer, 'but life would have been easier if my passions had been for train-spotting and stamp collecting.'  Her life has an operatic quality with a wildly diverse cast including Elton John, Henry Kissinger, Anna Wintour, Oscar de la Renta, Princess Diana, Tom Stoppard, Brooke Astor, Ghislaine Maxwell, Ronald Harwood, David Frost and an array of the aristocrats of Manhattan and the stately homes of England. All handled, she writes 'with my fatal combination of naivete and self-absorption'. The epic battle with the U.S. justice system leading to the trial and imprisonment of her husband Conrad Black (eventually substantially vindicated) became a litmus paper for sorting out friends from those who were quick to judge and brutal in their dismissal.  Friends and Enemies is not a book of vengeance but an attempt to find her own truth: a life that reads like a novel, eloquent, surprising, written with deeply personal candour and utterly un-put-downable.  'This is undoubtedly the autobiography of the decade. Barbara Amiel's searing - and sometimes brutal - honesty, both about herself and others, leaves the reader staggered . . . No-one expected a discreet memoir from Barbara Amiel, but few could possibly have imagined that it would be quite this powerfully, dangerously, profoundly self-revelatory' Andrew Roberts","brand":"WoB","offers":[{"title":"GB \/ NEW \/ GARDNERS","offer_id":51313047863569,"sku":"NGR9781472134219","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"GB \/ GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51313050157329,"sku":"GOR011687496","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"US \/ GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51313051730193,"sku":"CIN1472134214G","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ VERY_GOOD \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51313051926801,"sku":"GOR010936797","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true},{"title":"US \/ VERY_GOOD \/ SBYB","offer_id":51313053729041,"sku":"CIN1472134214VG","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":false},{"title":"GB \/ LIKE_NEW \/ INTERNAL","offer_id":51313054384401,"sku":"GOR010824513","price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0784\/4072\/6801\/files\/1472134214.jpg?v=1751053456"}],"url":"https:\/\/www.worldofbooks.com\/en-ie\/collections\/author-books-by-barbara-amiel.oembed","provider":"World of Books ","version":"1.0","type":"link"}