Imelda, Steel Butterfly of the Philippines [Hardcover]

Katherine W. Ellison (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1988

Biography

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

The former first lady of the Philippines has become an icon of popular ridicule since the 1986 People Power revolution brought an end to her "ridiculous dreamworld." That world is captured here in its empty glitter, but Ellison, bureau chief of Knight-Ridder newspapers in Mexico City, is primarily concerned with showing how the Steel Butterfly made comic opera out of a historic opportunity for greatness: "an act of selfishness far uglier than any shopping binge." Tracing her lonely, traumatic upbringing in Leyte, her fabled courtship by Ferdinand Marcos and her role in his rise to the presidency, the author describes how the first lady gradually traded in a fairytale dream of romance for a dream of power. When the dream became a reality, she used that power for self-glorification ("Look! Look how the people love me."). This well-researched biography sheds new light on the Manila-Washington connection, the career of Benigno Aquino and his self-effacing wife Corazon, and Ferdinand Marcos' "creative diplomacy," which apparently included using his wife as a sexual lure. Photos. Literary Guild and Doubleday Book Club selections.
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

Pulitzer Prize-winner Ellison's biography of Imelda Marcos follows the plight of her middle-class Filipino family forced by hard times to leave Manila for ancestral lands on the island of Leyte. When Imelda returned to Manila in her 20s, she used her great beauty to advantage, marrying a rich lawyer and promising politician. The author proves once again that absolute power corrupts absolutely, although she could have provided more detailed information on power's effect on Imelda's values. An absorbing biography, likely to be in demand. Donald Clay Johnson, Univ. of Minnesota Lib., Minneapolis
Copyright 1988 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 301 pages
• Publisher: Mcgraw-Hill (October 1988)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0070193355
• ISBN-13: 978-0070193352
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,507,023 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

My dream from the time I was 13 and read I.F. Stone's essays and Oriana Fallaci's interviews was to be a foreign correspondent, and I was lucky enough to realize that dream. I covered the Philippine revolution against the Marcos dictatorship for the San Jose Mercury News in the 1980s and won a Pulitzer for International Reporting for my part in a series about corruption by the Marcoses. Then from 1987-'92 I was bureau chief in Mexico City for the Mercury News and Knight Ridder Newspapers, its parent company, after which I spent 7 years in Rio reporting on South America for the Miami Herald and KRN. These days I combine writing about neuroscience and the environment with raising two high-maintenance kids.