Customer Reviews

Reflected Glory

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I finished this scintillating book with one BIG unanswered question - what did this woman have or what did this woman do- that attracted so many rich,powerful men! The author certainly spent a great deal of time researching the life of Pamela Harriman. The book at times reads like a chronicle of daily events, But it never answers the BIG question. Maybe there is no answer. Maybe Pamela Harriman's free spirit was what attracted her list of men. The one insight that the book did provide was the corrupting nature of money & contemporary politics. This part of the book made me angry & just reinforced my cynicism about politics in general. Maybe, for me, this was the redeeming feature of the book. But I still am left with my BIG unanswered question. Maybe someone out there can provide the answer for me. Review of REFLECTED GLORY by Sally Bedell Smit

I have not read such a good biography in a long time. Ms Bedell is neither enamored nor appalled with her subject (a sin that many biographers commit). Her well-researched book has a good balance between the broader historic narrative and the focused portrait of the controversial individual.

This biography separates itself from other Pamela Churchill Harriman tomes in that it reads almost like a fiction novel. Some of the salacious and outlandish goings-on seem almost implausible, if not absurdly bizarre. Harriman proves to be the most singularly opportunistic individual that I have read about - possibly ever. Although she does have her good points(although even her philanthropy seems perfunctory at best), Harriman(or should I say Digby, Churchill, or Heyward?) comes across as the most devilishly clever courtesan of the 20th Century.

I recommend this account as one that makes for a most compelling, if not a trifle unnerving, read. From her days as a seductive young debutante to her days as the wily big wheel of Democratic Party fundraising and later as the U.S. Ambassador to France, you'll find yourself intrigued as you read about this incredibly shrewd seductress.

Pamela Digby Churchill Hayward Harriman was a serial bride, and she interspersed her marriages with conspicuous love affairs. She was a 20th century courtesan who, apparently, chose her men for the money and gifts that they would lavish upon her.

In REFLECTED GLORY, Sally Bedell Smith has done a scholarly and thorough job of researching and reporting the story of this rapacious woman. The only liason that Harriman had had with a man who was not wealthy was with her first husband, but he was the son of Winston Churchill, England's Prime Minister, at the time that they wed. For the rest of her life, Pamela used her Churchill connection as her entry to all things important--and, to Pamela, the only things that apparently seemed to have been important were rich men.

She slept with English nobility--her own father was an obscure English nobleman--French aristocrats, Arab oil sheiks, South American polo players, Italian car manufacturers and filthy rich Americans. And she was an equal-opportunity mistress; she didn't care whether they were married or not.

Decades after they first began their affair, Pamela got Averill Harriman to marry her. Thoughtfully, he died soon after, leaving her the bulk of his huge estate.

She used some of those funds to underwrite America's financially insolvent Democratic Party, and a young politician named Bill Clinton. After he became President, Clinton rewarded her generosity by named Pamela Harriman as his Ambassador to France.

Sally Bedell Smith has written an excellent biography of a woman who truly was fascinating, albeit in a horrifying kind of way.

every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every month of every year of her life...and

it is SO MUCH FUN to read about it!

i read this book almost 10 years ago when i wasn't sure i could ever REALLY laugh or marvel at anything again... it snapped me out of languishing in the "Is This All There Is?" ---

back to the absurdity of life, to [what the heck] get back into the game -

pamela harriman was so BAD --- and there's nothing to admire here except that she did take good care of the men she stole from other women!

you have to hand it to her and to Scarlett O Hara: these broads set their sights on things and Got What They Wanted...

a case study in manipulation and the business of maneuvering to get what you want from others - a page turner!

First off, the writing of this book is extremely well done. In 437 pages, Smith keeps her reader glued to the page. Her treatment shows some scholarship about her subject and presents ample detail, without ever getting bogged down. But the book gets 4 stars rather than 5, because frankly "Pam" wasn't all that wonderful. She is described throughout the book as a courtesan, meaning a paramour who associates with men of wealth or status for her own benefit. Her list includes--but is not limited to--Winston Churchill's son Randolph, Jock Whitney, Prince Aly Khan, Gianni Agnelli, Elie de Rothschild, Stavros Niarchos, Leland Hayward, and Averell Harriman. Many loved her and supported her financially, but few would marry her due to her reputation and obviously grasping tendencies. (They all enjoyed her favors, however.) And I must give credit where credit is due: she was stellar with each and all of her men, well-groomed and attentive even during bad times. All men should have such a mate! She was also hard-working on her various endeavors and put in long hours to do her best at everything she cared about. But her bad side? She had no sense of humor, wasn't that smart, was more appearance than substance, couldn't care a fig about most women, loved to be a spendthrift, and lacked compassion for her stepchildren as she badmouthed them and/or looted their trust funds. She died just a year after this book was written, so it is a pretty thorough chronicle of her life. All in all, it makes for good reading.

This book is the type that I begin reading, and by the end am angry with myself for wasting the time.

I purchased this book out of curiosity about Mrs. Harriman's life. Certainly the author dug up sufficient dirt on the subject to satisfy the most 'enquiring' minds.

As with another reviewer, I am still mystified as to what so many famous men saw in this women. Not particularly attractive for most of her life, she apparently had a female magnetism that escapes the written page. No surprise, many women have had that ability. It doesn't read well for the male of the species, many of whom appeared as pawns to this woman's machinations.

Ultimately this is a rather depressing book. Like others, Mrs. Harriman is in the end old, alone and a rather pitiful character. What a ride while it lasted, though!

A former reporter for THE NEW YORK TIMES has delved into one of the most fascinating lives of any woman who lived in the 20th century. Pamela, of course, became the duenna of the Democratic Party and helped Bill Clinton get elected president. Before that, this English debutante burst onto the scene at the dawn of World War II, when she married Sir Winston's dissolute son, Randolph Churchill. That was the beginning of a line of lovers that included Elie de Rothschild, Stavros Niarchos, Jock Whitney, Prince Aly Khan, Gianni Agnelli---each a tabloid name of his day. She managed to have an affair with Frank Sinatra and also managed to marry Leland Hayward, the famous Broadway producer. She was the wife of the aging Averell Harriman, a wealthy former governor of New York and former U.S. ambassador to Russia. Pamela had them all, and Smith spins a lively tale as to how she pulled off each these complicated affairs.

This book was my book club's selection. I tired of Pamela Churchill's affairs early on and found the book read like a textbook. Two redeeming factors were the knowledge gained as to how the English lived during WW11 and the insight into so many of the impressive players at that time in history. Also it appeared to be well documented.

My heading is from one of the snarkier comments to appear in an obtituary of Pamela Digby, Churchill, Hayward, Harriman. It was written by an Englishman, reflecting the antagonism to her by many of her countrmen, as much for her success, her "fast" lifestyle and for her becoming an American citizen. It also reflects an unfortunate double standard, the woman who sleeps around is a slut, the man who does the same, lucky. That said, the heading is not untrue.

Her story is fascinating. I got onto it from reading about her in accounts of Rossevelt and Churchill during WW2. The book provides an engrossing look behind the scenes of several important events in history such as WW2 and the election of Bill Clinton (well maybe the Clinton story doesn't count.) In all respects it is social history of the rich and powerful of her days. It reads a bit like Pride and Prejudice mixed with Sex in the City! The previously mentioned obituary refers to Pam's lipstick smeared all over the events of the 20'th century!

The author takes a balanced approach, giving us all the dirt but maintaining respect for the subject of the book. Pam, by her own admission "drank deep of the well," in her life, yet there is a sense of disappointment at times, that she could have done better with something other than a perfunctory education and an introduction to English high Society at a debutante's ball. However like many upper class Englishwomen she was not given a good education and ended relying on her social and interpersonal skills to achieve her ends.

I found the book compelling reading although at times a bit too detail-oriented. Still highly recommended.