Books by William Shawcross
Counting One's Blessings: The Selected Letters of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother
William Shawcross's official biography of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, published in September 2009, was a huge critical and commercial success.One of the great revelations of the book was Queen Elizabeth's insightful, witty private correspondence. Indeed, The Sunday Times described her letters as "wonderful . . . brimful of liveliness and irreverence, steeliness and sweetness."
Now, in Counting One's Blessings, Shawcross has put together a selection of her letters, drawing on the vast wealth of material in the Royal Archives and at Glamis Castle. Queen Elizabeth was a prolific correspondent, from her early childhood before World War I to the very end of her long life at the beginning of the twenty-first century, and her letters offer readers a vivid insight into the real person behind the public face.
Copies
No copies available.
The Queen Mother: The Official Biography
The official and definitive biography of Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, the most beloved British monarch of the twentieth century.
Consort of King George VI, mother of Queen Elizabeth II, and grandmother of Prince Charles, Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon—the ninth of the Earl of Strathmore’s ten children—was born on August 4, 1900, and, certainly, no one could have imagined that her long life (she died in 2002) would come to reflect a changing nation over the course of an entire century.
Vividly detailed, written with unrestricted access to her personal papers, letters, and diaries, this candid royal biography by William Shawcross is also a singular history of Britain in the twentieth century.
Copies
No copies available.
Avedon: Murals and Portraits
by William Shawcross, Mary Panzer, Bob Rubin, Paul Roth, Luc Menand
No photographer had a more serious and deeply felt response to the political and cultural impact of the 1960s and early 1970s than Richard Avedon, whose iconic portraits of key figures of the era influenced the course of photography in the decades that followed. In four monumental photographic murals (reproduced in large gatefolds) and many related portraits, he portrayed Andy Warhol’s gender-bending Factory, with Viva and Candy Darling; Abbie Hoffman and the radical agitators of the Chicago Seven; Allen Ginsberg’s family, friends, and fellow artists; and the U.S. Mission Council in Saigon alongside searing portraits of victims of the Vietnam War.
The photographs are accompanied by images of archival material, including Avedon’s diaries, correspondence, and contact prints. Major essays explore Avedon’s penetrating incursions into the history and spirit of these tumultuous years.
Praise for Avedon: Murals and Portraits:
“The past season has given us some memorable photography shows in the city’s museums and galleries. None have been better—technically more audacious, emotionally more varied, ethically more unanswering—than this one.” —New York Times
Copies
No copies available.
Sideshow: Kissinger, Nixon, and the Destruction of Cambodia
Although there are many books and films dealing with the Vietnam War, Sideshow tells the truth about America's secret and illegal war with Cambodia from 1969 to 1973. William Shawcross interviewed hundreds of people of all nationalities, including cabinet ministers, military men, and civil servants, and extensively researched U.S. Government documents. This full-scale investigation―with material new to this edition―exposes how Kissinger and Nixon treated Cambodia as a sideshow. Although the president and his assistant claimed that a secret bombing campaign in Cambodia was necessary to eliminate North Vietnamese soldiers who were attacking American troops across the border, Shawcross maintains that the bombings only spread the conflict, but led to the rise of the Khmer Rouge and the subsequent massacre of a third of Cambodia's population.
Copies
No copies available.
Justice and the Enemy Nuremberg, 9/11, and the Trial of Khalid Sheikh Mohammed
Since the Nuremberg Trials of 1945, lawful nations have struggled to impose justice around the world, especially when confronted by tyrannical and genocidal regimes. But in Cambodia, the USSR, China, Bosnia, Rwanda, and beyond, justice has been served haltingly if at all in the face of colossal inhumanity. International Courts are not recognized worldwide. There is not a global consensus on how to punish transgressors.
The war against Al Qaeda is a war like no other. Osama bin Laden, Al Qaeda’s founder, was killed in Pakistan by Navy Seals. Few people in America felt anything other than that justice had been served. But what about the man who conceived and executed the 9/11 attacks on the US, Khalid Sheikh Mohammed? What kind of justice does he deserve? The U.S. has tried to find the high ground by offering KSM a trial – albeit in the form of military tribunal. But is this hypocritical? Indecisive? Half-hearted? Or merely the best application of justice possible for a man who is implacably opposed to the civilization that the justice system supports and is derived from? In this book, William Shawcross explores the visceral debate that these questions have provoked over the proper application of democratic values in a time of war, and the enduring dilemma posed to all victors in war: how to treat the worst of your enemies.
Copies
No copies available.