Wartime Letters
London and Moscow 1941-1945
Kathleen Harriman author Geoffrey Roberts editor
Format:Hardback
Publisher:Yale University Press
Published:24th Feb '26
Should be back in stock very soon
The extraordinary story of Kathleen Harriman, daughter of the US ambassador to the USSR, told through her wartime letters
Kathleen Harriman was the daughter of American businessman W. Averell Harriman. A journalist by background, she accompanied her father on his wartime postings to London and Moscow, where he served as FDR’s envoy and later as US ambassador to the Soviet Union.
She dined with Winston Churchill at Chequers, played bridge with General Eisenhower, and, in Moscow, banqueted with Stalin. She learnt Russian and soon became one of the best-known American women in the USSR. In her work as a journalist, Kathy visited war-torn cities and sites of covered-up atrocities.
In more than two hundred letters, Harriman wrote all about these trips, people, and experiences. Deeply personal as well as highly political, her correspondence provides a fresh insight into the machinations of Second World War politics and diplomacy. In this fascinating account, Geoffrey Roberts brings together Harriman’s letters to tell the full story of her wartime life for the first time.
“[Harriman’s] letters give a perceptive and vivid account of some of the most important personalities and moments of the second world war. . . . Read her letters and you will wish, as I do, that you could have met her."—Margaret MacMillan, Financial Times
“A marvellous take on history as it was being made.”—Melanie McDonagh, London Standard
“Harriman emerges in [the letters] as a sharp, charming young woman with an eye for the significant moment. . . . This engaging collection of letters catches her as a young woman at a dramatic moment in human history.”—Peter Moore, Unseen Histories
“A fascinating read, and a great insight into the life and mind of [Harriman], as well as to how Diplomacy worked.”—ARRSE
“Kathy Harriman’s wartime letters provide a behind-the-curtains peek at some of the greatest moments of World War Two. This skilfully edited volume is both deliciously entertaining and endlessly informative. A pure joy to read.”—Giles Milton, author of The Stalin Affair
“Geoffrey Roberts offers a fascinating portrayal of a bright, sharp, and charming young woman coming of age on the forefront of history. Through Kathleen Harriman's sparkling commentary framed by Roberts’ keen editorial pen, we see the human side of the war’s most consequential days in London and Moscow as shaped by the giants of the era—with whom Miss Harriman could more than hold her own!”—Catherine Grace Katz, author of The Daughters of Yalta
ISBN: 9780300278545
Dimensions: unknown
Weight: unknown
512 pages