Sleeping With the Enemy: Coco Chanel's Secret War - Hardcover

Vaughan, Hal

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0307592634 ISBN 13: 9780307592637

Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc, 2011

Synopsis

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About this title

Review:

"[Hal Vaughan] ably demonstrates that Chanel was far from an innocent victim of circumstance during the second world war but a fully fledged Abwehr (German secret service) agent with her own number and codename: Westminster (no doubt a nod to her one-time lover, the Duke of Westminster). . . Vaughan, who writes with welcome economy and flair, deserves a lot of credit for finally unraveling the strands of Chanel's deeply deceptive personality."
--Tobias Grey, "Financial Times"
"
"[Sleeping with the Enemy]" distinguishes itself from the many other Chanel biographies by tackling the dicey subject of Gabrielle Chanel's activities during World War II . . . This is a frank and unsentimental portrait of a figure that fashion writers are nearly incapable of criticizing. . . While Vaughan's discussions of Chanel's contributions to fashion add nothing new to the extensive literature on her, he more than makes up for it with his impressive research and the never-before-seen information that he has unearthed about her wartime activities. . . . What "Sleeping with the Enemy" offers is a more rounded look at a figure who has been over-studied and under-examined."
--"Isabel Schwab, The New Republic online "
"[A] compelling chronicle of Coco Chanel . . . a different Chanel from any you'll find at the company store . . . by no means the account of an emerging style but a tale of how a single-minded woman faced history, made hard choices, connived, lied, collaborated and used every imaginable wile to survive and see that the people she cared about survived with her . . . Vaughan has gleaned many of the details of Chanel's collaboration from documents that were scattered for years throughout European archives . . . It's an astonishing story . . gripping . . . provocative . . . riveting history."
--Marie Arana, "The Washington Post"
"Chanel's war years, as explored by Hal Vaughan, are as camera-ready and as neck-deep in melodrama as Quentin Tarantino's "Inglourious Basterds," and just as hard to forget now that they're exposed."
--David D'Arcy, " San Francisco Chronicle"
"Hal Vaughan has done a stupendous job of research . . . Vaughan draws a brilliant portrait . . a terrific and fascinating story. . . wonderfully told, and full of great characters. . . Vaughan brings her to life so vividly that we understand why no less a judge than AndrE Malraux said that "from this century in France only three names will remain: de Gaulle, Picasso, and Chanel.." . . It is that rarest of good reads, a biography about a famous person with a surprise on every page. Nancy Mitford, I think, would have loved it, and written a wonderful letter to Evelyn Waugh about it!"
--Michael Korda, "The Daily Beast"

[Hal Vaughan] ably demonstrates that Chanel was far from an innocent victim of circumstance during the second world war but a fully fledged Abwehr (German secret service) agent with her own number and codename: Westminster (no doubt a nod to her one-time lover, the Duke of Westminster). . . Vaughan, who writes with welcome economy and flair, deserves a lot of credit for finally unraveling the strands of Chanel s deeply deceptive personality.
Tobias Grey, Financial Times

[Sleeping with the Enemy] distinguishes itself from the many other Chanel biographies by tackling the dicey subject of Gabrielle Chanel s activities during World War II . . . This is a frank and unsentimental portrait of a figure that fashion writers are nearly incapable of criticizing. . . While Vaughan s discussions of Chanel s contributions to fashion add nothing new to the extensive literature on her, he more than makes up for it with his impressive research and the never-before-seen information that he has unearthed about her wartime activities. . . . What Sleeping with the Enemy offers is a more rounded look at a figure who has been over-studied and under-examined.
Isabel Schwab, The New Republic online
[A] compelling chronicle of Coco Chanel . . . a different Chanel from any you ll find at the company store . . . by no means the account of an emerging style but a tale of how a single-minded woman faced history, made hard choices, connived, lied, collaborated and used every imaginable wile to survive and see that the people she cared about survived with her . ..Vaughan has gleaned many of the details of Chanel s collaboration from documents that were scattered for years throughout European archives . . . It s anastonishing story . . gripping . . . provocative . . . riveting history.
Marie Arana, TheWashingtonPost
Chanel s war years, as explored by Hal Vaughan, are as camera-ready and as neck-deep in melodrama as Quentin Tarantino s Inglourious Basterds, and just as hard to forget now that they re exposed.
David D Arcy, San Francisco Chronicle
"Hal Vaughan has done a stupendous job of research . . . Vaughan draws a brilliant portrait . . a terrific and fascinating story. . . wonderfully told, and full of great characters. . . Vaughan brings her to life so vividly that we understand why no less a judge than Andre Malraux said that "from this century in France only three names will remain: de Gaulle, Picasso, and Chanel.." . . It is that rarest of good reads, a biography about a famous person with a surprise on every page. Nancy Mitford, I think, would have loved it, and written a wonderful letter to Evelyn Waugh about it!"
Michael Korda, The Daily Beast"

Book Description:

The first book to uncover the true story of Gabrielle 'Coco' Chanel in occupied Paris during the Second World War. Hal Vaughan reveals: her life as an Abwehr secret agent; her long love affair with a Nazi master spy; her missions on behalf of German military intelligence; and her astonishing escape from retribution through the intervention of Winston Churchill.

About this edition

• Publisher: Alfred a Knopf Inc
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0307592634
• ISBN 13: 9780307592637
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 279