The Daughters of Yalta; The Churchills, Roosevelts, and Harrimans: A Story of Love and War

Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2020. First Printing [Stated]. Hardcover. Very good/Very good. Nina Subin (Author photograph). xii, [1], 400, [2] pages. A List of Key Delegates at Yalta. Notes. Maps. Selected Bibliography. Index. DJ has minor sticker residue, wear and soiling. Catherine Grace Katz is a writer and historian from Chicago. She graduated from Harvard in 2013 with a BA in History and received her MPhil in Modern European History from Christ's College, University of Cambridge in 2014, where she wrote her dissertation on the origins of modern counterintelligence practices. After graduating, Catherine worked in finance in New York City before a very fortuitous visit to the book store in the lobby of her office in Manhattan led her to return to history and writing. She received her JD from Harvard Law School in May 2023. The Daughters of Yalta is her first book. Derived from a Kirkus review: A singular take on the history of the Yalta Conference, viewed through the eyes of the three notable daughters who supported their famous fathers, the "Big Three," and contributed in heretofore undocumented ways. In a substantive debut work of first-rate scholarship, Katz delves into the behind-the-scenes soft diplomacy of the "Little Three": Kathleen Harriman, the "glamorous" daughter of the U.S. ambassador to the Soviet Union; Anna Roosevelt, a mother of three and former newspaper editor; and Sarah Churchill, an aerial reconnaissance intelligence analyst in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force. Each has a fascinating backstory involving the relationship with her respective father, and each played an important role during what promised to be an arduous meeting to figure out the endgame of World War II and postwar reorganization of Europe. Through letters home and dispatches written by the three young women, Katz efficiently relays this fly-on-the-wall account of how the three sprawling delegations managed to get any business accomplished. FDR was housed in the czar's former summer palace of Livadia, on the Black Sea, which had been occupied and trashed by the Nazi invaders; Churchill and the British billeted at nearby Vorontsov Palace; and Stalin and his people at the Koriez Villa and Yusupov Palace, situated between the American and British residences. The main topics of discussion were Polish nationality, the methods by which to deal with a defeated Germany, and how to draw the Soviets into the Pacific theater to aid the Americans. Hanging over the meetings and social gatherings was the specter of FDR's grave health—only Anna knew the truth of his heart disease—and the Russian intentions to expand into Eastern Europe. Katz effectively shows how these three often overlooked women proved to be indispensable in a variety of ways. Engaging, multilayered history of the best kind, grounded in telling detail and marvelous personalities.