President Barack Obama, his family, and his team of experts bring a welcome dose of fresh vitality to the White House. As the hard work begins, Maureen Orth assesses a moment and a movement.
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Upon Ingrid Betancourt’s liberation, last July, the world was eager for her story: the patrician politician held hostage in Colombia’s rain-forest jungle for six often brutal years by the revolutionary farc guerrillas. In addition to meeting the most famous kidnap victim since Patti Hearst, Maureen Orth interviews three of Betancourt’s fellow hostages (including her closest confidant), Colombian president Álvaro Uribe, and the man who oversaw the daring rescue, to explain how it all plays into a four-decade war.
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Just months after his May 2007 election, French president Nicolas Sarkozy faced growing criticism over his stalled reforms, flashy style, and stormy divorce. The last straw should have been his whirlwind remarriage, to an Italian heiress, ex-model, and singer who had past liaisons with Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton, among others, and nude photos all over the Internet. But the lady in question, Carla Bruni, is proving an unexpected asset. At the Élysée Palace, Maureen Orth encounters a pair of romantic predators who appear to have met their matches.
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Supreme arbiter of aristocratic London nightlife, Mark Birley poured all his charm, generosity, and taste into his portfolio of clubs, including the fabled Annabel’s, until he abruptly sold them right before his death, last August. But, as a battle over his $200 million estate reveals, he left his own family tragically damaged. Maureen Orth asks Birley’s feuding children, Robin and India Jane, and his ex-wife, Lady Annabel Goldsmith, why he was so good at business and so bad at home.
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By MAUREEN ORTH Original Publication: The New York Times, December 14, 2007 Roberta McCain, in striped dress, and her sister, Rowena Willis, traveled to places like Cambodia when Mrs. McCain’s…
Read moreThe grand hostesses are history, the president would rather be in bed, and there’s a price tag on every evening these days. Who killed Washington society? Ask a few of the local experts.
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