Download or read book Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni written by Valerie Benaim and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2011-11-21 with total page 151 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nicholas Sarkozy was elected President of France with a broken heart. Shortly after he took office, his second wife, Ceceila, left him for another man. He sat brooding alone by night in the Presidential Palace. Though on top of the world, and one of the most powerful men in Europe, he felt very much alone. Sick of his own company, he asked a friend to arrange a dinner party - and Carla Bruni was included on the guest list. A former supermodel and chart-topping singer-songwriter, Carla had a reputation as a man-eater: and she dined on the most exclusive Cordon Bleu. Her former suitors and boyfriends inlcluded Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Primer Minister Laurent Fabius and billionaire Donald Trump. But more than wealth and artistic brilliance, 'I want a man with nuclear power', she said: and Sarkozy had his finger on the button. The two flirted all night: and their first private date came twnety-four hours later. Within a few months, the President of France had a new finacee. Based on exclusive interviews with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and many of the French elite close to both her and the President, this is the true and previously untold story of Europe's most glamorous couple. Read of how they met, fell instantly in love, and played a cat and mouse game with the world press before marrying in secret, to the amazement of the French people. A bestseller in France, this is the definitive account of the world's most gripping and dramatic modern tale of true romance.
Download or read book I Am Having So Much Fun Here Without You written by Courtney Maum and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2014-06-10 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A romance in reverse is set in Paris and London and follows an artist's attempts to fall back in love with his wife after the end of his affair, an effort that is challenged by the sale of a personal painting and his wife's discovery of his infidelity.
Download or read book Nicolas Sarkozy and Carla Bruni written by Valerie Benaim and published by Andrews UK Limited. This book was released on 2011-11-21 with total page 143 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Nicholas Sarkozy was elected President of France with a broken heart. Shortly after he took office, his second wife, Ceceila, left him for another man. He sat brooding alone by night in the Presidential Palace. Though on top of the world, and one of the most powerful men in Europe, he felt very much alone. Sick of his own company, he asked a friend to arrange a dinner party - and Carla Bruni was included on the guest list. A former supermodel and chart-topping singer-songwriter, Carla had a reputation as a man-eater: and she dined on the most exclusive Cordon Bleu. Her former suitors and boyfriends inlcluded Eric Clapton, Mick Jagger, Primer Minister Laurent Fabius and billionaire Donald Trump. But more than wealth and artistic brilliance, 'I want a man with nuclear power', she said: and Sarkozy had his finger on the button. The two flirted all night: and their first private date came twnety-four hours later. Within a few months, the President of France had a new finacee. Based on exclusive interviews with Carla Bruni-Sarkozy and many of the French elite close to both her and the President, this is the true and previously untold story of Europe's most glamorous couple. Read of how they met, fell instantly in love, and played a cat and mouse game with the world press before marrying in secret, to the amazement of the French people. A bestseller in France, this is the definitive account of the world's most gripping and dramatic modern tale of true romance.
Download or read book La Seduction written by Elaine Sciolino and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2011-06-07 with total page 352 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The hidden truth about the French way of life: it's all about seduction—its rules, its pleasures, its secrets France is a seductive country, seductive in its elegance, its beauty, its sensual pleasures, and its joie de vivre. But Elaine Sciolino, the longtime Paris bureau chief of The New York Times, has discovered that seduction is much more than a game to the French: it is the key to understanding France. Seduction plays a crucial role in how the French relate to one another—not just in romantic relationships but also in how they conduct business, enjoy food and drink, define style, engage in intellectual debate, elect politicians, and project power around the world. While sexual repartee and conquest remain at the heart of seduction, for the French seduction has become a philosophy of life, even an ideology, that can confuse outsiders. In La Seduction, Sciolino gives us an inside view of how seduction works in all areas, analyzing its limits as well as its power. She demystifies the French way of life in an entertaining and personal narrative that carries us from the neighborhood shops of Paris to the halls of government, from the gardens of Versailles to the agricultural heartland. La Seduction will charm you and encourage you to lower your defenses about the French. Pull up a chair and let Elaine Sciolino seduce you.
Download or read book The Bettencourt Affair written by Tom Sancton and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2018-08-07 with total page 417 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: An NPR Best Book of 2017 Heiress to the nearly forty-billion-dollar L’Oréal fortune, Liliane Bettencourt was the world’s richest woman and the fourteenth wealthiest person. But her gilded life took a dark yet fascinating turn in the past decade. At ninety-four, she was embroiled in what has been called the Bettencourt Affair, a scandal that dominated the headlines in France. Why? It’s a tangled web of hidden secrets, divided loyalties, frayed relationships, and fractured families, set in the most romantic city—and involving the most glamorous industry—in the world. The Bettencourt Affair started as a family drama but quickly became a massive scandal, uncovering L’Oréal’s shadowy corporate history and buried World War II secrets. From the Right Bank mansions to the Left Bank artist havens; and from the Bettencourts’ servant quarters to the office of President Nicolas Sarkozy; all of Paris was shaken by the blockbuster case, the shocking reversals, and the surprising final victim. It all began when Liliane met François-Marie Banier, an artist and photographer who was, in his youth, the toast of Paris and a protégé of Salvador Dalí. Over the next two decades, Banier was given hundreds of millions of dollars in gifts, cash, and insurance policies by Liliane. What, exactly, was their relationship? It wasn’t clear, least of all to Liliane’s daughter and only child, Françoise, who became suspicious of Banier’s motives and filed a lawsuit against him. But Banier has a far different story to tell... The Bettencourt Affair is part courtroom drama; part upstairs-downstairs tale; and part characterdriven story of a complex, fascinating family and the intruder who nearly tore it apart.
Download or read book Serotonin written by Michel Houellebecq and published by Farrar, Straus and Giroux. This book was released on 2019-11-19 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Michel Houellebecq’s Serotonin is a caustic, frightening, hilarious, raunchy, offensive, and politically incorrect novel about the decline of Europe, Western civilization, and humanity in general. Deeply depressed by his romantic and professional failures, the aging hedonist and agricultural engineer Florent-Claude Labrouste feels he is “dying of sadness.” He hates his young girlfriend, and the feeling is almost certainly mutual; his career is pretty much over; and he has to keep himself thoroughly medicated to cope with day-to-day life. Suffocating in the rampant loneliness, consumerism, hedonism, and sprawl of the city, Labrouste decides to head for the hills, returning to Normandy, where he once worked promoting regional cheeses and where he was once in love, and even—it now seems—happy. There he finds a countryside devastated by globalization and by European agricultural policies, and encounters farmers longing, like Labrouste himself, for an impossible return to a simpler age. As the farmers prepare for what might be an armed insurrection, it becomes clear that the health of one miserable body and of a suffering body politic are not so different, and that all parties may be rushing toward a catastrophe that a whole drugstore’s worth of antidepressants won’t make bearable.
Download or read book Toward Leader Democracy written by Jan Pakulski and published by Anthem Press. This book was released on 2012-01-15 with total page 194 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In today’s liberal democracies, does the political process focus on the people, or on the political leaders representing them? Building upon the ideas of Joseph Schumpeter and Max Weber, ‘Toward Leader Democracy’ argues that we are currently seeing a movement toward an increasingly pronounced focus on political leaders – ‘leader democracy’. This form of democracy is fashioned by the political will, determination and commitment of top politicians, and is exercised through elite persuasion that actively shapes the preferences of voters so as to give meaning to political processes. As the text reveals, this marks a definite evolution within the world’s ‘advanced democracies’: democratic representation is today realised increasingly through active political leadership, as opposed to the former practices of statistically ‘mirroring’ constituencies, or the deliberative self-adjustment of the executive to match citizen preferences.
Download or read book Spoken From the Heart written by Laura Bush and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2010-05-04 with total page 464 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In a captivating and compelling voice that ranks with many of our greatest memoirists, Laura Bush tells the story of her unique path from dusty Midland, Texas to the world stage and the White House. An only child, Laura Welch grew up in a family that lost three babies to miscarriage or infant death. She masterfully recreates the rugged, oil boom-and-bust culture of Midland, her close relationship with her father, and the bonds of early friendships that she retains to this day. For the first time, in heart-wrenching detail, she writes about her tragic car accident that left her friend Mike Douglas dead. Laura Welch attended Southern Methodist University in an era on the cusp of monumental change. After graduating, she became an elementary school teacher, working in inner city schools, then trained as a librarian. At age thirty, she met George W. Bush, whom she had last passed in the hallway in seventh grade. Three months later, 'the old maid of Midland married Midland's most eligible bachelor'. As First Lady of Texas, Laura Bush championed education and launched the Texas Book Festival, passions she brought to the White House. Here, she captures presidential life in the frantic and fearful months after 9-11, when fighter jet cover echoed through the walls. She writes openly about the threats, the withering media spotlight, and the transformation of her role. One of the first U.S. officials to visit war-torn Afghanistan, she reached out to disease-stricken African nations and tirelessly advocated for women in the Middle East and dissidents in Burma. With deft humor and a sharp eye, Laura Bush lifts the curtain on what really happens inside the White House. And she writes with honesty and eloquence about her family, political life, and her eight remarkable Washington years. Laura Bush's compassion, her sense of humour, her grace, and her uncommon willingness to bare her heart make this story deeply revelatory, beautifully rendered, and unlike any other First Lady's memoir ever written.
Download or read book Floral Diplomacy at the White House written by Laura Dowling and published by Stichting Kunstboak. This book was released on 2017-02 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Stunning floral creations from the Chief Floral Designer at The White House Laura Dowling served as Chief Floral Designer at the White House form 2009 until 2015. In this unique position, she managed décor and flowers for thousands of White House events while using flowers as a strategic tool for communicating diplomatic, symbolic and policy messages. She is renowned for creating a new romantic style of flower arranging featuring free-flowing lines of vines and flowers emanating from a classical bouquet. This style is most evocative of nature and the garden, and balances a strong artistic vision with the wildness of nature. Under her leadership, Laura implemented floral artistry at the White House, designing bouquets of seasonal garden flowers in a style that is both modern and refined, yet casually elegant. She often presents her innovative arrangements in hand-made organic containers composed of leaves, branches and berries that are woven into patterns and motifs, creating integrated, cohesive displays that conjure both nature and the garden. Here, she describes her inspiration, provides tips and techniques on flower arranging and entertaining, and offers readers a fascinating behind-the-scenes glimpse into both official and private White House life.
Download or read book In Defense of Witches written by Mona Chollet and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2022-03-08 with total page 155 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Mona Chollet's In Defense of Witches is a “brilliant, well-documented” celebration (Le Monde) by an acclaimed French feminist of the witch as a symbol of female rebellion and independence in the face of misogyny and persecution. Centuries after the infamous witch hunts that swept through Europe and America, witches continue to hold a unique fascination for many: as fairy tale villains, practitioners of pagan religion, as well as feminist icons. Witches are both the ultimate victim and the stubborn, elusive rebel. But who were the women who were accused and often killed for witchcraft? What types of women have centuries of terror censored, eliminated, and repressed? Celebrated feminist writer Mona Chollet explores three types of women who were accused of witchcraft and persecuted: the independent woman, since widows and celibates were particularly targeted; the childless woman, since the time of the hunts marked the end of tolerance for those who claimed to control their fertility; and the elderly woman, who has always been an object of at best, pity, and at worst, horror. Examining modern society, Chollet concludes that these women continue to be harrassed and oppressed. Rather than being a brief moment in history, the persecution of witches is an example of society’s seemingly eternal misogyny, while women today are direct descendants to those who were hunted down and killed for their thoughts and actions. With fiery prose and arguments that range from the scholarly to the cultural, In Defense of Witches seeks to unite the mythic image of the witch with modern women who live their lives on their own terms.
Download or read book Thank You for the Moment written by Valérie Trierweiler and published by . This book was released on 2015-05-12 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: When it was published in France, Merci pour ce moment, Valerie Trierweiler's memoir about her tumultuous relationship with President Francois Hollande, sent shockwaves through the French political establishment for what it revealed about the President's personal life. In a nation that strives not to pry into the private lives of its politicians, Trierweiler's voice demanded to be heard, and the embattled President found himself vowing to see out his term in the face of rapidly sinking approval ratings. The book went on to sell over 400,000 copies in just three weeks, becoming France's fastest selling book ever. At its heart is a compelling tale of politics, love and betrayal that has electrified a nation. In January 2014, a story in Closer magazine featured photographs which allegedly proved a secret relationship between Hollande and actress Julie Gayet. Trierweiler was subsequently admitted to hospital. She learnt of the President's alleged infidelity from the press, just like everyone else; then the man she loved broke up with her in an eighteen-word press release dictated to the French Press Agency. This is the memoir of an extraordinary woman whose private life became very public as she was unwittingly cast into the eye of a political storm.
Download or read book Mick written by Christopher Andersen and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-07-10 with total page 466 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “He’s a smart little mother******,I’ll give him that.” —KEITH RICHARDS on MICK JAGGER IS he Jumpin’ Jack Flash? A Street Fighting Man? A Man of Wealth and Taste? All this, it turns out, and far more. By any definition, Mick Jagger is a force of nature, a complete original—and undeniably one of the dominant cultural figures of our time. Swaggering, strutting, sometimes elusive, always spellbinding, he grabbed us by our collective throat a half-century ago and—unlike so many of his gifted peers—never let go. For decades, Mick has jealously guarded his many shocking secrets—until now. As the Rolling Stones mark their 50th anniversary, journalist and #1 New York Times bestselling author Christopher Andersen tears the mask from rock’s most complex and enigmatic icon in a no-holds-barred biography as impossible to ignore as Jagger himself. Based on interviews with friends, family members, fellow music legends, and industry insiders—as well as wives and legions of lovers—MICK sheds new light on a man whose very name defines an era and candidly reveals: —New details about Jagger’s jaw-dropping sexual exploits with more than four thousand women (including Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Carly Simon, Linda Ronstadt, Uma Thurman, and France’s First Lady Carla Bruni)—as well as his encounters with several of rock’s biggest male stars. Also, the day Mick’s wife Jerry Hall and Keith Richards pleaded with Jagger to seek treatment for sex addiction. —The backstage drama surrounding Mick’s knighthood, and Jagger’s little-known ties to Britain’s Royal Family, including Prince William and Kate Middleton. —What he really thinks of today’s superstars—including Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Beyoncé, Justin Timberlake, Kanye West, and Justin Bieber. —Never-before-revealed, behind-the-scenes accounts of his often turbulent relationships—from his band-mates, ravenous groupies, and rabid fans to such intimates as Andy Warhol, John Lennon, Jackie Onassis, Bill Clinton, and others. —Cocaine, LSD, hashish, and speed—the flabbergasting truth about the extent of Jagger’s substance abuse, and how long it really went on. —A rare glimpse into Mick’s business dealings and the killer instinct that has enabled him to amass a personal fortune well in excess of $400 million. —The stormy “marriage” between Mick and Keith that nearly ran aground over Keith’s searing comments—and all the scandal, mayhem, excess, madness, and genius that went into making the Rolling Stones “the world’s greatest rock-and-roll band.” Like its subject, this book is explosive and riveting—the definitive biography of a living legend who has kept us thrilled, confounded, and astounded. THIS IS MICK.
Download or read book Naked Diplomacy written by Tom Fletcher and published by HarperCollins Publishers. This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Who will be in power in the 21st century? Governments? Big business? Internet titans? And how do we influence the future?
Download or read book The Sarkozy Presidency written by G. Raymond and published by Springer. This book was released on 2013-02-18 with total page 202 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Sarkozy came to power promising radical political and social change while simultaneously developing a presidential persona that melded the public and the personal under the glare of media attention, unparalleled in the French Fifth Republic. This volume provides a detailed analysis of the fit between his ambitions and the outcomes of his presidency
Download or read book The Miranda Obsession written by Bryan Burrough and published by Byliner Digital Services. This book was released on 2011-11-21 with total page 29 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: She said she was a gorgeous, wealthy, well-connected model and student named Miranda, and she seduced a slew of famous and powerful menBilly Joel, Warren Beatty, Ted Kennedy, Quincy Jones, Robert DeNiro, Bob Dylan, Buck Henry, Richard Gere, Eric Clapton, and many moreall of them over the phone. In the course of those long, flirtatious conversations some fell madly in love with her. Some became obsessed with her. Some had their hearts broken by her. And then she vanished.In the 12 years since bestselling author Bryan Burrough (Barbarians at the Gate, The Big Rich) first published his story "The Miranda Obsession" in Vanity Fair, the legend of Miranda has continued to grow and his article has become a true classic of the genre. On the heels of a just-aired prime-time Vanity Fair-CBS "48 Hours" special on enduring Hollywood mysteries, Burrough is republishing his story as an e-book, complete with a new Afterword that brings Miranda's extraordinary tale up to date with the names of still more leading men who fell under her spell, from Bono to Rush Limbaugh. Writes Burrough: "In 30 years in the field...I don't think I've ever come across another [story] like it.... She has much to say about what men want, what men need, and how to keep a man coming back for more."
Download or read book When in French written by Lauren Collins and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A language barrier is no match for love. Lauren Collins discovered this firsthand when, in her early thirties, she moved to London and fell for a Frenchman named Olivier—a surprising turn of events for someone who didn’t have a passport until she was in college. But what does it mean to love someone in a second language? Collins wonders, as her relationship with Olivier continues to grow entirely in English. Are there things she doesn’t understand about Olivier, having never spoken to him in his native tongue? Does “I love you” even mean the same thing as “je t’aime”? When the couple, newly married, relocates to Francophone Geneva, Collins—fearful of one day becoming "a Borat of a mother" who doesn’t understand her own kids—decides to answer her questions for herself by learning French. When in French is a laugh-out-loud funny and surprising memoir about the lengths we go to for love, as well as an exploration across culture and history into how we learn languages—and what they say about who we are. Collins grapples with the complexities of the French language, enduring excruciating role-playing games with her classmates at a Swiss language school and accidently telling her mother-in-law that she’s given birth to a coffee machine. In learning French, Collins must wrestle with the very nature of French identity and society—which, it turns out, is a far cry from life back home in North Carolina. Plumbing the mysterious depths of humanity’s many forms of language, Collins describes with great style and wicked humor the frustrations, embarrassments, surprises, and, finally, joys of learning—and living in—French.
Download or read book Left in Dark Times written by Bernard-Henri Lévy and published by Random House Trade Paperbacks. This book was released on 2009-10-13 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In this unprecedented critique, Bernard-Henri Lévy revisits his political roots, scrutinizes the totalitarianisms of the past as well as those on the horizon, and argues powerfully for a new political and moral vision for our times. Are human rights Western or universal? Does anti-Semitism have a future, and, if so, what will it look like? And how is it that progressives themselves–those who in the past defended individual rights and fought fascism–have now become the breeding ground for new kinds of dangerous attitudes: an unthinking loathing of Israel; an obsessive anti-Americanism; an idea of “tolerance” that, in its justification of Islamic fanaticism, for example, could become the “cemetery of democracies”; and an indifference, masked by relativism, to the greatest human tragedies facing the world today? At a time of ideological and political transition in America, Left in Dark Times articulates the threats we all face–in many cases without our even being aware of it–and offers a powerful new vision for progressives everywhere.
