A portrait of the political and social life of Georgetown, comprised of such formidable individuals as Katharine Graham, Lorraine Cooper, and Sally Quinn, cites their behind-the-scenes political power while offering insight into Washington life from the latter days of the Truman administration to the present. Heymann, the author of biographies of Jackie and Robert Kennedy, Gloria Vanderbilt, and Elizabeth Taylor, turns his attention to a group of women whom Ronald Reagan dubbed the Georgetown Ladies' Social Club: Katharine Graham, Lorraine Cooper, Evangeline Bruce, Pamela Harriman, and Sally Quinn. These influential hostesses wielded political and social power from their Georgetown homes, where the politicking done behind the scenes was sometimes as important as what was happening on Capitol Hill. Their stories overlap, but the similarities are striking. All of the women began their rise by standing on the shoulders of their husbands--ambassadors, a senator, newspapermen--but eventually they came to brandish power of their own. Following a loose chronological order, this well-researched account (bolstered by many primary-source interviews) tells the story of a time and a place, Washington from the 1950s into the present. Not surprisingly, the book is incredibly dishy, with some of the most intriguing stories having little to do with the ostensible subjects (e.g., the story of the mysterious murder of JFK's mistress, Mary Meyer, sister-in-law of Ben Bradlee). Heymann pulls out all the stops here, and the result is a well-researched, fast-paced, and fascinating look at dinner-party power-broking. Expect plenty of buzz around this one. Ilene Cooper Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved C. David Heymann is the internationally known author of such bestselling books as RFK: A Candid Biography of Robert F. Kennedy, Poor Little Rich Girl: The Life and Legend of Barbara Hutton, A Woman Named Jackie: An Intimate Biography of Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis , and Liz: An Intimate Biography of Elizabeth Taylor . Three of his biographies were made into major award-winning NBC-TV miniseries. A three-time Pulitzer prize nominee, he lives and works in Manhattan.