A Glimpse Behind the Façade of Rich and Famous Women “…wild, witty, gossipy, and glamourous. A sheer delight.” ― Becca Anderson , author of  Badass Women Give the Best Advice #1 Best Seller in Women's Studies and Biographies of the Rich & Famous and Royalty An intimate portrait of women of privilege. As Becca Anderson recommends, read about “heiress Barbara Hutton's outrageous lifestyle, Jackie O as a step-mom, Patty Hearst's many adventures, Peggy Guggenheim's collection of art (and men), and Almira Carnarvon, the real-life counterpart to Lady Cora of Downton Abbey.” The grass isn't greener on the other side.  Heiresses have always been viewed with eyes of envy. They were the ones for whom the cornucopia had been upended, showering them with unimaginable wealth and opportunity. However, through intimate historical biographies,  Women of Means  shows us that oftentimes the weaving sisters saved their most heart-wrenching tapestries for the destinies of wealthy women. Happily never after.  From the author of  Behind Every Great Man , we now have  Women of Means , vignettes of the women who were slated from birth―or marriage―to great privilege, only to endure lives which were the stuff Russian tragic heroines are made of. They are the nonfictional Richard Corys―those not slated for happily ever after. Women of Means  is a non-fiction best seller , full of the best biographies of all time. Some of the women whose silver spoons rusted include: Liliane Bettencourt, whose chemist father created L’Oreal... and was a Nazi collaborator - Nica Rothschild, who traded her gilded life to become the Baroness of Bebop - Jocelyn Wildenstein, who became a cosmetology-enhanced cat-woman - Ruth Madoff, the dethroned queen of Manhattan - Patty Hearst, who trod the path from heiress... to terrorist Fans of  Women of Means  will want to try other Marlene Wagman-Geller books including Fabulous Female Firsts , Great Second Acts , Still I Rise , Unabashed Women , and Women Who Launch . “If you’ve ever wished you had all the money in the world, read Women of Means by Marlene Wagman-Geller. Written in her usual witty prose, these enthralling but petrifying mini-biographies show that when a woman is too wealthy, it can be a curse rather than a blessing.” ―Jill G. Hall, author of The Black Velvet Coat “The best women's history books are deeply researched and, therefore, filled with personal details that provide an intimate portrait. Marlene Wagman-Gellar's Women of Means does not disappoint. It is wild, witty, gossipy, and glamourous. A sheer delight. I could not get enough of reading about heiress Barbara Hutton's outrageous lifestyle, Jackie O as a step-mom, Patty Hearst's many adventures, Peggy Guggenheim's collection of art (and men) and Almira Carnarvon, the real-life counterpart to Lady Cora of Downton Abbey . Simply Splendid.” ―Becca Anderson, author of Badass Women Give the Best Advice “Does money facilitate happiness, fulfillment, the good life? How much time do we all spend wishing we had more of it? These questions and more bubbled up from Marlene Wagman-Geller’s crisp, exacting prose in her powerful compilation of stories about the richest women in history, Women of Means . Wagman-Geller’s stories made me gasp and lodged my chin firmly on my chest as she chronicled the lives of women without a financial care in the world, whose appetites led so often to disaster. And, no, Patrizia, I would rather gleefully ride the bicycle!” ―R. D. Kardon, author of Flygirl “Many of these women lived their lives caught between distrust and wanting to be loved. Yet, they would never know if the love was real or solely for their money. It seems like a horrible place to be in.” ―History of Royal Women “Wagman-Geller does an excellent job with each of these stories, keeping us turning the page, but every once in a while you need to set the book down, it’s just so heartbreaking. But soon enough you’re picking it up again, not putting it down until the final page. In the author’s epilogue, her hope for all of us is ‘that this window into the biographies of the poor little rich girls makes us more content with our own lot.’ She certainly succeeds in this.” ―Betty Lou Roselle, DelcoCultureVultures “What joy and fun Marlene brings to her craft of writing, and her whole mission is stated in the book’s prologue: ‘Wealth, while providing protection against economic woes, delivered a different array of angst.’ And this author totally meets her wish that this book’s glimpse into the biographies of poor little rich girls makes us content with our own lot. As she states, ‘Luxuries often serve to camouflage lives that may be rife with sorrow.’ This is indeed the book I would have loved to have assigned to my students following the study of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby when he wrote, ‘The rich are different from us.’ Marlene says that Ernest Hemingway would have retorted ‘Yes. They have more money.’ ” ―Kathy Megyeri, Lifestyles