#robert lacey

[jawbonejoe]

Finished Robert Lacey's Little Man: Meyer Lansky and the Gangster Life. While I don't follow with everything Lacey is on I recommend this book to anyone who wants to garner a deeper understanding of the midcentury American Mob. And here's why:

Lacey makes the point, one I haven't seen expressed in other books concerning organized crime, that the American perception of the Mob is fictious on many fronts. The most compelling point he makes asserts that it is the mindset of the people and agencies reporting on the Mob that give it its presumed corporate structure, as there is no hard evidence to suggest this is true of real organized crime (and there's even evidence to suggestion it isn't.)

The idea that the Mob is not a structured, pseudo-corporate entity spanning the nation, and is instead characterized as such by the semi-militaristic-bureaucratic cops and feds and police reporters who identify Mob activity is a point that I found very refreshing. In a genre of nonfiction that so often relies on fabulists, Lacey is a reprieve for focusing on provable fact. This is the primary reason I recommend the book, he takes the subject matter seriously enough to argue that the myth of Meyer Lansky and the Mob is a convenient bedtime story for a troubled nation.

Lacey stumbles where many scholars of organized crime do: Women are set dressing to him and the workings of economics and the requirements of a grifter's mindset evade him. He is interested in mobsters philosophizing with feds, instead of realizing a crook with his back against a wall and a Senate community in front of his nose will do whatever it takes to get out of the hot seat. Broadly, Lacey makes a 'crime doesn't pay!' case as he compares the evidence of Lansky's finances against the sales and salaries of straight businessmen, but he makes glaring omissions about the interplay of politics and economics. If a Mob owned casino was sold to a straight company in 1970 and the profits from that casino increased tenfold through the 1980s it may not be because the American public breathed a sigh of relief at not playing at a gangster's table. It might have something to do with Reaganomics.

Altogether the best written Mob biography I've read, intelligent and stern in its reporting but not without compassion, Lacey rises above his own failings to tell the story of a small man and the fractured family he raised.

[houseofbrat]

Of course he takes after Diana. The Spencer ego doesn't get outbreeded very easily, and don't forget that Diana was a borderline personality. (Borderline personality = emotional terrorist.)

‘He has proved no Sweet William when roused,’ writes Lacey. ‘In the years after her 2005 marriage to Prince Charles, Camilla recounted to members of her own family and close friends her surprise at discovering this unexpected side to Prince Charming – "the boy’s got a temper!" ‘Charles’s wife was horrified at the ranting and raving that William unleashed on occasion against her husband in her presence. ‘The rows were shattering, by Camilla’s account in the early days, with William doing the shouting and Charles submitting meekly on the receiving end. As she described it, William held nothing back.’ It was a wrath, suggests Lacey, commensurate with William’s sense of himself as future King. Today, it is largely hidden, but younger brother Harry has his own views on William’s anger. Writing in his memoir, Spare, Harry claims that in one 2019 row at Nottingham Cottage in the grounds of Kensington Palace, William had ‘grabbed me by the collar, ripping my necklace, and he knocked me to the floor.’ A dog bowl was apparently broken in the fracas. (Prince William has never given his version of events.) According to Lacey, the anger had been apparent from early on, notably when his mother, Diana, had appeared in a 1995 Panorama interview with the now disgraced Martin Bashir. To the profound embarrassment of William, then studying at Eton College, his mother had appeared on national television discussing the breakdown of her marriage to his father and her affair with James Hewitt. According to a friend, the ‘healer’ Simone Simmons, Diana soon felt the full force. ‘’’All hell broke loose,” Diana told Simmons. ‘…He started shouting and crying and when she tried to put her arms around him, he shoved her away. ‘Diana was getting a taste of how William’s intensity could lead to his notorious rages. The following day, he apologised to his mother for his temper with a small bunch of flowers.’

Not a much different experience than what the British Army was subjected to recently after having Kate listed as appearing at The Colonel's Review in June since December 2023. Then all hell broke loose because tickets were on sale, and William wasn't interested in having Kate's public appearance announced as taking place two months after Easter.

[jerseydeanne]

Throwback: “Meghan portrayed herself as the victim,” one Kensington Palace staffer claimed, “but she was the bully. People felt run over by her. They didn’t know how to handle this woman. They thought she was a complete narcissist and sociopath — basically unhinged."

New Book Claims Prince William ‘Threw Harry Out’ Following ‘Furious Confrontation’ Over Complaints Of Meghan Bullying Kensington Palace Staf

The rift between Prince William and Prince Harry was the result of an angry phone call when William confronted Harry about reports that Megh

The rift between Prince William and Prince Harry was the result of an angry phone call when William confronted Harry about reports that Meghan Markle had been bullying royal staff.

That’s the bombshell claim in Battle of Brothers: William, Harry and the Inside Story of a Family in Tumult, a new book by British historian Robert Lacey, historical adviser to “The Crown”.

According to an excerpt published in The Times, the royal rupture in the brothers’ relationship can be traced to a “furious” conversation between the brothers after William became aware of a memo from Kensington Palace communications secretary Jason Knauf detailing numerous complaints from staffers about the way they were being treated by the Duchess of Sussex.

“I’m very concerned that the duchess was able to bully two PAs out of the household in the past year,” Knauf emailed William’s private secretary Simon Case in October 2018.

Knauf described Meghan’s behaviour toward one aid as “totally unacceptable,” writing that “the duchess seems intent on always having someone in her sights.”

Knauf also alleged that Meghan had bullied another member of the staff by “seeking to undermine her confidence.” In fact, he complained, his office had received “report after report” detailing “unacceptable behaviour” by the former “Suits” star toward Kensington Palace staff.

“Meghan governed by fear,” one courtier alleged. “So many people said it. Nothing was ever good enough for her. [She] humiliated staff in meetings, [would] shout at them, [would] cut them off email chains — and then demand to know why they hadn’t done anything.”

According to the book, one aide told a colleague that “I can’t stop shaking” in advance of an encounter with Meghan, while another reported that her interaction with Meghan made her “feel sick.” In addition, another staffer accused Meghan of “emotional cruelty and manipulation, which I guess could also be called bullying.”

Some staffers claimed they were suffering from PTSD due to Meghan’s treatment, while “several” claim to have been “humiliated” by her.

In addition, there were also allegations that Harry behaved similarly.

“I overheard a conversation between Harry and one of his top aides,” recalled a Kensington Palace courtier. “Harry was screaming and screaming down the phone. Team Sussex was a really toxic environment. People shouting and screaming in each other’s faces.”

According to the excerpt, William “personally knew and liked all the individuals whom Knauf had named in his dossier,” and was “horrified” by the allegations. He immediately called Harry.

However, “when Harry flared up in furious defence of his wife, the elder brother persisted. Harry shut off his phone angrily, so William went to speak to him personally. The prince was horrified by what he had just been told about Meghan’s alleged behaviour, and he wanted to hear what Harry had to say.” That face-to-face “showdown” was reportedly “fierce and bitter.”

“Meghan portrayed herself as the victim,” one Kensington Palace staffer claimed, “but she was the bully. People felt run over by her. They didn’t know how to handle this woman. They thought she was a complete narcissist and sociopath — basically unhinged. Which was why the pair of them were drawn to each other in the first place — both damaged goods.”

Meanwhile, William felt “deeply wounded” by the experience, and came to the conclusion to split up the royal household at Kensington Palace, instructing Simon Case to immediately divide the two households.

“William wished to be separated from Meghan on a day-to-day basis — and that meant being separated from his brother as well,” noted the excerpt, which was when Harry and Meghan moved to new digs at Windsor.

“William,” said a friend, “threw Harry out.”

[sussex-sweetheart]

[exhaled-spirals]

« It was the quietness of life in a medieval English village that would most strike a visitor from today—no planes overhead, no swish or rumble from traffic. Stop reading this book a minute. Can you hear something? Some machine turning? A waterpipe running? A distant radio or a pneumatic drill digging up the road? Of all the varieties of modern pollution, noise is the most insidious. 

Yet in the year 1000 the hedgerows actually had a sound. You could hear baby birds chirping in their nests, and the only mechanical noise you would hear came from the wheezing of the blacksmith’s bellows. In some villages you might have heard the bell in the church tower, or the creaking and clunking of the wooden cogs in one of the water-mills that had been constructed in the last 200 years, and if you lived near one of England’s dozen or so cathedrals, you would have heard the heavy metal cascadings of sound from the copper windpipes of one of the recently imported church organs. But that was all. As bees buzzed and wood pigeons cooed, you could listen to God’s creation and take pleasure in its subtle variety. »

— Robert Lacey, The Year 1000

[ingek73]

Go Meghan

(at the time it was made quite clear that security made her leave the market)

[royalpain16]

Prince William and Prince Harry Had 'Fierce and Bitter' Argument Over Meghan Markle Bullying Claims

Historian Robert Lacey, who consults on The Crown, claims the brothers split after William confronted Harry about allegations of bullying made against Meghan Markle by palace staff.

Sensational new claims about the fracturing of the close relationship between between Prince William and Prince Harry have emerged in a new book by historian Robert Lacey.

Lacey has updated Battle of Brothers: The Inside Story of a Family in Tumult with added chapters and new material, and in new excerpts in The Times newspaper in the U.K. published on Saturday, the veteran writer outlines more details of their split.

William, 38, and Harry, 36, were originally said to have fallen out over William's doubts about the speed at which his brother was moving with his then-girlfriend Meghan Markle.

Lacey writes that although relations between the princes had eased by the time of Harry and Meghan's May 2018 wedding, they worsened again in October 2018 when William learned that a senior palace aide was making allegations of bullying by Meghan to staffers.

When William heard those claims and confronted his brother, they had a "fierce and bitter" argument, Lacey writes - leading William to start moves to remove Harry and Meghan from the joint office, or household, they shared.

"William threw Harry out," a friend tells Lacey.

When the bullying claims first emerged, in the The Times in the U.K. in March, the Duchess of Sussex's office strongly refuted the allegations. The Palace set up an independent inquiry into the claims and how they were handled.

Lacey's book describes an angry confrontation between the princes - first over the phone and then in person when William asked Harry about the bullying claims.

"When Harry flared up in furious defense of his wife, the elder brother persisted," reads an excerpt. "Harry shut off his phone angrily, so William went to speak to him personally. The prince was horrified by what he had just been told about Meghan's alleged behavior, and he wanted to hear what Harry had to say. The showdown between the brothers was fierce and bitter."

Representatives for Kensington Palace, where William has his office, did not comment on the claims made in the book when contacted by PEOPLE. A representative for the Sussexes also declined to comment.

Lacey also claims that Kate Middleton had been "wary of [Meghan] from the start" and says that William told a friend he thought she had an "agenda," and that the allegations he was now hearing in fall of 2018 appeared to support his initial reservations about Meghan.

Lacey quotes a Kensington Palace staffer as saying that "people felt run over" by Meghan and "didn't know how to handle" her.

The new excerpts come as the brothers prepare to reunite to unveil a statue commemorating the life of their late mother, Princess Diana, on July 1, which would have been her 60th birthday.

In the first edition of the book, Lacey explored the rift, rooting the schism in their parents' turbulent marriage.

"Both brothers have been damaged by their upbringings; both have reacted by finding different solutions," says the author, who is also the historical consultant for Netflix's The Crown. "There is so much pain and trauma in this story, going right back to the beginning."

He said that mounting tensions accompanied Harry and Meghan Markle's whirlwind relationship.

"The fundamental conflict was between the two males who had known each other all their lives and had never hesitated to tell each other exactly what they thought and felt," Lacey wrote. "William worried that his brother was moving too fast in his courtship - and he did not shrink from saying as much when Harry started talking about getting hitched to Meghan quite soon."

[thecrownnet]

LOOK WHAT I GOT TODAY!!!

Who wants a video review???