The Duff Cooper Diaries: 1915-1951

I heartily recommend the Duff Cooper Diaries. This fellow experienced more in one year of his life than the vast majority of people ever do. Born into the aristocracy, he moved in the highest circles of power. A close friend of Churchill and the royal family, he held high positions in Parliament. He viewed world events and world-figures from closeup. He also drank even more than he had sex, which is saying a lot. Very entertaining book, easy to read,and informative. I was sorry when this long, compelling book ended.

Diplomat, soldier, patriot, womanizer, husband of Diana Manners - the most beautiful woman of her time - the twenties and thirties - friend to Churchill, what makes this diary appealing is the honesty of Duff Cooper, a man who makes no effort to rationalize his sexual infidelities - or to claim a higher place in his world than what he managed to obtain through wit and hard work. A very likeable diary - human and literate - qualities that reflect its author - a diary that provides an excellent read as a social history of England between the wars as seen by a man born into a privilaged class. I'd recommend it for those with a keen interest in this period, and those who simply want a glimpse into that Brideshead world that Waugh fictionalized, and that Duff Cooper lived.

A great book for those interested in the public and private life of a key political player for HMG during the first half of the last century. Nicely edited by the diarist's son. Duff Cooper was a WW I war hero, writer, member of the House of Commons, who resigned from the British cabinet over policy related to Hitler. He was a handler for the difficult General de Gaulle during WW II, then ambassador to France. While doing all this, he greatly enjoyed pretty women (often married) and very fine living. It is fitting that he ultimately died aboard ship on a New Year's Day. An incredible role of bit players appear in these diaries: to name a few, the killer of Rasputin, Will Rogers, Cole Porter, Greta Garbo, and Evelyn Waugh. Aside from the high society social history of the time, serious readers will learn more on important events and people, such as Churchill, the rise of Hitler, the handling of Palestine, De Gaulle and early post-war France, and the seeds of what is now the European Union.

Duff Cooper's name is associated with two main tempestuous events. He played a remarkable role during the Egyptian crises of the early 1920s. Saad Zaghlul - prominent Egyptian Lawyer and Prime Minister - demanded at the head of Wafd Party, independence for Egypt but the British arrested him to weaken the nationalist movement. Britain's action sparked civil unrest degenerating to debauchery and unrestrained violence. About 1000 Egyptians were killed in one month when the British decided to deport Zaghlul to Malta. That was what Egyptians call the 1919 First Revolution. Cooper interfered with the British authorities in London and was able to convince his government to back down; Saad Zaghlul was released and returned to Egypt. The Wafd `Delegation' arrived in Paris and presented its case, at Versailles' Peace Conference - post WWI - for immediate independence. What Cooper succeeded in preserving as authentic support for Zaghlul, was ruined when the United States - the Champion of Wilson's 14 points - ended up backing Great Britain, and the British Protectorate over Egypt continued for thirty five more years. Cooper was adamantly against Munich agreement signed in 1938 with Adolph Hitler. He was a staunch critic of Neville Chamberlain policy of `appeasement' and played active role that led to Chamberlain's downfall. This appears quite interesting considering Cooper's great admiration of `Talleyrand' - known as widely controversial and equivocal in European history -. Chamberlain was not naïve, he was another Talleyrand but his cohorts never noticed. In 1943, under Winston Churchill, Cooper was appointed Britain's liaison to the Free French. By 1944 he became Ambassador to France. The city of `love and romanticism' flourished intimate relationships with wives of foreign diplomats. His wife, Lady Diana Cooper, had fostered intimate relationship with the American Ambassador in Paris. Cooper was no exception; he too had `special' relationship with the wife of `an' American diplomat and it is said they had illegitimate son. While the soldiers were fighting, the diplomats were flirting. (better not to use another word !!!!)