Diana in Search of Herself

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Diana in Search of Herself: Portrait of a Troubled Princess
Author Sally Bedell Smith
Language English
Genre Biography
Publisher Times Books
Publication date
 1999
Media type Print
Pages 320
ISBN 0-8129-3030-4

Diana in Search of Herself: Portrait of a Troubled Princess is one of the books about Princess Diana that was written by best-selling author Sally Bedell Smith.[1] It was published by the Times Books in 1999.[1][2] The book is the first authoritative biography of the Princess.[3]

Content

The 320-page book focuses on troubled life of Princess Diana.[2][4] Smith interviewed nearly 150 people whose reports are used in the book to narrate the life of the Princess.[5] These people were mainly Diana's intimates, including British tabloid journalists.[6]

The most significant claim made in the book is that the Princess had suffered from borderline personality disorder.[2][7] It is also claimed that she could not fix her serious eating disorder and was not able to manage to sustain relationships.[8]

Sales

The book was included in the best seller list of the followings: The New York Times Book Review, Washington Post, Wall Street Journal, USA Today Top 50, Boston Globe, Los Angeles Times, Newsday, Barnes & Noble and Publishers Weekly.[9]

Reception

Linda Richards of the January magazine stated that the book provides an unbiased portrait of the Princess.[4] In a similar vein, the Newsweek review of the book indicated "Smith has done a remarkable job extracting what's genuinely pertinent and interesting about Diana...If you're going to read one Diana book, this should be it."[9]

On the other hand, the author was criticized by Dorothy Packer-Fletcher because of her claim that Diana had been experiencing borderline personality disorder.[10][11] Packer-Fletcher suggested that in order to establish this diagnosis there should have been psychiatric examination.[10] She further argued that the author's statement was harmful because it was a "posthumous diagnosis of mental illness".[10]

The book became a bestseller, and was also cited as controversial.[11][12]

References

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  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 10.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ 11.0 11.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found. – via Questia (subscription required)
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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