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Katherine Ellison

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Imelda: Steel Butterfly of the Philippines Paperback – 26 April 2005

by Katherine Ellison (Author)

4.3 12 ratings

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A major biography by a Pulitzer Price-winning writer of one of the most complex and fascinating women of our time.Book description:"Katherine Ellison has a reporter's zeal for finding the story within the story. Her book is full of surprises." David Haward Bain, author of Sitting in Darkness: Americans in the Philippines."The research here is superb, the writing is gripping and graceful," The Washington Post."...Proves once again that absolute power corrupts absolutely...An absorbing biography, likely to be in demand," Library Journal.

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Print length

329 pages
Language

English
Publication date

26 April 2005
Dimensions

15.24 x 2.11 x 22.86 cm
ISBN-10

0595349226
ISBN-13

978-0595349227
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Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ iUniverse (26 April 2005)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 329 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0595349226
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0595349227
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 15.24 x 2.11 x 22.86 cm

Best Sellers Rank: 3,750,636 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- 7,785 in Royal Historical Biographies
- 24,773 in Political Biographies
- 41,872 in Actors & Entertainers Biographies

Customer reviews:
4.3 12 ratings

About the author

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Katherine Ellison

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When I was 11 years old, Archie Comics paid me $10 for an essay I wrote about my Miniature Schnauzer. I was hooked on reporting from that moment on.

A decade or so later, after five years of covering local issues for the San Jose Mercury News, I won a Pulitzer Prize for International Reporting for my part in a series about corruption by Philippines rulers Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos. From 1987-99 I covered Latin America, first from Mexico City and then from Rio de Janeiro for Knight-Ridder Newspapers. Since that time I've been working independently, including authoring and co-authoring 10 non-fiction books. I live in Marin County with my husband and two dogs.

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iroy abesamis

Intriguing

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 28 November 2023

Verified Purchase

Great story telling!

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Philip Van Rensselaer

Impressive

Reviewed in the United Kingdom on 27 September 2007

Few women have been more maligned in the media than Mrs. Marcos, and I challenge her critics to talk about corruption in the Philippines being any worse than, say, in Latin America. It was, in fact, Mrs. Marcos who put the Philippines on the map and laid the foundation of what it is today: in my opinion, the most important country of Southeast Asia.

I went on a business and humanitarian trip to the Philippines in the Spring of 2007 and hobnobbed with the Filipino elite as well as seeing and living the reality of the worst slums. Unless you have been physically in the Philippines, seen what I have seen, met people of the Government and of Mrs. Marcos' immediate entourage and talked to the people; not the bourgeoisie but the poor, you'd never be able to get the real picture. Kudos to Ms. Ellison for an outstanding and realistic biography.

As for the shoes: what a funny side story. Please think about one first lady who was in power for over twenty years who did it with one pair of black pumps and another pair of golden sling-backs for evening wear. For heaven's sake, one must be realistic and accept that Mrs. Marcos is only human, but with time people will realise that she, just like Presidents Quezon and Magsaysay, with warts and all, are up there on the olympus of absolute patriotism.

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Top reviews from other countries

Roy Jun

The rise and fall of the Filipina steel butterfly

Reviewed in the United States on 13 October 2019

Verified Purchase

The book was very informative and very factual in its approach to a very complicated subject. Imelda Marcos has made a name for herself thru her actions and this book expertly details what those actions were and in what context / situations they were done in. A highLy recommended read.