By Marie Brenner
256 pages; Three Rivers Press

Think John Wayne in silk and diamonds. Marie Brenner has taken some of the great divas, courtesans and heroines of modern time and ennobled their love of men, power and vital energy. They inspire—like Kitty Carlisle Hart, who begins every day letting go of the previous day's mistakes by looking in the mirror and announcing, 'Kitty, I forgive you.'

— Diane Sawyer