Dianaworld

A kaleidoscopic portrait of Princess Diana (1961–1997), as viewed by the people whose lives she touched... White takes an evenhanded perspective on his subject... his panoramic approach attests to her lasting influence across the world. This achieves the difficult task of finding a novel take on the much-discussed former royal

Publishers Weekly

Devotees of the ‘People’s Princess’ will revel in White’s explorations of the territory behind the curtain

Kirkus Reviews

Equitable and ecumenical… White ensures that readers will appreciate the phenomenal impact this often misunderstood yet perennially alluring woman has made on the culture

Carol Haggas, Booklist

White takes advantage of a quarter-century’s distance to present the cultural postmortem she deserves

The Washington Post

Among the strengths of this book is its dissection of its subject’s self-presentation

The Telegraph

A wide-ranging cultural history of the former Princess of Wales... Dianaworld teems with striking, odd anecdotes that will be irresistible to anyone with an eye for Diana-related ephemera

Katie Rosseinsky, Independent

Dianaworld [is] a portrait of Britain and Britishness

Frances Wilson, TLS

Dianaworld is very well done... and it is that unexpected thing in this field: something of a contribution to knowledge

Philip Hensher, The Spectator

Peculiar [and] fascinating

The Observer

Deft and often odd [...] it offers valuable insights

The Telegraph

I didn’t think it possible to produce an interesting book about Princess Diana at this juncture, but, by George, White has done it [...] there is an admirable intelligence at work here

Nicola Shulman, The Literary Review

This eclectic non-fiction account of the sociological phenomenon of Princess Diana reveals some fascinating oddities

Esquire

Highly entertaining, witty and just judgemental enough... With an enjoyably light touch, White takes apart the affectation of Diana and other famous people

Moira Richard, The i Paper

Excellently written and extremely diverting

The Standard

Edward White’s lively, deeply researched Dianaworld gives us something very different... The strength of White’s approach is his desire to take seriously the stories that drew people to Diana and continue to shape her afterlives. There is no single explanation for her enduring appeal – and in fact, any attempt to provide one will seem foolish after White’s book... This book is an ingenious solution to the problem of biography in an age of global celebrity

Tiffany Watt Smith, The Guardian

Edward White has pulled off an unusual experiment in his biography of Diana, Princess of Wales – the life of one of the most famous women in history captured entirely in long shot... [his] book dives deeply into how Diana was mythologised by the media and the British people... White's surround-sound approach amplifies how Diana was both shaped by the aristocratic culture of the Britain she was born into and how much she had changed that culture by the time she died

Tina Brown, New Statesman

The best thing I’ve ever read about Princess Diana and I’ve read all of it, including her own books... It’s really fascinating, I really loved it... brilliantly done...

Marina Hyde

This humdinger of a cultural history examines Diana through the lens of the obsessives who saw in her a version of themselves

Frances Wilson, The Daily Mail