Inside the Palace: The Rise and Fall of Ferdinand & Imelda Marcos

When the Marcos regime fell, tales of scandal filled the front pages—millions of dollars squandered on clothing, art, and buildings. Here, for the first time, is the in-depth story of the goings-on behind the palace walls. Written by the only American journalist to be part of Imelda Marcos's inner circle, this chronicle details the Marcoses' lifestyle, the nature of their relationship, and the truth about who really ruled the Philippines.

For twelve years, as the wife of General Carlos P. Romulo, Ferdinand Marcos's most trusted adviser, American reporter Beth Day Romulo was on intimate terms with Imelda Marcos—she dines, traveled, shopped, and gossiped with this mercurial woman who, like Eva Perón, dictated a nation's destiny. She describes the nature of the blackmail Imelda extracted from her errant husband: the opulent junkets, decadent parties, and monumental shopping binges—as the people suffered and the revolution rolled closer.

Inside the Palace is a perceptive and fascinating account of how and why the Marcoses were overthrown, as well a remarkably vivid close-up look at high life among the Marcos elite. It is also a moving story of a great love between Carlos Romulo, Philippine foreign minister and an early president of the United Nations, and Beth Day, the young American woman who uprooted her own life in order to become part of his.

As enlightened history, as striking human drama, and as mesmerizing gossip, Inside the Palace is a graphic depiction of a dream of democracy that degenerated into a reign of excess.

Beth Day Romulo has written, twenty-six books and has been a journalist for a number of years. Her articles have appeared in The New York Times Magazine, The Saturday Evening Post, Southwest Review, Cosmopolitan, and other magazines. An assignment for Reader's Digest originally took her to the Philippines. She now lives in Manila and New York City.