Skip to main content

Palm Beach Babylon by Murray Weiss and Bill Hoffmann: book review



Palm Beach Babylon: The Sinful History of America's Super-Rich Paradise (1992, this edition 2015) is about the island in Florida where the rich and famous live and vacation. 


The book mentions the island’s founder Henry Flagler – establishing Palm Beach in 1894 for the ‘recuperative powers of Florida’s sunshine’ – as well as its guests, visitors, and residents: Isadora Duncan, Gloria Swanson, Marjorie Merriweather Post, the Kennedys, Larry Flynt, John Lennon, Estee Lauder, Donald Trump, the Dodges, Helmsleys, Pulitzers, Vanderbilts, Mizners, and Madoffs – to name a few. 

The book is more than tales of sex, drugs, and parties – or of mansions and El Mirasol. There is history behind the stories. After Henry Flagler’s death in 1913, his wife, Mary Lily, became America’s first ‘independent female millionaire.’ And the scandals start with her death in 1917 – and the autopsy of her body to determine whether her death was a result of foul play. 

The stock market and real estate crash of 1929 affected millionaires badly – literally overnight: ‘fortunes were gutted, businesses wrecked, jobs lost, lives ruined.’ Enter resident Joe Kennedy, his family fortune, and his mansion, the ‘Winter White House.’ 

Keeping to a rough chronological order, the book is separated into people and themes, rather than a strict timeline, which is an easy and orderly way to read about Palm Beach’s history of residents. For example, 60-year-old Robert Young’s railroad disaster of 1958 (and the years that led to his disaster), followed by the Kennedys in the 1960s, with the inauguration of John F Kennedy as America’s 35th president in 1961.

An interesting chapter is about John Lennon’s purchase of property in Palm Beach in 1980 – the first worldwide acclaimed musician to reside there. The authors write of Lennon’s reunion at Palm Beach with his son Julian after 16 years apart. 

The authors conclude in 1990 with the trial of Jeffrey Diamond for attempting to blackmail Roxanne Pultizer’s fiancé. For this 2015 edition, the authors add an epilogue which summarizes the lives of the residents and the introduction of the Trumps, and President Donald Trump’s private country club, Mar-A-Lago, built by Marjorie Merriweather Post.

The book presents a novel way of defining part of America’s history in terms of it business people and entrepreneurs, celebrities and politicians, and the way they live in the tropical Florida haven of the rich and famous. 







MARTINA NICOLLSis an international aid and development consultant, and the authorof:- Similar But Different in the Animal Kingdom(2017), The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pir-E-Kamil - The Perfect Mentor by Umera Ahmed: book review

The Perfect Mentor pbuh  (2011) is set in Lahore and Islamabad in Pakistan. The novel commences with Imama Mubeen in medical university. She wants to be an eye specialist. Her parents have arranged for her to marry her first cousin Asjad. Salar Sikander, her neighbour, is 18 years old with an IQ of 150+ and a photographic memory. He has long hair tied in a ponytail. He imbibes alcohol, treats women disrespectfully and is generally a “weird chap” and a rude, belligerent teenager. In the past three years he has tried to commit suicide three times. He tries again. Imama and her brother, Waseem, answer the servant’s call to help Salar. They stop the bleeding from his wrist and save his life. Imama and Asjad have been engaged for three years, because she wants to finish her studies first. Imama is really delaying her marriage to Asjad because she loves Jalal Ansar. She proposes to him and he says yes. But he knows his parents won’t agree, nor will Imama’s parents. That
1 comment
Read more

Flaws in the Glass, a self-portrait by Patrick White: book review

The manuscript, Flaws in the Glass (1981), is Patrick Victor Martindale White’s autobiography. White, born in 1912 in England, migrated to Sydney, Australia, when he was six months old. For three years, at the age of 20, he studied French and German literature at King’s College at the University of Cambridge in England. Throughout his life, he published 12 novels. In 1957 he won the inaugural Miles Franklin Literary Award for Voss, published in 1956. In 1961, Riders in the Chariot became a best-seller, winning the Miles Franklin Literary Award. In 1973, he was the first Australian author to be awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature for The Eye of the Storm, despite many critics describing his works as ‘un-Australian’ and himself as ‘Australia’s most unreadable novelist.’ In 1979, The Twyborn Affair was short-listed for the Booker Prize, but he withdrew it from the competition to give younger writers the opportunity to win the award. His autobiography, Flaws in the Glass
Post a Comment
Read more

Sister cities discussed: Canberra and Islamabad

Two months ago, in March 2015, Australia and Pakistan agreed to explore ways to deepen ties. The relationship between Australia and Pakistan has been strong for decades, and the two countries continue to keep dialogues open. The annual bilateral discussions were held in Australia in March to continue engagements on a wide range of matters of mutual interest. The Pakistan delegation discussed points of interest will include sports, agriculture, economic growth, trade, border protection, business, and education. The possible twinning of the cities of Canberra, the capital of Australia, and Islamabad, the capital of Pakistan, were also on the agenda (i.e. called twin towns or sister cities). Sister City relationships are twinning arrangements that build friendships as well as government, business, culture, and community linkages. Canberra currently has international Sister City relationships with Beijing in China and Nara in Japan. One example of existing
1 comment
Read more