Henry and Clare: An Intimate Portrait of the Luces.
Martin, Ralph G.
Place Published: E Rutherford, New Jersey, U.S.
Publisher: Putnam Pub Group,
Date Published: 1991.
Description: 463 pages plus 32 pages black & white photos. The book is FINE. The dust jacket is NEAR FINE with minor wear. JMVintage specializes in books, magazines, and treasures related to the Duke & Duchess of Windsor..and other curious subjects. "To the millions who admired them and courted their favor, Henry and Clare Boothe Luce were two of the most influential figures of their times. He was the publisher of Time, Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated, a man befriended by popes and presidents. She was one of the most important women in the Republican Party. Together they seemed invincible, a couple whose professional success was matched only by their personal happiness. Yet the image of contentment they so carefully cultivated was not what it seemed. Ralph G. Martin, who has spent three decades profiling great historical figures, is the first biographer to explore fully the astonishing lives and careers of both Luces. Intermeshing the two portraits, he traces Henry's youth back to China, where he grew up the son of Presbyterian missionaries. Witnessing the stark poverty and brutality of early twentieth-century China, Harry, as his family and friends called him, was raised with a sense of mission: He wanted to change the world. In contrast, Clare was a child of the tenements. Abandoned by her father at an early age, pushed by her mother to be a child actress, she made a brief, unhappy marriage to a wealthy alcoholic who abused her. After her divorce, Clare used an intimate friend, the powerful publisher Conde Nast, to advance her new career in journalism. She swiftly rose to become managing editor of Vanity Fair in the thirties. In 1934 the fragile blonde with the will of steel met the brusque young publishing tycoon at a Manhattan party. Totally smitten, Luce quickly divorced the mother of his two sons to marry Clare. During their years together, he became a behind-the- scenes confidant to many world leaders, including Eisenhower, Churchill, and Kennedy; Clare wrote the acclaimed play The Women, served two terms I as a V.S. congresswoman, and became the U.S.'s much admired ambassador to Italy. But privately the Luces were an embattled, competitive pair. Each engaged in extensive love affairs: Her name was linked with some of the great figures of her time, including Bernard Baruch and Randolph Churchill; Luce fell deeply in love with two women he wanted to marry. Inevitably the Luces fought over divorce and, in the end, settled for a lonely accord. Henry and Clare is the poignant story of their extraordinary triumphs and deep sorrows. Cast against some of the great historical moments of the century, it is a portrait of two individuals who could influence, even control, world events-but not their own private impulses. Ralph G. Martin is the author of the two-volume biography Jennie: The Life of Lady Randolph Churchill; The Woman He Loved: The Story of the Duke and Duchess of Windsor; A Hero for Our Times; and Charles and Diana. He lives in Westport, Connecticut."
Binding: Hard BackCondition: Fine in Near Fine dj
ISBN: 0399136525
Book Id: 9731
Price: $13.50
