Making Monte Carlo: A History of Speculation and Spectacle - Rilegato

Braude, Mark

Rilegato

ISBN 10: 1476709696 ISBN 13: 9781476709697

Casa editrice: Simon & Schuster, 2016

Riassunto

A rollicking narrative history of Monte Carlo, capturing its nineteenth-century rise as the world’s first modern casino-resort and its Jazz Age heyday as infamous playground of the rich.

Monte Carlo has long been known as a dazzling playground for the rich and famous. Less well known are the shrewd and often ruthless strategies that went into creating such a potent symbol of luxury and cosmopolitan glamour. As historian Mark Braude reveals in his entertaining and informative Making Monte Carlo, the world’s first modern casino-resort started as an unlikely prospect—with the legalization of gambling in tiny Monaco in 1855—and eventually emerged as the most glamorous gambling destination of the Victorian era. The resort declined in the wake of WWI, and was reinvented, again, to suit the styles and desires of the new Jazz Age tastemakers, such as F. Scott and Zelda Fitzgerald, Gerald and Sarah Murphy, and Coco Chanel.

Along the way, we encounter a colorful cast of characters, including the fast-talking Francois Blanc (a professional gambler, stock market manipulator, and founder of Monte Carlo); Basil Zaharoff (notorious munitions dealer and possible secret owner of the casino in the 1920s); Elsa Maxwell (a brash society figure and Hollywood maven, hired as the casino’s publicist); Réné Léon (a visionary Jewish businessman, who revitalized the resort after WWI); Jean Cocteau, Pablo Picasso, and other satellite members of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes dance company; as well as Cole Porter, Ernest Hemingway and other American expats who ‘colonized’ the Riviera in the 1920s.

A rollercoaster history of how a small, rural town grew into the prosperous resort epicenter of the late nineteenth century and rose again to greatness out of the ashes of WWI, Making Monte Carlo is a classic rags-to-riches tale set in the most scenic of European settings.

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Recensione:

“[An] entertaining history of ‘speculation and spectacle’... [a] vivid, detailed narrative.” (The Wall Street Journal)

“[A] stirring account of the creation of Monte Carlo and its rapid rise...Braude’s fluent and fast-paced writing style is ideally suited to his subject matter, which is all about vision, speed of thought and execution...this is such an overlooked history — one that Belgian author Luc Sante justifiably describes in the book’s blurb as being 'as capacious and dramatic as a 19th-century thriller.'" (Financial Times)

“Mark Braude illuminates the unsavory dealings and outright flimflam that underlay the development of this out-of-the-way principality on the French Riviera. Braude’s well-researched and deftly written history whisks the reader through Monte Carlo’s colorful past.” (The Washington Post)

“It was a wily Frenchman—and former cardsharp—who understood that by giving gambling an aura of class, royalty, millionaires and any number of fools could be persuaded to part with their money ... Making Monte Carlo [is] an anecdotal story of how it came about by Mark Braude, a lecturer in history at Stanford ... it is evident that the business model created by [the resort’s founder] Blanc 150 years ago has stood Monaco in good stead ... when it comes to Monte Carlo, there is never ‘no more bets.’” (The New York Times Book Review)

“Fascinating book...absorbing narrative...firm grounding of anecdote, fact and interpretation in impeccable sources, as revealed in the more than 50 pages of notes...One of the many delicious stories Mr. Braude has included is the pivotal role that this iconic train deluxe played in making Monte Carlo not merely a destination on the Riviera, but the destination, only one among many such delights in a book which pulsates with them.” (The Washington Times)

"Lurid tales of crime and aristocratic extravagance ... Braude describes how savvy impresarios actualized an illusion of their own devising: Monaco as a glamorous oasis in which 'sun-kissed lives played out on clay courts and under canvas sails.' ... The primary pleasure in Making Monte Carlo comes from watching the various eccentrics, lowlifes, high-rollers, and famous artists stroll in to take a seat at the table." (The Millions)

“It’s half the size of Central Park — and one of the wealthiest places on the planet. Now Braude tells how a Victorian-era gambling impresario transformed a sleepy village in resource-free Monaco into a glittering, casino-filled playground for the rich and famous — long before Las Vegas was even a dream.” (New York Post, "This Week's Must-Read Books")

"[A] fascinating new book...dazzling cameos from a rich cast of characters.” (San Jose Mercury News)

“An engrossing examination of how politics, personality, and publicity coalesced to transform a sleepy village into a luxurious playground populated with casinos and beautiful people...Braude admirably balances the political machinations with the glamorous aspects of Monte Carlo in his story” (Publishers Weekly)

“This book is full of great adventures and adventurers, schemes grand and small, and always money, lost and gained and lost again. Braude knows Monaco well and brings it to glamorous life. ... A fascinating look at a much-dreamed-about location and how it came to be.” (Booklist)

L'autore:

Mark Braude teaches history and urban studies at Stanford University. He holds a PhD in History from the University of Southern California and a Master’s in French Studies from New York University. He has been a columnist for The Globe and Mail and has written for The Daily Beast and other publications. Mark was born in Vancouver and lives in San Francisco with his wife. Making Monte Carlo is his first book.

Su questa edizione

• Editore: Simon & Schuster
• Data di pubblicazione: 2016
• ISBN 10: 1476709696
• ISBN 13: 9781476709697
• Rilegatura: Copertina rigida
• Numero di pagine: 289