Dangerous Woman: American Beauty, Noted Philanthropist, Nazi Collaborator - The Life of Florence Gould

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Paperback
2019
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Born in turn-of-the-century San Francisco to French parents, Florence moved to Paris, aged eleven. Believing that only money brought respectability and happiness, she became the third wife of Frank Jay Gould, son of the railway millionaire Jay Gould. She guided Frank's millions into hotels and casinos, creating a luxury hotel and casino empire. She entertained Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, Joseph Kennedy, and many Hollywood stars, like Charlie Chaplin, who became her lover. While the party ended for most Americans after the Crash of 1929, Frank and Florence refused to go home. During the Occupation, Florence took several German lovers and hosted a controversial salon. As the Allies closed in, the unscrupulous Florence became embroiled in a notorious money laundering operation for fleeing high-ranking Nazis. Yet after the war, not only did she avoid prosecution, but her vast fortune bought her respectability as a significant contributor to the Metropolitan Museum and New York University, among many others. It also earned her friends like Estee Lauder who obligingly looked the other way. A seductive and utterly amoral woman who loved to say money doesn't care who owns it , Florence's life proved a strong argument that perhaps money can buy happiness after all.

Synopsis

Born in turn-of-the-century San Francisco to French parents, Florence moved to Paris, aged eleven. Believing that only money brought respectability and happiness, she became the third wife of Frank Jay Gould, son of the railway millionaire Jay Gould. She guided Frank's millions into hotels and casinos, creating a luxury hotel and casino empire. She entertained Zelda and Scott Fitzgerald, Pablo Picasso, Joseph Kennedy, and many Hollywood stars, like Charlie Chaplin, who became her lover. While the party ended for most Americans after the Crash of 1929, Frank and Florence refused to go home. During the Occupation, Florence took several German lovers and hosted a controversial salon. As the Allies closed in, the unscrupulous Florence became embroiled in a notorious money laundering operation for fleeing high-ranking Nazis. Yet after the war, not only did she avoid prosecution, but her vast fortune bought her respectability as a significant contributor to the Metropolitan Museum and New York University, among many others. It also earned her friends like Estee Lauder who obligingly looked the other way. A seductive and utterly amoral woman who loved to say money doesn't care who owns it , Florence's life proved a strong argument that perhaps money can buy happiness after all.

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More Information

Format: Paperback
Pages: 400
Edition: Reprint
Publisher: Griffin
Published: 14 Jan 2019
ISBN 10: 1250311357
ISBN 13: 9781250311351

Media Reviews

Praise for A Dangerous Woman:

Energetic...Ronald's group portrait is breath-taking and quite modern. --New York Times Book Review

Ronald traces Gould's amoral life and high-flying times...elegant and beautiful, she used sex and charm as her currency, trading them for favors and luxuries that let her sail through the war years unscathed. --New York Post

A lively picture of the world in which Florence moved, with all its intricate financial shenanigans, rivalrous investors and glittering social occasions. --Wall Street Journal

Ronald provides an unvarnished account of the life of avant-garde socialite Florence Lacaze Gould, whose dazzling, gilded lifestyle belied her dark side as a libertine, Nazi collaborator, and war profiteer...History lovers will welcome this impressive book about a captivating, flawed woman. --Publishers Weekly

Drawing on many published sources, newspaper reports of Gould's scandalous escapades, and Gould's often fraudulent testimony when she was interrogated as a Nazi collaborator, Ronald conveys the glittering surface of Gould's life...A light, lively narrative about a singular, narcissistic woman. --Kirkus Reviews

Praise for Hitler's Art Thief:

[A] riveting portrait of Gurlitt, who detested the Nazis, and stole from them, but did their bidding in the name of 'saving modern art'. --The New Yorker

Ronald situates Gurlitt's life and career amid the turmoil of Weimar Germany and then the evolution of Nazi art-looting campaigns...[adding] many new details about Gurlitt's dealings. --Wall Street Journal

Susan Ronald tells the back story of what may be the most startling art-world bust in modern history. --USA Today

One man's extraordinary career of thievery...an exhaustively researched and well written book that has a cautionary tale for all of us. --Forbes

Outstanding...Hitler's Art Thief brilliantly examines the motivating forces, both internal and external, that led Hildebrand Gurlitt to go work for the F hrer. --The Jerusalem Post

Author Bio

Born and raised in the United States, SUSAN RONALD has lived in England for more than twenty-five years. She is the author of several books, including A Dangerous Woman, Hitler's Art Thief, Heretic Queen, The Pirate Queen, and Shakespeare's Daughter.