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I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise
- A Life of Bunny Mellon
- Narrated by: Christa Lewis
- Length: 17 hrs and 47 mins
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I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise
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Publisher's summary
Bunny Mellon, whose life was marked by astonishing good fortune as well as tragedy and scandal, remains a singular figure in the annals of American design. She had her finger on the pulse of American culture and possessed a rare sense of style and grace. Her most celebrated work—the White House Rose Garden—demonstrated how formal restraint and the sparing use of color could be deployed to maximal effect.
In I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise, Mac Griswold—who knew Mellon personally—delves into her subject's closely-guarded personal archives to construct an unrivaled portrait of a woman as complex and multifaceted as the gardens and homes on which she left her mark. This book explores the tension between Mellon's idea of herself as a "poor little rich girl" and her own enterprising spirit. Mellon tested the anodyne 1950s model of woman as-wife-as-mother by getting a divorce, admitting candidly to her first husband that she wanted a richer one. She imperiously traded old friends for new, and ultimately used her reputation, her connections, and above all her money to help fund John Edwards's short-lived presidential campaign.
How Mellon's character, style, and taste developed together to produce her greatest accomplishments—private and public—is the real subject of this biography.
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 33
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 31
Bestselling author the Countess of Carnarvon tells the thrilling behind-the-scenes story of the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun on its centennial, and explores the unparalleled life of family ancestor George Herbert—the famed Egyptologist, world-traveler, and 5th Earl of Carnarvon behind it—whose country house, Highclere Castle, is the setting of the beloved series Downton Abbey.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Plodding Family History…Akin to Listening to Paint Dry
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Beatrix Potter
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- By: Linda Lear
- Narrated by: Anne Flosnik
- Length: 18 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 36
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 28
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 27
Linda Lear offers the astonishing portrait of an extraordinary woman who gave us some of the most beloved children's books of all time. Beatrix Potter found freedom from her conventional Victorian upbringing in the countryside. Nature inspired her imagination as an artist and scientific illustrator, but "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" brought her fame, financial success, and the promise of happiness when she fell in love with her editor, Norman Warne. After his tragic and untimely death, Potter embraced a new life as the owner of Hill Top Farm in the English Lake District.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Narration is difficult!
- By Grateful Listener SME on 11-12-19
By: Linda Lear
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Broken Glass
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- Length: 8 hrs and 48 mins
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 73
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 56
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 56
In 1945, Edith Farnsworth asked the German architect Mies van der Rohe, already renowned for his avant-garde buildings, to design a weekend home for her outside of Chicago. Edith was a woman ahead of her time—unmarried, she was a distinguished medical researcher, as well as an accomplished violinist, translator, and poet. The two quickly began spending weekends together, talking philosophy, Catholic mysticism, and, of course, architecture over wine-soaked picnic lunches.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Tedious and disappointing
- By Deborah McGarr Hutchins on 02-03-23
By: Alex Beam
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Empty Mansions
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- By: Bill Dedman, Paul Clark Newell Jr.
- Narrated by: Kimberly Farr
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- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 1,430
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,235
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Story4 out of 5 stars 1,238
When Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed in 2009 a grand home for sale, unoccupied for nearly 60 years, he stumbled through a surprising portal into American history. Empty Mansions is a rich mystery of wealth and loss, connecting the Gilded Age opulence of the 19th century with a 21st-century battle over a $300 million inheritance. At its heart is a reclusive heiress named Huguette Clark, a woman so secretive that, at the time of her death at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen in decades.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Fascinating, But Know This...
- By Karen K on 04-08-15
By: Bill Dedman, and others
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The Cartiers
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- By: Francesca Cartier Brickell
- Narrated by: Hattie Morahan
- Length: 23 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 527
-
Performance5 out of 5 stars 451
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 450
The Cartiers is the revealing tale of a jewelry dynasty—four generations, from revolutionary France to the 1970s. At its heart are the three Cartier brothers whose motto was “Never copy, only create” and who made their family firm internationally famous in the early days of the twentieth century, thanks to their unique and complementary talents.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Wonderful Experience to Listen to This Story
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The Glossy Years
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- Narrated by: Nicholas Coleridge
- Length: 13 hrs and 35 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 23
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 21
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 21
Over his 30-year career at Condé Nast, Nicholas Coleridge has witnessed it all. From the anxieties of the Princess of Wales to the blazing fury of Mohamed Al-Fayed, his story is also the story of the people who populate the glamorous world of glossy magazines. With relish and astonishing candour, he offers the inside scoop on Tina Brown and Anna Wintour, David Bowie and Philip Green, Kate Moss and Beyonce and a surreal weekend away with Bob Geldof and William Hague.
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5 out of 5 stars
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A superfun inside look @ world of magazine editors
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Remembering Shanghai
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- By: Isabel Sun Chao, Claire Chao
- Narrated by: Rachel Yong, Claire Chao, Isabel Sun Chao
- Length: 7 hrs and 59 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 76
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 60
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 61
Meticulously researched, Remembering Shanghai follows five generations, from vibrant Shanghai to the bright lights of Hong Kong. By turns harrowing and heartwarming, this vivid memoir explores identity and loss against the epic backdrop of a country in turmoil.
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5 out of 5 stars
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touching stories of resilience and family
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By: Isabel Sun Chao, and others
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Vanderbilt
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- By: Anderson Cooper, Katherine Howe
- Narrated by: Anderson Cooper
- Length: 8 hrs and 50 mins
- Unabridged
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 5,517
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 4,788
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 4,761
New York Times best-selling author and journalist Anderson Cooper teams with New York Times best-selling historian and novelist Katherine Howe to chronicle the rise and fall of a legendary American dynasty - his mother’s family, the Vanderbilts.
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4 out of 5 stars
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Interesting Approach to a Well Known History
- By HistoryNerd on 09-24-21
By: Anderson Cooper, and others
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Foursome
- Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O'Keeffe, Paul Strand, Rebecca Salsbury
- By: Carolyn Burke
- Narrated by: Amanda Carlin
- Length: 16 hrs and 57 mins
- Unabridged
-
Overall4 out of 5 stars 55
-
Performance4 out of 5 stars 44
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 43
New York, 1921: Acclaimed photographer Alfred Stieglitz celebrates the success of his latest exhibition - the centerpiece, a series of nude portraits of his soon-to-be wife, the young Georgia O'Keeffe. The exhibit acts as a turning point for the painter poised to make her entrance into the art scene. There, she meets Rebecca Salsbury, the fiancé of Stieglitz’s protégé, Paul Strand, marking the start of a bond between the couples that will last more than a decade and reverberate throughout their lives.
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3 out of 5 stars
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A competent account of four interesting lives
- By Sil A. on 11-21-20
By: Carolyn Burke
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America's Queen
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- By: Sarah Bradford
- Narrated by: Sandra Burr
- Length: 8 hrs and 55 mins
- Abridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 74
-
Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 59
-
Story4.5 out of 5 stars 58
Using remarkable new sources, Sarah Bradford has written a timely celebration of a life that was more private than commonly supposed. Revealing new testimony from many of the couple's friends shows the complexities of this apparently very public relationship and of her controversial marriage to Aristotle Onassis. Here is the private Jackie - neglected wife, vigilant mother, and working widow - whose contradictory and fascinating nature is illuminated by all that Bradford has discovered.
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4 out of 5 stars
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American Royalty
- By Kindle Customer on 06-10-16
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Eleanor in the Village
- By: Jan Jarboe Russell
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 31
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Performance5 out of 5 stars 24
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 24
A captivating blend of personal history detailing Eleanor’s struggle with issues of marriage, motherhood, financial independence, and femininity, and a vibrant portrait of one of the most famous neighborhoods in the world, this unique work examines the ways that the sensibility, mood, and various inhabitants of the neighborhood influenced the First Lady’s perception of herself and shaped her political views over four decades, up to her death in 1962.
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5 out of 5 stars
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Grabs your attention
- By Amanda Hodges on 05-13-21
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Wait for Me!
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 120
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 85
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 87
Deborah Mitford, Duchess of Devonshire, is the youngest of the famously witty brood that includes the writers Jessica and Nancy, who wrote when Deborah was born, "How disgusting of the poor darling to go and be a girl." Deborah's effervescent memoir chronicles her remarkable life, from an eccentric but happy childhood in the Oxfordshire countryside, to tea with Adolf Hitler and her controversially political sister Unity in 1937, to her marriage to the second son of the Duke of Devonshire.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The last of the Mitford Sisters
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Prince Charles
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- Unabridged
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Overall4 out of 5 stars 388
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 350
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Story4 out of 5 stars 351
From the New York Times best-selling author of Elizabeth the Queen comes the first major biography of Prince Charles in more than 20 years - perfect for fans of The Crown. Sally Bedell Smith returns once again to the British royal family to give us a new look at Prince Charles, the oldest heir to the throne in more than 300 years.
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3 out of 5 stars
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Diana dissed at every chance
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Fortune's Children
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 803
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 719
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 715
Written by descendant Arthur T. Vanderbilt II, Fortune's Children traces the dramatic and amazingly colorful history of this great American family, from the rise of industrialist and philanthropist Cornelius Vanderbilt to the fall of his progeny - wild spendthrifts whose profligacy bankrupted a vast inheritance.
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5 out of 5 stars
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The Rise and Fall of the Gilded Age
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Lady in Waiting
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 1,977
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 1,706
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 1,682
Anne Glenconner has been at the center of the royal circle from childhood, when she met and befriended the future Queen Elizabeth II and her sister, the Princess Margaret. Though the firstborn child of the fifth Earl of Leicester, who controlled one of the largest estates in England, as a daughter she was deemed "the greatest disappointment" and unable to inherit. Since then she has needed all her resilience to survive court life with her sense of humor intact.
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1 out of 5 stars
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Horrible Reading
- By Teddy hall on 03-27-20
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The Husband Hunters
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Overall4.5 out of 5 stars 670
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Performance4.5 out of 5 stars 572
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Story4.5 out of 5 stars 569
Towards the end of the 19th century and for the first few years of the 20th, a strange invasion took place in Britain. The citadel of power, privilege, and breeding in which the titled, land-owning governing class had barricaded itself for so long was breached. The incomers were a group of young women who, 50 years earlier, would have been looked on as the alien denizens of another world - the New World, to be precise. From 1874 - the year that Jennie Jerome, the first known "Dollar Princess", married Randolph Churchill - to 1905, dozens of young American heiresses married into the British peerage....
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5 out of 5 stars
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Bondfide Valuable History Lesson
- By A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies. on 09-21-18
By: Anne de Courcy
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What listeners say about I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Performance5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- Gracenote
- 05-31-23
Great pairing of author &reader produced engrossing biography of brilliant, self educated, disciplined, romantic, rich American
The perfect narration for this epic biography of Bunny Mellon. It wasn’t a word too
long! What a treat to hear Christ’s Lewis speak French with a Loire Valley accent - I am told the purest spoken French is from that region!
Mac Griswold’s biography shows a deep dive into primary sources as well as and first hand knowledge of and love and admiration for Bunny Mellon. I read it while gardening in Washington Square, Philadelphia, PA. There were times which made it a Zen experience. Bravo to author and reader!!
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance2 out of 5 stars
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Story2 out of 5 stars
- GM
- 08-27-23
Poorly written
Interesting subject but the book is shallow and thinly reported. I wish I'd skipped this one.
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Overall1 out of 5 stars
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Performance4 out of 5 stars
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Story1 out of 5 stars
- Paula de la Cruz
- 02-21-23
Some sparks on a mostly dull account
This book is a missed opportunity for an engrossing read. Most big scenes are all tell and no show. The author says Bunny Mellon was “no wit” and that is reflected on every page. Melon’s relationship with art reads like a catalogue raisonné. So many anecdotes are out of chronological order the book lacks a narrative thread. Very little insight and instead quotes from Mellon’s friends’ biographies. The voice of the reader is nice to listen to.
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