
I'll Build a Stairway to Paradise
A Life of Bunny Mellon
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Narrated by:
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Christa Lewis
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By:
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Mac Griswold
About this listen
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.
©2022 Mac Griswold (P)2022 TantorListeners also enjoyed...
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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!!
Great pairing of author &reader produced engrossing biography of brilliant, self educated, disciplined, romantic, rich American
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Some sparks on a mostly dull account
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Poorly written
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