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American Beauty, Noted Philanthropist, Nazi Collaborator ? The Life of Florence Gould
St. Martin's Press
February 2018
On Sale: February 20, 2018
Featuring: Frances Gould
400 pages
ISBN: 1250092213
EAN: 9781250092212
Kindle: B074DYJKLV
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction Biography
A revealing biography of Florence Gould, fabulously wealthy socialite and patron of the arts, who hid a dark past as a Nazi collaborator in 1940βs Paris.
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 Frankβs 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, New York University, and Cornell Medical School, among many others. It also earned her friends like EstΓ©e Lauder who obligingly looked the other way. A seductive and utterly amoral woman who loved to say βmoney doesnβt care who owns itβ, Florenceβs life proved a strong argument that perhaps money can buy happiness after all.
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