Mary Shanklin

Being fascinated with American architecture and the mansions built during the Gilded Age, and then the children who inherited this wealth, I was naturally drawn to this new tile on the long history of Marjorie Merriweather Post's winter home in Florida. Also, as a historic preservationist, I was fully aware of its turbulent history as a property of the U.S. government, and then it's eventual sale to Trump.

Shanklin recites the long history of Mar-a-Lago as though her primary sources where thousands of newspaper articles assembling the narrative from those scraps. This provides an informative framework, but puzzling when the reader encounters a comment about the estate taken from the Sacramento Bee or newspapers in Pittsburgh when it seems likely the account in those papers is from a wire, as those newspapers were unlikely to have any reporter in Palm Beach to give a first hand account. One would expect the journalist background would enlighten the author a little more.

Details on the architecture, the process of construction and the architect himself and his interaction with the owner of the house is particularly flat, again, seemingly with summary descriptions of the rooms of heavily dependent on newspaper accounts. Perhaps archival records on the building, correspondence with Post and the architect, etc. was unavailable or had gaps, but if you want have decided, like me, to read an entire volume on a single important building in American social history, you want an little more analysis of the process, materials and functionality of such a large home, designed mostly for social functions. If the author had alternatively gotten into the mind of Ms. Post more fully, that might have helped.

Nonetheless, I soaked up every detail provided and am thankful for that. On reflection, doesn't the National Trust for Historic Preservation come up as a major villain for its weak role in upholding the 1995 agreement that the public would have access? And why not mention the Trust attorney by name who issued the weak position that the agreement was met in 2021?

[I note the author's bio includes recognition that her stories appeared in The Los Angeles Times among other major papers. A quick review of that online archive shows a couple of brief stories written originally for the Orlando Sentinel that were picked up from the Tribune wire service and appeared in The Times. And I see another reviewer here erroneously believes the author won a Pulitzer. I think the promo-material is a little far-reaching, at least suggesting more than fact about the writer.]… (mehr)

It was fascinating to read about the construction of Mar-a-Lago, from the beginning of the idea of it for the home of Mrs. Marjorie Merriweather Post, heiress, of the cereal company and E.F. Hutton. My mother and I have visited Viscaya, which was built around the same time as Mar-a-Largo. And I loved learning about the history and all the collections in it. So, I was curious about Mar-a-Lago, which was built in the Palm Beach area. Both are huge and impressive. I did not know any of the history, and this book has been well-researched. The black and white photos show Mrs. Post and many of the visitors like Lady Bird Johnson and a couple of President Trump's wives.

I would have enjoyed seeing for myself but that is not possible. Sadly, Mrs. Post goal for Mar-a-Lago would have been a meeting place for foreign dignitaries. It was at one time, planned to be a museum, and that never worked out. It was well written and I would love to read the author's book that she won the Pulitzer Prize for.… (mehr)