Interesting book about the history of Palm Beach, FL from the early development by Mr. Flagler until Trump bought Mar-a-Lago. ( )

An interesting and informative history of the famous estate, Mar-A-Lago and the surrounding Palm Beach community. Living quite near this magnificent structure I found it exciting to read about something I could at least drive by. At least when the president is not there.

The story behind Flagler and his development of Palm Beach along with Marjorie Post and her excesses of the lavish lifestyle is quite a story. The plight of the wealthy when what they build becomes so expensive to maintain the no one wants to deal with it.

Trump despite all his criticism did seem to have the perfect solution to keep the property intact with the memberships. Had he not stepped it quite likely would have been demolished and the land subdivided, a real shame. ( )

A historical story of the wealthy in America that have a common thread connecting to Palm Beach. Wealth, ambition, and the creation of Palm Beach are the connecting themes. Extensively researched details. . ( )

I received an audio book version of 'Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, and the Rise of America's Xanadu as a Library Thing Early Reviewer.

This was an outstanding experience enjoying the writing of Les Standiford narrated skillfully by John McLain. I have a special interest as I live a few miles directly west of Mar-A-Lago and have always been fascinated with the property. I've been by it countless times over the years, but, of course, never rich or important enough to have been inside. Being an avid supporter of the current owner, our great President, Donald Trump, I was interested in learning the history of Palm Beach and Mar-A-Lago, specifically.

Recently, out-of-state relatives visited and we had occasion to show them the many mansions along Ocean Bv. in Palm Beach, starting appropriately with Mar-A-Lago, and I was able to share tidbits of information on the Southern White House that I learned from Standiford's wonderful book.

The story of Marjorie Merriweather Post and Henry Flagler was especially intriguing and I really enjoyed learning so much about Flagler that I had never heard of before, especially his amazing business acumen, and surprisingly all the drama and tribulations in his personal life.

Standiford has brought these historic characters to life, blood, sweat and tears with the help of McLain's smooth narration. If you have any interest in the early days of Palm Beach and/or the tremendous impact Henry Flagler had on Florida generally, and Palm Beach and/or Mar-A-Lago specifically, you will consider your time well spent listening to this captivating audio book. ( )

If you pick up this book to read about Donald Trump, you will be disappointed because as Trump occupies perhaps, 10% at most in this book. But that is only fair since the history of Florida has been written by con men, skallywags, and other dubious characters ever since Ponce de Leon landed on the peninsula.

Standiford starts this story with Henry Flagler, the Standard Oil baron who, upon retirement, decided to spend his twilight years developing Florida. Flagler built the railroad that opened south Florida to development and took special interest in developing Palm Beach, building both the Royal Poinciana and the Breakers Hotels. Later, after World War I Flagler was joined by Paris Singer in developing properties for the rich. One of the richest was Marjorie Merriweather Post, the heiress to the Post cereal fortune and married to EH Hutton, owner of the famous brokerage firm who built Mar-A-Lago and reigned as the queen of Palm Beach society into the 1960's.

Mrs. Post wanted to leave Mar-A-Lago to the US government for use as a national park or a winter residence for US Presidents or foreign dignitaries.. However, the cost of maintaining the large estate, plus the conditions imposed by the Palm Beach civic government, made this impossible. Enter Donald Trump who purchased the property via a complex multi-bank transaction that seems to be the way he operated in all his business dealings. During his financial troubles in the 1990's Trump turned Mar-A-Lago into a private club in order to finance its annual multi-million dollar maintenance expense, and here it remains to this day.

This is an eminently readable history of South Florida. ( )