Palm Beach, MaraLago, and the Rise ..., Les Standiford
Palm Beach, MaraLago, and the Rise ..., Les Standiford
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Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, and the Rise of America's Xanadu

Author: Les Standiford

Narrator: John McLain

Unabridged: 8 hr 11 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 11/05/2019

Synopsis

Looking at the island of Palm Beach today, with its unmatched mansions, tony shops, and pristine beaches, one is hard pressed to visualize the dense tangle of Palmetto brush and mangroves that it was when visionary entrepreneur and railroad tycoon Henry Flagler first arrived there in April 1893. Trusting his remarkable instincts, within less than a year he had built the Royal Poinciana Hotel, and two years later what was to become the legendary Breakers—instantly establishing the island as the preferred destination for those who could afford it. Over the next 125 years, Palm Beach has become synonymous with exclusivity—especially its most famous residence, "Mar-a-Lago." As Les Standiford relates, "the high walls of Mar-a-Lago and other manses like it were seemingly designed to contain scandal within as much as keep intruders out."

With the authority and narrative prose style that has gained Standiford's work widespread acclaim, Palm Beach, Mar-a-Lago, and the Rise of America's Xanadu tells the history of this fabled landscape intertwined with the colorful lives of its famous protagonists.

About Les Standiford

Les Standiford is the author of the bestselling Last Train to Paradise: Henry Flagler and the Spectacular Rise and Fall of the Railroad that Crossed an Ocean, Water to the Angels: William Mulholland, His Monumental Aqueduct, and the Rise of Los Angeles, and Meet you in Hell: Andrew Carnegie, Henry Clay Frick, and the Bitter Partnership that Transformed America, among many other works of fiction and nonfiction. He lives with his wife, Kimberly, in Florida.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Valerity (Val)

This book is about the development of Palm Beach (and other parts of the east coast of Florida) by Henry Flagler beginning in the late 1800s, but it’s so much more. There’s lots of background on Flagler and other moguls that is eye-opening. Flagler began with putting in a railroad that would go to S......more

Goodreads review by Jena

I have been bubbling over and entertaining my friends and family with scenes and stories from this wonderful fairytale history of Palm Beach. That’s all I’ve been talking about- so let me share my findings with you, my reading friends. The title of this book spotlights the places in Florida we’ll be......more

Goodreads review by Mary

A few years ago I read Water to the Angels, about Los Angeles, and loved it. This book, the author's latest, is about Palm Beach, where I live. Although I've learned about the history of Palm Beach over the years, I enjoyed the way Standiford pulled together the people who were essential to the crea......more

Goodreads review by Thomas

Aside from the White House, there may be no more prominent private residence in the United States other than Mar-a-lago - the nearly 18 acre Florida estate spanning southerly Palm Beach Island from the Atlantic Ocean on the east to Lake Worth on the west. Mar-a-lago, designed by Joseph Urban and......more

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