The Silver Swan

December 9, 2019
In this illuminating biography, Bingham (The Blue Box) chronicles the life of philanthropist and tobacco heiress Doris Duke (1912–1993). Drawing from personal papers archived at Duke University, which bears the family’s name, as well as correspondence, journals, and reminiscences of friends and associates, Bingham eschews scandal to concentrate on the elements that shaped Duke. Details of her short-lived marriages to ne’er-do-well Jimmy Cromwell and Dominican playboy “Rubi” Rubirosa, for example, are balanced by chapters on Duke’s work as a war correspondent and undercover agent during WWII, writer for Harper’s Bazaar, investor in a Rome newspaper, and overseer of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. The story of her parents, James Buchanan and Nanaline­—­and the fortune they amassed from their tobacco and cigarette companies—give context to Duke’s wealthy, privileged upbringing. When her father’s death threatens two family properties—a mansion in New Jersey, another in Newport, R.I.—15-year-old Duke challenges their sale, becoming owner of both and establishing her lifelong role as their manager and caretaker. Duke later builds Shangri La, a Hawaiian estate featuring her Islamic art collection, and crosses paths with Eleanor Roosevelt, General Patton, Jackie Kennedy, and dozens of rumored lovers. Bingham is a generous biographer in this exacting, measured work.

January 1, 2020
A portrait of a well-known philanthropist who kept her thoughts secret. When Doris Duke (1912-1993) turned 21, she received an installment of $10 million from the trust she inherited from her billionaire father, tobacco tycoon James Buchanan "Buck" Duke. At the age of 25, she got another $10 million, and she was reputed to be the richest woman in the world. By the time she died, her net worth had burgeoned to $1.2 billion, mostly directed to the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation to support arts and social services projects. Bingham (The Blue Box: Three Lives in Letters, 2014, etc.) became fascinated by the woman whose image was relegated to a small photograph in a garden at Duke University, the institution her father had endowed. Although the author had access to a huge archive of Duke's personal papers, none of these included diaries, journals, or more than a few letters. "Nothing," Bingham notes, "that has been written or said about her can be proved--or disproved." The lack of revealing material proves a challenge that the author fails to fully overcome. The biography offers a chronicle of Duke's philanthropic largesse; her worldwide travels; luxurious residences; flamboyant marriages and love affairs; the "feuds, separations, and firings" that characterized her relationships with associates and employees; and her often puzzling friendships: with Imelda Marcos, for one, to whom Duke lent a great deal of money to help out with legal fees when she was accused of extortion; Pee-wee Herman, who earned Duke's sympathy when he was hounded by tabloids after a sexual scandal; and especially Charlene Heffner, known as Chandi, who was 32 when she met 74-year-old Duke in 1986, moved into her home, and became her intimate companion. Duke formally adopted Chandi two years later; three years after that, she instructed her staff to eject Chandi from her home. After Duke died, her foundation settled with Chandi for $65 million in return for her silence about their relationship. Bingham, too, remains silent on the matter of Duke's sexuality, emotional needs, and any glimpse of her inner life. An unsatisfying portrait of a complex woman.

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Starred review from February 15, 2020
Versatile writer Bingham (The Blue Box, 2014) was spurred to tell Doris Duke's story after she established the Sallie Bingham Archive for Women's History and Culture at Duke University, named and richly endowed by Doris' father, an industrialist who made a fortune on tobacco and hydroelectric power. There the male Dukes were conspicuously honored, but Doris (1912-93), of Doris Duke Charitable Foundation fame, was nowhere to be seen. Bingham chronicles the adventures and heartbreaks of the tabloid-hounded richest girl in the world, from her childhood in the family's opulent Fifth Avenue mansion to her lavish Hawaiian sanctuary, Shangri La, now a museum housing her pioneering Islamic art collection. Tall, glamorous, athletic, independent, generous, and devoted to beauty, Duke was a swimmer, surfer, WWII war correspondent and minor undercover agent, and jazz-loving pianist and dancer who supported the legendary Newport Jazz Festival and many artists and activists. Duke had two brief, messy marriages, the second to a Dominican diplomat and playboy, and what were deemed scandalous affairs with other men of color, while enduring the treachery ultrawealth generates, especially for women. Fiercely private and skilled in conducting her extraordinary philanthropic work, Duke, Bingham asserts, hasn't received the respect she deserves, an omission roundly corrected by this vivid and sensitive portrait-in-full.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2020, American Library Association.)

February 1, 2020

Doris Duke (1912-93), for a time the richest woman in the world through inherited wealth from a tobacco fortune, was also fiercely independent and wanted to chart her own path in the world. Bingham, a prolific novelist and playwright, is empathic in her treatment of Duke's somewhat unknowable character and motivations. Utilizing archives at Duke University, her literary style is sometimes challenging to follow; each person in Doris's life had a different nickname for her, and her husbands and lovers are not presented in chronological order. Opening chapters describing Duke's experience in World War II are confusing because they lack context, but Bingham does convey a sense of the pace of Duke's existence. Ultimately, Bingham concludes that while Duke handled her wealth as well as could be expected, she might have been better off without it. VERDICT Fans of Bingham will relish this personal account; an essential reference for scholars and researchers of Duke. [See Prepub Alert, 10/7/19.]--Margaret Heller, Loyola Univ. Chicago Libs.

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