The Patriarch: The Rise and Fall of the Bingham Dynasty [Hardcover]

Susan E. Tifft (Author), Alex S. Jones (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1991

The Patriarch traces the turbulent history of one of the nation's most powerful newspaper companies and the family that built it. Based on years of archival research and interviews with Bingham intimates, it is a searing examination of three generations of an American family beset with mystery and vicious rivalry. 16 pages of photos.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Each succeeding generation of the Bingham clan, Kentucky's self-styled "First Family" and owners of a progressive newspaper empire that crumbled in 1986, considered itself hexed by a dark family secret. When fabulously wealthy Mary Lily Flagler, wife of Robert Worth Bingham, died in 1917, rumors circulated that he had murdered her. But this enthralling, juicy, prodigiously researched saga presents compelling evidence that she died from cardiovascular syphilis--and that she knew she had the ailment when she married her cruelly unforgiving husband. Her stepson, "patriarch" Barry Bingham Sr., dominated the family with manipulative cunning while remaining emotionally aloof. Generally evenhanded in sorting out the claims of mutually antagonistic Bingham scions, this husband-wife author team (Tifft is a Time associate editor, Jones a New York Times reporter) offers withering portrayals of "Baby Bear" Barry Jr., who carried his ideals to ridiculous extremes, and of Sallie Bingham, limned as a highhanded, comically inept businesswoman whose self-proclaimed feminism overlays festering childhood wounds. Photos. Author tour.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Library Journal

This straightforward, balanced account details the buildup of a newspaper empire by the Binghams of Louisville, Kentucky, and the squabbling among family members that caused Barry Bingham Sr., the patriarch, to decide to sell it all. Tifft, an associate editor of Time magazine, and Jones, a New York Times reporter who won a Pulitzer Prize for his coverage of the Binghams, have done their homework, interviewing family members and others involved and consulting correspondence in various archives. Readers may wonder at first if they care about this rich family that fought so publicly, but they will soon discover that, in many ways, the Binghams are like us all. Sallie Bingham's Passion and Prejudice ( LJ 2/1/89) gives a more intimate and, of course, different view of the same story. Libraries that bought that one will want this one, too.
- Rebecca Wondriska, Trinity Coll. Lib., Hartford, Ct.
Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 608 pages
• Publisher: Summit Books; First Printing edition (March 1991)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0671631675
• ISBN-13: 978-0671631673
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.2 x 1.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1 customer review)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #664,566 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #64 in Books > Education & Reference > Genealogy > United States

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0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The Patriarch: The Bingham Dynasty, March 27, 2009

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This review is from: The Patriarch: The Rise and Fall of the Bingham Dynasty (Paperback)

I have been interested in Kentucky history since my daughter went to Univ. of Kentucky. Since the Binghams owned the Lexington Herald and Louisville Courier and were in politics as well, I just found interesting. But, the tragedy and fascinating facts of their lives was astonishing.