Rage for Fame: The Ascent of Clare Boothe Luce [Hardcover]

Sylvia Jukes Morris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 13, 1997

Detailed and rich with mesmerizing narrative, Rage for Fame recounts the story of the flowering years of Clare Booth Luce--a former congresswoman and editor of Vanity Fair--a striking woman whose private life was as intriguing and spectacular as her public life. 45 photos.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Tired of high-minded intellectual biographies? Just want to dish? This is the book. Clare Boothe (1903-87) rose from illegitimacy and obscurity by sheer force of brains and sex appeal to become a powerful magazine editor (at Vanity Fair), hit playwright (The Women, 1936), and--by 1940, when this volume ends--budding war correspondent. She married mega-publisher Henry Luce in 1935, but he was one in a lifelong string of men she charmed and used, in author Sylvia Jukes Morris's stinging appraisal. Little sympathy here for the talented, driven Boothe, but plenty of juicy details.

From Library Journal

Morris digs into Luce's untouched diaries to craft this biography.
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 561 pages
• Publisher: Random House; 1st edition (May 13, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0394575555
• ISBN-13: 978-0394575551
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 6.6 x 1.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #712,229 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars 100 Percent Engaging, June 2, 2008

By 

Sanguine "Sanguine" (Oregon) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rage for Fame: The Ascent of Clare Boothe Luce (Hardcover)

This is simply a wonderfully entertaining, well-researched, and delightful read. The author has done a tremendous job fleshing out the multifaceted career and personality of the complex Clare Boothe Luce, showing us what an exceptionally driven individual she is. One cannot help conclude that a childhood really does have enormous influence upon the adult, and Luce's drama-filled and chaotic background will resonate with all those who have had similar dysfunctional upbringings. The book draws almost by accident the remarkable similarity between mother and daughter: in a nutshell, Clare could not have become who she was without her mother, Ann, in her own right an extraordinary woman. I would recommend this book to all readers, but especially female readers, for its beautifully delineated outline of what one woman is capable of achieving.

9 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Rip-roaring historic feminist saga including feminine wiles., September 14, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: Rage for Fame: The Ascent of Clare Boothe Luce (Hardcover)

Clare Booth Luce makes a goals list of what she wished to accomplish before age 35 including owning a yacht and fine roadster then appended the list to include "a few worthwhile things" including becoming conversant in four languages, writing plays and "earning $10,000 on my own!!". While the list partially trivializes Clare Booth Luce's assent upon society and politics - so does the author-Morris. Her rip-roaring saga is a little over-breathless - even Morris can't subdue the incredible versatility of a woman who overcame illegitimate circumstances, got what she set out to do - mostly, and wrote for Broadway before running for office. Nice work if you can get it! Clare is nobody's bimbo astutely observing everything fine chefs, authors, to politics many times better than her escorts. She notes that Hitler's brownshirts were quite similar to the KuKluxKlan which was outspoken for her time. If you enjoyed George Sand, the Algonquin Table and Dorothy Parker - this may be for you!

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Almost perfect with a big BUT...., April 7, 2011

By 

Wendy "Librarylover" (europe) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Rage for Fame: The Ascent of Clare Boothe Luce (Hardcover)

I loved this book and to me this was an almost perfectly written biography with a big BUT.

The perfect part is that it is a great balance between juicy and entertaining, capturing the personality of CBL and yet well researched and well written. Having read hundreds of biographies, I find that is not always an easy balance to achieve.

The 'BUT' part is the ending. It just ends at what feels like mid-sentence, it's over, no hint, no summing up, no nothing.

It's perfectly fine to write about a portion of a person's life, although usually this is with someone with so many biographies out there such as FDR or Lincoln that it is warranted, but I think then that it should be clearly stated so that the reader is aware. In addition, I think in CBL case, it was a strange choice considering it is not like there are a billion other biographies of her out there.

I guess we were to understand from the 'ascent' in the title that this biography was only going to cover the first half of her life but that was so subtle, I didn't catch it. Perhaps it was the publisher's error not the writer's. I was surprised though to see that the author is married to Edmund Morris infamous for 'Dutch: A Memoir of Ronald Reagan' - strangely I happened to read both these books around the same time and strangely they are the only books in recent memory where I felt somewhat betrayed by the author. Ironic that they are married.