The Binghams of Louisville: The Dark History Behind One of America's Great Fortunes by David Leon Chandler - 1989

Crown Publishing Group (NY). Used; Very Good. Crown Publishing Group, Hardcover, 1987; First Edition, Book Condition: Very Good, Jacket Condition: Very Good; small bump on top and bottom of spine. This is the story of a controversial American dynasty that's generated one of the most heated publishing debates in years! David Chandler's riveting expose of the rise and fall of one of America's most prominent and fascinating families was scheduled for release by another publisher but then, on the eve of publication, it was suddenly and mysteriously canceled. Behind the headlines and the nightly news reports of the family feud that destroyed one of the South's great media empires is a haunting saga that reveals the skeletons in the closet of the Binghams of Louisville. Based on the meticulous research of previously unknown and unpublished information (including private papers, court records, letters, photographs, and scores of interviews) David Chandler--a Pulitzer Prize-winning reporter--sheds light on the dark and tragic past to reveal the family's present problems. At the turn of the century, amid the southern mansions, the horse races, and the mint juleps, Robert Worth Bingham, pursuing a failed career as a lawyer and politician, met and had a brief affair with the beautiful Mary Lily Kenan. Mary subsequently married Henry Flagler, the Standard Oil tycoon, and Robert married the Louisville heiress Eleanor Miller. But, twenty years later, in 1916, after their spouses has suffered fatal accidents ten days apart, Mary and Robert finally married. Less than a year later, Mary died of what was officially described as natural causes. A cloud of suspicion has always hung over her death and the $5 million that Robert inherited, the money he used to start his publishing empire. Was Bingham, who went on to become ambassador to England, a fortune seeker? Was he capable of murdering his wife? Chandler deftly weaves a tale of scandal and suspense and answers these questions in this provocative book. He also brings us up-to-date on the family squabble that surrounded the sale of Bingham's communications empire and in a special preface relates the struggle to get this book into print. . 1989. HARDCOVER.