Rage for Fame: The Ascent of Clare Boothe Luce

Borrow this your local library if you feel the need to learn more about this person. Please don't waste your money. The purple prose used in some reviews here is not merited. The book is too densely detailed and could have benefited from competent editor. This life does not earn a two volume set. The subject of the book (IMO) was the Kim Kardashian of her time.*spoiler alerts* Her 'rise' to infamy was based largely on marriages to two millionaires and numerous liaisons before, during and after both. Her jealousy towards both husbands' infidelity was laughable, in the face of her behavior. She managed to write one decent play (The Women) with the heavy assistance of a professional writer and her then husband's money. She was the 'mother' of a daughter who was shipped off to boarding schools when her presence got in the way of Ms. Luce's full time social agenda. Her racism (could not find decent domestic help for her Southern manse because of FDR's social programs - wrote a letter to him scolding him for his safety net financial programs) and so-called feminist activities (less than one month in DC) are cringe worthy, even seen through the prism of more modern thought. So much for cutting edge and ahead of her time. Her globe trotting journalistic trips were funded by Mr. Luce's money and some of the articles she wrote were not published due quality issues. Her purchased political win is not worthy of the brief discussion in the book's final chapter.Personal footnote: if your affairs are so frequent that you need to remember them by circling a page number in your diary, something is off in your emotional makeup. A human being who can face, embrace and accept their true nature is a life worth writing about. A professional B-girl with a big wallet who lies to everyone including herself (and both of her therapists - that's in her diary, too) is not.Two stars - this does not deserve the energy to hate it. I do hate that trees died to make this book though.Update: I am returning the sequel book (Price of Fame) that I bought. I have better things to spend my money on. Am donating this nonsense to my local library in the hopes that I will reap good karma by saving folks some hard earned cash. If they don't want it, I will recycle.

I love great biographies; best way to learn history. Ms. Morris is an amazing researcher; all the details enrich the entire timeline of Ms. Luce's extraordinary life. Rage for Fame is a fast read - hard to put down. Pulls many of life's principles together - things never change, history repeats itself, human nature does not change, etc., etc. Ms. Luce's life certainly illustrates that "women's lib" is nothing new; it's always been there for those who really wanted it. Clare Luce just happened to live on the timeline of our US/world history (both world wars) that gave her an extraordinary backdrop for all of her ladder climbing accomplishments. All of these accomplishments are not without a lot of personal pain and all of us know that pain is included in all of our lives; the rich and famous do not escape. Highly recommend; enjoy. Just downloaded the sequel on my Kindle, Price of Fame, and have already started it.

I was really interested in learning more about Clare Booth Luce and the book was interesting but I wasn't ready to read about every single person who came into her life. It was just so much detail that I never got very far. It would have been great if I were doing a paper on her. Who else cares what grade she got in each subject? It was just too detailed. She wasn't famous for every guy she dated, or her grades in school. I couldn't stick with it but maybe I'll go back and flip through until I hit something to which I can relate because what I read just wore me down. I may try again. If you love the details, you'll love this book!

I am not sure I want to know everything that you learn in reading autobiographies! I also felt this made for better reading for a female reader or a male who is into descriptive writing on place settings, what to wear and garden beauty. On the other hand the people she met and the status she obtained have to be the envy of everyone. Overall, I enjoyed the book and have passed it along to a female companion.

When I was young, Clare Boothe Luce was my role model. I wanted to be just like her. I got over it, although still admiring her achievements. Sylvia Jukes Morris's two-part biography appears to be exhaustively researched and quite unbiased. I was appalled by Ms. Luce's self-absorption, arrogance, and dependence on drugs, bored by her religious intensity, and delighted by her wit and her ability to juggle her many famous and powerful lovers.

This was very informative about a woman that I only recognized by name. She had beauty, power, and brains but no real character. She had power over nearly every man she met and apparently had intimate relations with many of the powerful ones, yet failed to have a successful home life. This biography ends when she is successfully elected to Congress, has a powerful husband who adores her yet can't live happily with her, and a daughter she is closer to than any other person, but doesn't spend much time with. I wish the author would have continued through the major obstacles that soon come but I was certainly motivated to research the rest of her life.

A story told with great honesty about a fascinating woman who in many respects was ahead of her time. It is obvious that the author went to enormous lengths to ferret out correspondence with and about Clare Boothe Luce. I felt that I really got to know the essence of the woman and her inner motivations. I was left with a feeling of envy, admiration and disgust.

As advertised in new condition.