Condé Nast: The Man and His Empire

May 6, 2019
The magazine mogul who turned Vogue into a fashion bible was the calm center of a swirling Jazz Age culture, according to this fizzy biography. Historian Ronald (Heretic Queen) toasts Condé Nast as a canny businessman and marketer who, after his 1909 purchase of Vogue, pioneered a new kind of magazine catering to the upper-crust “New Woman” and high-end advertisers; he then bought Vanity Fair, which became an icon of literary and pictorial flair to a New York “café society” of socialites, artists and celebrities in the Roaring ’20s. Ronald’s Nast is polished, tasteful, unpretentious, polite, kind, and rather dull: he threw fabulous parties in a Manhattan penthouse flowing with bootleg champagne, but often spent them in his library playing bridge. Fortunately, Ronald regularly leaves the bland Nast to follow livelier figures, such as VF theater critic and Algonquin Roundtable wit Dorothy Parker, whom Nast fired for courting libel suits with her acidic reviews. Ronald writes in a vivid, sparkling, amused style—critic Alexander Woolcott “resembled an overfed human owl with eyes like raisins that sunk behind his spectacles into his jowls”—and revels in the era’s repartee, clothes and gossip. Her portrait of Nast doesn’t leave a strong impression, but her evocation of the vibrant scene around him will keep readers entertained. Photos.

July 1, 2019

For more than three decades, Condé Montrose Nast (1873-1942) was the arbiter of style and fashion, influencing early 20th-century culture through the pages of his magazines and his forward-thinking hiring practices. Here, Ronald (A Dangerous Woman) chronicles the life and times of the publishing magnate, focusing on how, after working for and gaining invaluable experience at Collier's Weekly, Nast purchased and revitalized several publications. He developed a unique approach to publishing and sought out talented writers and editors, placing women in top management positions. While the targeting of content and advertising to a specialized audience is commonplace today, Nast was one of the first to try this strategy, revitalizing Vogue, Vanity Fair, and House & Garden into influential publications for a Gilded- and Jazz Age high-society readership. VERDICT With her breezy, gossipy style, Ronald brings to life the story of the influential American publisher and his magazines. Journalism students and readers of this time period will enjoy this biography--the first since Caroline Seebohm's The Man Who Was Vogue.--Donna Marie Smith, Palm Beach Cty. Lib. Syst., FL

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

July 1, 2019
A sympathetic life of the publisher of Vanity Fair, Vogue, and other stylish magazines. Ronald, who has published a number of other biographies (Hitler's Art Thief: Hildebrand Gurlitt, the Nazis, and the Looting of Europe's Treasures, 2015, etc.), returns with the thoroughly researched story of Condé Nast (1873-1942), following him from birth to death (both in New York) and charting his rise in the publishing world, his significant financial difficulties during the Depression, his married and love lives (not always the same), and his battles with prostate cancer and, finally, a weak heart. Throughout, Ronald's tone is deeply admiring as she chronicles Nast's work ethic, appearance, devotion to his staff members (he "had an anaphylactic reaction to firing people"), and his stellar parties. A first marriage did not work out; nor did his second to a woman some 30 years his junior. The author also tells us--more than once--that Nast attracted "some of the most stunning women in the world," though he "never used his position or power on women." Later, suffering the aftereffects of prostate cancer and its dire treatments, he endured permanent erectile dysfunction. Appearing on Nast's vast stage were some of the most creative characters of the day, including Robert Benchley, Robert Sherwood, Coco Chanel, Truman Capote, Dorothy Parker, and Cecil Beaton. (A long list is in the backmatter.) Nast got along with most of them (though some were fired), and the author praises them, as well. The one exception is Clare Brokaw (later Clare Boothe Luce), whom Ronald assails more than once for her self-interest and her insatiable sexual appetites. Readers interested in business history will enjoy the strategies and principles dear to Nast and the accounts of his competition with William Randolph Hearst. A highly flattering biography of an important figure in American publishing.

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July 1, 2019
Of Midwestern background, Nast was the epitome of fin de si�cle New York society?urbane, glamorous, and self-possessed. In his likeness, Nast created a media empire of magazines that not only reflected and predicted those lofty ideals but also intimated that these ambitions were attainable by all who read them. Under his guidance, Vanity Fair and Vogue became icons of elegance and sophistication. With the assistance of his trusted editorial staff, headed by the indomitable Edna Chase and devil-may-care Frank Crowninshield, Cond� Nast Publications attracted the most brilliant writers and artists of the day, from Algonquin Round Table stalwarts Robert Benchley and Dorothy Parker to Cecil Beaton and Lee Miller. Such talent provided the foundation that would allow the company and Nast personally to weather both the Great Depression and WWII. Prolific biographer Ronald (A Dangerous Woman, 2018), whose previous profiles have included Nazi collaborator Florence Gould and Third Reich art thief Hildebrand Gurlitt, does an exceptional job of integrating the story of Nast's personal fortunes and misfortunes with the lives of those he sought to refine and educate.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)