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Hawaii: the sugar-coated fortress
1973
- GenresNonfiction
145 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1972
31 people want to read
About the author
Francine du Plessix Gray
32 books55 followersFrancine du Plessix Gray, a Pulitzer Prize-nominated writer and literary critic, was born in Warsaw, Poland, where her father, Vicomte Bertrand Jochaud du Plessix, was a French diplomat - the commercial attaché. She spent her early years in Paris, where a milieu of mixed cultures and a multilingual family (French father and Russian émigré mother) influenced her.
Widowed when her father died in battle, in 1940 du Plessix Gray's mother escaped France to New York with Francine. In 1942, her mother married Alexander Liberman, another White émigré from Russia, whom she had known in Paris as a child. He was a noted artist and later longtime editorial director of Vogue Magazine and then of Condé Nast Publications. The Libermans were socially prominent in media, art, and fashion circles.
Francine du Plessix Gray then grew up in New York City, and was naturalized a U.S. citizen in 1952. She was a scholarship student at Spence School. She attended Bryn Mawr College for two years, and in 1952 received her B.A. in philosophy from Barnard College, NY.
In 1957 she married painter Cleve Gray (1918-2004) with whom she had two sons.
Du Plessix Gray had a long and varied career, in the 1950s as reporter for several French magazines; book editor for Art in America New York City; staff writer for The New Yorker; several professorships, including at Columbia University.
Her most well-known book is Them: A Memory of Parents (2005). Her novels included Lovers and Tyrants (1976).
Widowed when her father died in battle, in 1940 du Plessix Gray's mother escaped France to New York with Francine. In 1942, her mother married Alexander Liberman, another White émigré from Russia, whom she had known in Paris as a child. He was a noted artist and later longtime editorial director of Vogue Magazine and then of Condé Nast Publications. The Libermans were socially prominent in media, art, and fashion circles.
Francine du Plessix Gray then grew up in New York City, and was naturalized a U.S. citizen in 1952. She was a scholarship student at Spence School. She attended Bryn Mawr College for two years, and in 1952 received her B.A. in philosophy from Barnard College, NY.
In 1957 she married painter Cleve Gray (1918-2004) with whom she had two sons.
Du Plessix Gray had a long and varied career, in the 1950s as reporter for several French magazines; book editor for Art in America New York City; staff writer for The New Yorker; several professorships, including at Columbia University.
Her most well-known book is Them: A Memory of Parents (2005). Her novels included Lovers and Tyrants (1976).
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Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews
June 13, 2022
If you want a good book about a place, get a great writer to write it. (Also, recommend Joy Williams guide to the Florida Keys.)
June 21, 2008
On-point political and economic history of the Hawaiian Islands and the complete exploitation of of its resources (people, traditions, land) for sugar and the US military.
Want to read
January 16, 2019I just read the NYT obituary for this remarkable person. I believe I would like reading his work.
Displaying 1 - 3 of 3 reviews