Blue Blood

by Craig Unger

A story of tragic proportions.

Rebekah Harkness was one of the world's richest women, the Standard Oil heiress and founding patron of the Harkness Ballet. But beneath the elegant surface lurked a driven woman tormented by personal demons. Blue Blood is the incredible story of almost limitless fortunes squandered completely within one extravagant lifetime.

Genres: Nonfiction, Memoir, Biography, History, Book Club

382 pages, Paperback

First published May 1, 1988

About the author

Craig Unger is an American journalist and writer. His most recent book is The Fall of the House of Bush, about the internal feud in the Bush family and the rise and collusion of the neoconservative and Christian right in Republican party politics, viewing each group's weltanschauung and efforts concerning present and potential future US policy through a distinctly negative prism. His previous work, House of Bush, House of Saud explored the relationship between the Bush family and the House of Saud. Craig Unger's work is featured in Michael Moore's film Fahrenheit 9/11. Unger has served as deputy editor of the New York Observer and was editor-in-chief of Boston Magazine. He has written about George H. W. Bush and George W. Bush for The New Yorker, Esquire Magazine and Vanity Fair.

Reviews

[Lauren Read Rover · Rating 3 out of 5]

ME OH MY WHAT A WHIRLWIND OF A READ! If you’ve been following mine and fellow Swifties’ painstaking journey to find a copy of Blue Blood, you know it is practically impossible. Being sold for $900 on eBay and no longer published, obtaining a copy of this book is the equivalent of taking a magical ride on the back of a flying pig (or if you want me to stop being dramatic… damn near impossible!!!!)

How I obtained a copy and made my WILDEST DREAMS come true:
1. I obtained a library card from a neighboring city that offers Interloan Library Services (when a library borrows a book from another library in a different city/ state)
2. Request copy of Blue Blood via Interloan Library
3. Haul ass straight after work to pick up said copy after a 3 week wait and breathlessly explained my excitement to the librarian during pick up, when really she could care less and was itching to tell me YOU NEED TO CALM DOWN.

I would like to inform you that the act of hunting down a copy was way more GORGEOUS and exhilarating than reading the actual content of this book. Taylor Alison Swift, you certainly glamorized the hell out of the story of THE LAST GREAT AMERICAN DYNASTY. While the story of Rebekah Harness’s life was definitely SAD BEAUTIFUL TRAGIC, the story was soOoOOoo tremendously oversaturated with ballet that it had me feeling like a MAD WOMAN longing for the juicy parts of the book – i.e. poor, sweet Edith and her CHAMPAGNE PROBLEMS and Rebekah’s numerous ILLICIT AFFAIRS. The EPIPHANY I had after reading this book? Not even all the money in the world can guarantee happiness.

Okiieee, throwing on a CARDIGAN and going to start a new book, tah-tah for now!

[John · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found a PDF of this book online if you want to read it from there!
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Fh4d...

Oh my my my, what a book! Ingeniously crafted. I decided to read this book after listening to "last great american dynasty" on repeat for months. I had it shipped to my library from another one in my state. After 15 days of waiting, I finally got to read this exciting novel. Craig Unger sat through hundreds of interviews, read thousands of newspaper articles all so he could write this masterpiece. Told as if he was there for every second of Rebekah (Betty) Harkness' sad, beautiful, tragic life. Reading this book took me on a journey through money, dance, suicide, murder, alcohol, drugs, neglect, and a terrible ending to a exotic life. If you can get your hands on this book, I highly recommend it!

[Serenity · Rating 4 out of 5]

Craig Unger does an excellent and very thorough job of covering the life of Rebekah "Betty" Harkness. I'll admit that I had never heard of her before Taylor Swift mentioned her in "the last great american dynasty," and that's what piqued my curiosity about her. I wanted to know if the things in Taylor's songs were true, and what made this woman stand out so much to her that she wrote a song about her.

Anyway, Rebekah was born to a wealthy family and married multiple wealthy men, and that's what made her famous at the end of the day. She wasn't the best mother (one of her kids attempted suicide, another committed murder) and was entirely obsessed with ballet even though she wasn't very good at it.

[Connie · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book was okay. I mostly wanted to page thru it because of the song Taylor Swift wrote about Rebekah Harkness.on her folklore album Calle The Last Great American Dynasty. It was pretty much as I expected it to be. Pretty sexist in nature- but that’s what happens when you are NOT a well behaved woman. Something I have never longed to be!

[Mike Teddy · Rating 5 out of 5]

I cried when I finished because I didn’t want it to end. The 4 month wait to find a copy was worth it. Really made Taylor Swift’s album “folklore” come to life.

Not for sale at the moment.

[Manatee · Rating 4 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about the strange and twisted world of this rich and eccentric art patron.

[Caroline · Rating 3 out of 5]

A very comprehensive oral history-esque telling of an infamous misbehaved socialite in a now-famous house. The book itself is very thorough and plainly written but Unger still seems to circle around his subject, never quite grasping her inner psychology—what she thought and wanted. Instead Rebekah Harkness remains exactly what she was in life: a cypher.

[Marti]

Passed on to me by Mom.

[Sandy Batesel · Rating 5 out of 5]

Overall a very sad book!

[ninarosa · Rating 4 out of 5]

rebekah rode up on the afternoon train it was sunny her saltbox house on the coast took her mind off st louis xx bill was the heir to the standard oil name and money and the town said How did a middle class divorcee do it the wedding was charming if a little gauche there’s only sooo far new money goes they picked out a home and called it Holiday House the parties were tasteful if a little loud the doctor had told them to Settle !!!! Down!!!!! must’ve been her fault his heart gave out 3 there goes the last great american dynasty who knows it she never showed up what could’ve been there goes the loudest woman this town has ever seen she had a marvellous time ruining everything rebekah gave up on the rhode island set forever flew in all her Bitch Pack friends from the city filled the pool with champagne and swam with the big name and blew thru the money on the boys and the ballet and shnrjsn on card game bets with dhali there goes the last Great american dynasty who knows if she never showed up what could have been there goes the most shameless woman this town has ever seen she had a marvellous time ruining everything !!!! they say she was seen on occasion pacing the rocks staring out at the midnight sea And in a feud with her neighbour she stole his dog and dyed it key like green and i was REALLY happy to learn that this didn’t actually happen at holiday house and also it was a cat and it happened at her vacation house in bahamas named CAPRICORN love her having a house named capricorn soooooop bad also this book was so amazing so well researched i’ve always been so intrigued by rebekah harkness such a crazy interesting woman learned so much about her life things that u can’t find from just googling her xx

[Jessa S. · Rating 3 out of 5]

Such a sad and interesting book. I read it because it’s the inspiration for Taylor Swift’s The Last Great American Dynasty about the previous owners of Taylor’s Holiday House. Some of it was a bit repetitive and slow but I enjoyed it.

[Stephanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Blue Blood is a breezy tell-all about one of the richest women in America, Rebekah Harkness. Originally published in 1988, Blue Blood is out of print and nearly impossible to find. Harkness was born in St. Louis and was presented as a debutante during the Great Depression. She went on to marry William Harkness, an heir to the Standard Oil fortune. Harkness became addicted to the money and power that came with her newfound status. Bill's tragic death left Harkness with a void she tried to fill by starting her own ballet company. Her single minded focus on the ballet left her children to fend for themselves. They had everything money could buy but all they truly wanted was their mother's love and attention. Blue Blood is by turns interesting, funny and ultimately tragic.

[Chelsea · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like more and more I am saying… The Rovers made me do it. Well, the Rovers struck again. This time the Swifties went on and on about this book because T-Swizzle said she read it. It was about the previous owner of The Holiday House, Rebekah Harkness. She seemed so into this story that she even wrote The Last Great American Dynasty about her. The real issue about this book is that it is no longer in production (Unger has just 1 copy himself) and goes for about $900 online if you try to buy it. We probably have Swift to blame for the latter. Thankfully my library's ILL came through with a copy from Michigan and I was able to get it!

The story of Rebekah Harkness is a beautiful tragedy. Rebekah had it all, got more and then essentially lost it all. At times the story gets a little boring, but then swings into mind blowing. She is what I would say is not a well behaved woman. This was a solid 3 cat book. I actually enjoyed the history and went down several Wikipedia rabbit holes. Since it’s so rare, it got an extra cat. So if you want to go down your own little rabbit hole, get onto your library system’s ILL! This book IS out there!!

On the Cat Scale:
😸😸😸😸

[Kimmy · Rating 1 out of 5]

Like any true Swiftie, I hunted down a copy of Blue Blood by Craig Unger (currently around $700 on Amazon 🫣) so I could read the Rebekah Harkness story.

Overall, I am extremely confused as to why Craig Unger wrote this book and chose this subject matter. It honestly seemed like just a bunch of trash talking of Rebekah and did not put her in any good light whatsoever.

There were absolutely a few TS Easter eggs where I could see parallels…but wow, it was really just a Rebekah Harkness tragedy. Maybe the point but could we maybe have any empathy or understanding along with it? Plus, it was sexist af. Pretty much every time that Bill Harkness came up, it was talking about how he was the only man who could get her to behave since her father and was just very heavily focused on how she changed was a more demure, society woman during their marriage. It made my skin crawl the way it was worded again and again.

Honestly, the Rebekah Harkness story is incredibly interesting. And Taylor Swift tells it better in 3 minutes 51 seconds then Craig Unger does in 382 pages. Even disregarding how much he seemed to frankly just hate Rebekah, it was not even chronological but seemed to focus on various people in Rebekah’s life, which got redundant during overlap. Honestly that’s just another part that bothered me was how focused it was on other people. It was very much who was in Rebekah’s orbit and how, without ever directly dealing with Rebekah.

I would pass on this one. Hopefully one day someone does Rebekah’s story even more justice than Taylor. (Forever crossing my fingers that Taylor makes that movie with Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds.) I would also take Edith’s story.

[Devan · Rating 3 out of 5]

"She had a marvelous time ruining everything." If you are a Swifitie, then you already know the significance of this book. It was like going on a scavenger hunt to find where Taylor may have been inspired while reading the book.

I enjoyed getting to know Rebekah Harkness more beyond the song The Last Great American Dynasty. I really felt bad for Edith, which had a very tragic story. Overall, the writing was narrative throughout, but a bit repetitive. This impacted the pacing and enjoyment level of reading it.

I could easily see Rebekah's story being adapted to film with a TS soundtrack.

[Tess. · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wild ride. While there are many instances I felt I needed to read between the lines, I was completely entranced by the weaving stories of Rebekah and her family. To those who said there was too much about ballet, did we read the same book? If anything, the writing did seem to showcase some clear sexism etc. and I’m left wondering, how much of Rebekah’s story will go untold? I suppose we will never know. Overall, highly recommend.

[Darla Ebert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A true story so astonishing one is tempted to declare it has to be fiction. There is a huge lesson here but one that hedonists (like the subject of the book) would completely miss. Money creates more problems than it solves when misused. Ms Harkness was a narcissist to the nth degree and her children were the ones to suffer for her wretched parenting which was patently nonexistent. The neglect was of a sort that "puts paid" (as once would have been said) to the usual idea of abandonment. Harkness was the epitomy and Queen of that wretched characteristic.
Nevetheless the story is interesting to read both for the time period, and for the other lessons learned.

[Brianna Artz · Rating 3 out of 5]

Here's the deal, as a true swiftie I HAD to read this book. If you don't know what this is, it is the Rebekah Harkness story in which "The Last Great American Dynasty" is based on. For reference Taylor Swift bought a house named "The Holiday House" that used to be owned by Rebekah Harkness. There are pieces and parts of the house and leftovers of Rebekah's life that is mentioned in the song but this book truly makes it come to life. I found a PDF copy online however I skimmed through this book. I do believe it was written well, but the author included his own opinion about Rebekah. Good read but not quick that is for sure.

[Jessica Nora Drum · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is really a rollercoaster of emotions! I got it from our local library because it costs $600 to buy any rare copy online 🤦🏼‍♀️

The story is another piece of evidence that rich people can be real problematic when associated with mental health issues.
As a non-American, I learned so much about the American history by reading this book. Obviously I had to reach Google multiple times to understand the references better.
As a swifitie, I was delighted to read the same book that Taylor probably read, and understand where her inspiration came from. She is a real genius!

If you want to read, prepare to feel angry, frustrated, excited, curious and sad throughout the process.

[Hope · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read this book because I'm a Swiftie. If you want to learn the in's and out's of Rebekah's ballet company, this book is for you. If you want to learn about her family drama, do a Google search. The drama of this family is what kept me reading. If I wasn't intrigued by the family, I would have put it down. The ballet takes up 75% of this book. It's so drawn out and repetitive. Ballet aside, I enjoyed this fucked up family drama.

[Emily · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was eager like most of the other reviewers to learn more about the woman immortalized in Taylor Swift song ‘The Last Great American Dynasty’. The biography was well written, and I learned more than anticipated. However, I would caution anyone wanting to romanticize Rebekah and her life not to read this book.

[Trish Truitt · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book was absolutely brilliant! I went down so many rabbit holes while reading this book! I laughed, cried and so many other emotions! This quote broke me is so many ways but I completely understand her!
“There was something she saw in herself that she saw in her mother. I don’t know what it was, but it scared the hell out of her.”

[Kristina · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting story but not very well written. There were many redundancies, as though a few different people wrote sections of the book but didn’t bother to read what the other writers wrote. And the timeline was all over the place. It was hard to follow.

[Shannon · Rating 5 out of 5]

Vivid and heartbreaking. Like many reviewers, I was interested in this story because of Watch Hill and Taylor Swift’s song about Rebekah. I was pleasantly surprised with how engrossing this story was and couldn’t put this down.

[Brandi · Rating 1 out of 5]

Elizabeth was the worst. Terry and Allen are the worst. Edith is a tragic story and her death is fishy. But she’s also kind of as bad as the rest. I did not like this, Sam I Am, I did not like it at all.

[Doug Hanna · Rating 3 out of 5]

While a bit scattered as a biography, the story ends up tragic and powerful.
A solid cautionary tale - not all that glitters is gold; what matters — more than our legacy or our art — is the people in front of us.
Plus it was super cool that Taylor Swift read it 😂

[Elida H · Rating 2 out of 5]

too much money, too much ballet, too many drugs :((

[Madelyn Brian · Rating 5 out of 5]

absolutely LOVED this book. a tragic story but an amazing read!! only sad that i couldn’t keep the copy and had to turn it back into the library

[Carly Kocher · Rating 2 out of 5]

too many details about things that don’t matter but overall an interesting read

[Shaina · Rating 5 out of 5]

the last great american dynasty (extended version) (craig unger’s version) (out of print version) (from the vault: $300 on eBay or in my case the local library) worth it.