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sarahfonseca's review
3.0
Phew. Came to this one with a decent understanding of British Monarchy and its generational fealty/aesthetic and political engagements with Nazism. To this day, researchers who foray into the Royal Archives to seek truth regarding these matters will find themselves facing a brick wall of restrictions on the materials that would otherwise help us better understand those monstrous years and -- possibly, maybe -- find collective healing.
To that end, this book is awash in sources and subjects who held Nazi sympathies: Diana Mitford Mosley, along with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor themselves. The episodic The Crown is, by and large a romanticized version of Western Power in the 20th century. As a result, depictions of Simpson serve to uplift Queen Elizabeth II as a unwaveringly benevolent and worldly figure: thus the project was, over the course of six seasons, fated to deviate from historic truth for which an anti-imperialist public hungers.
A member of the aristocracy herself, Blackwood's biography provides meaningful insights into the final stretch of the American expat's life. Most notably, the uncanny relationship she developed with a French attorney, a Jewish woman, who served as the pit bull of her estate. Blackwood paints Blum as a megalomaniacal figure. Uncertain whether it is my Americanness, the time at which the book was originally published, or general skepticism that leads me to ponder the anti-Semitism ensconced in the author's stance. The first chapters center Blum keeping Blackwood, then a journalist, at bay, and the writer's dialogues with other members of the aristocracy who were rattled by the lawyer's loyalty.
Nonetheless, this landmine is not without pearls of information regarding Simpson's final years in isolation, including her loss of faculties and Blum's impact on her estate. Of interest to queer scholars and armchair historians might be her affair with Jimmy Donahue, a godless Woolworth's heir and flamboyant gay man.
To that end, this book is awash in sources and subjects who held Nazi sympathies: Diana Mitford Mosley, along with the Duke and Duchess of Windsor themselves. The episodic The Crown is, by and large a romanticized version of Western Power in the 20th century. As a result, depictions of Simpson serve to uplift Queen Elizabeth II as a unwaveringly benevolent and worldly figure: thus the project was, over the course of six seasons, fated to deviate from historic truth for which an anti-imperialist public hungers.
A member of the aristocracy herself, Blackwood's biography provides meaningful insights into the final stretch of the American expat's life. Most notably, the uncanny relationship she developed with a French attorney, a Jewish woman, who served as the pit bull of her estate. Blackwood paints Blum as a megalomaniacal figure. Uncertain whether it is my Americanness, the time at which the book was originally published, or general skepticism that leads me to ponder the anti-Semitism ensconced in the author's stance. The first chapters center Blum keeping Blackwood, then a journalist, at bay, and the writer's dialogues with other members of the aristocracy who were rattled by the lawyer's loyalty.
Nonetheless, this landmine is not without pearls of information regarding Simpson's final years in isolation, including her loss of faculties and Blum's impact on her estate. Of interest to queer scholars and armchair historians might be her affair with Jimmy Donahue, a godless Woolworth's heir and flamboyant gay man.
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