Meryle Secrest

Meryle Secrest has written highly acclaimed biographies of artists and architects including Modigliani, Bernstein, Wright, and Berenson, and now in her eighties, she turns to the brilliant Italian industrialists Adriano Olivetti. But instead of writing a straight biography, she posits a conspiracy in which American intelligence services, concerned about powerful minicomputers becoming available to Cold War enemies, assassinate the head of Olivetti's desktop computing project, and then show more Olivetti himself. While this is not entirely implausible given the history of American Cold War interventionism in Cuba, Guatemala, Chile, Iran, Zaire, and many other places, neither is it, despite Secrest's efforts, entirely convincing. In fact, she would have done much better to fold her idea into a more standard biography of Olivetti—the company, the dynasty, or the man, all of which are (really!) interesting enough to support that project.

Those histories have been written, I believe, in Italian, but not to my knowledge translated to English. Until they are, this book will have to do as an introduction to Adriano Olivetti and his remarkable vision of a humane and democratic industrial society, which he successfully nursed through the Fascist era and the second world war into the cold war period. Now the immense Olivetti complex in Ivrea stands mostly unoccupied and one of the most interesting socio-industrial projects of the twentieth century is in danger of being forgotten. If only we had a chronicler who finds that story the most interesting one. Meanwhile, this book, despite its flaws, is well worth the read. show less

I was fascinated by this book--probably because I just published a biography myself (although not, thank goodness, of a subject with living relatives or others with vested interests in her). Secrest's revelations of some of the twists and turns she encountered in dealing with individuals who held keys to her subjects' pasts, and these sources' expectations from her, provided an intriguing behind-the-scenes look at the craft of biography, and I enjoyed the way in which the twists intersected show more with her autobiography. show less

Interesting and thorough study on Fashion designer Elsa Schiaparelli (1890-1973). She was an original and quick thinker and she knew how to grip a chance. As a teenager, she had an interest in astronomy and she had a mathematical mind. In her Italian Aristocratic family, there were also astronomers. She had no idea she would become a fashion designer. By chance she came in contact with the surrealism movement and a special small art scene, because she became friends with the spouse of show more Francis Picabia in 1916. Facts to remember:how she became well known for her handknitted sweaters in 1927. A great number of stars of theatre or film, European as wel as Hollywood came to her boutique at 21 Place Vendome, Paris to be dressed. Marlene Dietrich, Norma Shearer, Claudette Colbert, Merle Oberon, Katherine Hepburn, Lauren Bacall, Greta Garbo, Vivian Leigh, Ginger Rogers, Michele Morgan, Constance Bennett, Gloria Swanson, Myrna Loy, Joan Crawford, May West. She had also a link with the French and English aristocracy, a very good network she used very well. show less

A family business growing and changing. World War 2. Trysts and deceit. Mechanical and electronic engineering. Marriages and divorces. Geopolitical machinations.
These set some of the background and content for the authors exploration of the Olivetti corporation, once one of the largest manufacturers of business machines in the world.
A fascinating read, with much family history and the culmination of great thought and activity in engineering, social activism, art, design, and show more architecture.
It did take quite a bit of time to get through the fascinating backstory of the family and business before one got to the last chapter, the one which really got into the gritty information that provided the books subtitle. The fact that what can be considered the worlds first desktop computer was created a decade before Apple and IBM's endeavours is an eye-opener. And given the cold-war sentimatilities of that era there is likely more to the story than is presented.
Kudos to the author for her investigation and the process that generated this text. (there are several authors and books mentioned in the Acknowledgements that appear to be worthwhile in seeking out for further exploration of the information.)

Disclosure: I received the advance copy via a give-away on GoodReads.com show less