Edith Whartons French Riviera

Nice, Cannes, Monte Carlo . . . these towns have come to symbolize sun-drenched luxury & decadence. When Edith Wharton settled on the French Riviera at the end of the WW1, the Cote d'Azur was changing from a genteel winter resort dominated by European aristocrats, into a far racier place populated by a glamorous Amer. jet set. Coco Chanel, the Duke & Duchess of Windsor, Ali Khan, Somerset Maugham, Jean Cocteau, Cole Porter, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Matisse, Czar Nicolas II . . . stars from all over the world came to rub shoulders in palatial hotels, glamorous casinos, or in their extravagant homes. Richly illus. with both contemp. & vintage photos, this is an evocative portrait of this vanished world -- the golden age of the French Riviera.