12/19/12 review of book Searching for Beauty: The Life of Millicent Rogers

Here is my Twitter review of the book Searching for Beauty: The Life of Millicent Rogers, by Cherie Burns.

This is one of my earlier Twitter reviews. I did it on December 19, 2012.

Unlike most of my Twitter reviews, this is not posted as a thread. Instead, I posted each tweet separately.

The tweets are below for your convenience.

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Tweet 1. Finished reading Searching for Beauty, by @cherieburns1 . Story of fashion icon, artist, and Taos art collector Millicent Rogers. Good book.

T2. Millicent Rogers is famous for the collecting she did in Taos. I learned of Rogers through the book The Power of Style. T3. A particular photo in The Power of Style showed Rogers dying fabric over a stove. This reminded me a bit of poet William Morris.

T4. But @cherieburns1  gives a full portrait of Rogers' life and loves, not just the famous time in Taos. T5. The first part of Searching for Beauty gives the harrowing story of Rogers' failed first marriage to Austrian Count Sam. T6. Rogers' father, a wealthy Standard Oil heir, basically bought Rogers out of the marriage.

T7. Rogers then went on to marry Arturo Peralta-Ramos, who was kind enough, and who had a sense of discipline Rogers' father admired. T8. After Rogers' father died, Rogers and P-R divorced. Rogers married an athletic, well-hung (!) stock-broker. That marriage also didn't last. T9. Rogers then helped with the war effort in WWII, and loved Forrestal, Fleming, and Dahl. Then she lived in Hollywood and loved Clark Gable.

T10. The most fascinating parts of @cherieburns1  book are in my opinion the lyrical passages dealing with Rogers' emotional life in collecting. T11. Rogers collected fashion and really served, simply by being herself, to spearhead certain fashion movements. T12. Rogers also collected, and then created, jewelry, learning the art of metalworking from some of the early twentieth century's masters. T13. The moments where @cherieburns1  explores Rogers' excitement over creation and collection are very inspiring.

T14. I also feel like Rogers' love life is like a map out of nineteenth and into twentieth century frames of thought. A progression with times. T15. Something about Rogers' progression into modernity (through WWII) also reminds me of Elisabeth Kubler-Ross' life. T16. Rogers and Kubler-Ross also both lived in Virginia, then in the Southwest, where their lives ended. T17. I also feel like there's a life-sympathy between Millicent Rogers and visionary Christiana Morgan.

T18. Sometimes I wonder who'd direct a good film adaptation. I'd like to see Michael Mann do a life of the Millicent Rogers of @cherieburns1 .

(Cherie Burns actually responded to my Twitter review. Here's our exchange.)

Burns:  So glad you appreciated the range of Rogers's life.   She only spent the last six years of a 51 year life in New Mexico.

Preemie: Oh, I did. You presented it so well. Thank you!

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My reading of this book actually inspired me to take a trip to Taos, New Mexico, which you can read about here.

Here is the link to the Macmillan edition of Searching for Beauty: The Life of Millicent Rogers.

I checked this book out from the Jefferson County Public Library system in Colorado.