Beaverbrook: A Shattered Legacy

Fredericton New Brunswick: Goose Lane Editions, 2007. Book. New. Hardcover. 1st Edition. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" tall. black cloth, gilt spine.317 pages : illustrations. 1 st edition, "From humble beginnings, William Maxwell Aitken, a small-town New Brunswick minister's son, rose to the heights of politics and business, transforming himself into Lord Beaverbrook along the way. Fleet Street's first press baron, he made his way into King Edward VIII's inner circle and the war cabinet of Winston Churchill." "Beaverbrook's philanthropy knew no bounds or so it seemed. In the late 1950s, he built the Beaverbrook Art Gallery and stocked it with masterpieces of British and Canadian art that form the core of the Gallery's prestigious collection. Today, the paintings are at the centre of a bitter battle between the Gallery and the two charitable Beaverbrook foundations - a battle that has rocked the art world on both sides of the Atlantic." "In Beaverbrook, Jacques Poitras sifts through Beaverbrook's own correspondence, takes stock of the testimony at the 2006 arbitration hearings, and interviews the combatants on both sides. Connecting the pieces of this "historic jigsaw puzzle," he tells a tale with a fascinating cast of characters, from the self-proclaimed "master propagandist" to the present-day heirs of the Beaverbrook legacy."--Jacket.