"If the Riviera has had its critics--Somerset Maugham famously used the phrase "a sunny place for shady people"--it remains the epitome of glamour. Julian Hale reveals how a piece of rugged, inaccessible coastline was transformed into a byword for luxuryand hedonism--but always with a special beauty of its own. Conflict and power: From Roman legions to American liberators; fortresses and bunkers; the Grimaldi dynasty and Monaco; disputed sovereignty and corruption. Foreigners and expatriates: The British "discovery" of the Riviera; Russian millionaires and American bohemians; grand villas and hotels; the lure of the Casino; Riviera gardens. Artists, architects, and writers: Renoir, Chagall, and Bonnard; Baroque churches and belle epoque hotels; SomersetMaugham and Cyril Connolly; Scott Fitzgerald and Edith Wharton; Chekhov and Diaghilev"--Provided by publisher.
