ONASSIS

by Willi Frischauer ‧ RELEASE DATE: June 1, 1968

A blatantly comradely biography of the shipping magnate, whose bone-crushing manipulations and lavish entertaining of celebrities have often placed his five hundred million dollar moniker in tabloid headlines or within the itineraries of some of the glossy great. Of not entirely humble beginnings in Smyrna, son of a Greek tobacco merchant. Aristotle Onassis, according to this version, was instrumental in having his father released from prison during the Turkish military rule of 1922, after accomplishing a daring escape himself from an interrogation. Eventually traveling to Buenos Aires in 1922, Ari took a job with a telephone company, drifted into a tobacco import business with his father's help and then became involved with Greek-Argentinian negotiations concerning import duty because of his own importing business. Expanding interests, and his own shrewd appraisal of 1930's shipping ""bargains,"" at a time when surplus ships could be bought for 1% of their original cost, launched Onassis as a ship owner, with an ability (if one may read between the bubbling lines of tribute) to snake his way amidst the shipping world with a deadly, quicksilver efficacy. His marriage at forty to a seventeen-year-old; his imperial appointments and entertainments; his friendship with first mate Callas, are given the same sycophantic treatment as are his legal difficulties. . . Ari in his eyrie.

Pub Date: June 1, 1968

ISBN: N/A

Page Count: -

Publisher: Meredith

Review Posted Online: N/A

Kirkus Reviews Issue: June 1, 1968

Categories: NONFICTION