The Last Playboy

Description

At one gilded moment in history, his fame was so great that he was known the world over by his nickname alone: Rubi. Pop songs were written about him. Women whom he had never met offered to leave their husbands for him. He had an eye for feminine beauty, particularly when it came with great wealth: Barbara Hutton, Doris Duke, Eva Perón, and Zsa Zsa Gabor. But he was a man’s man as well, polo player and race-car driver, chumming around with the likes of Joe Kennedy, Frank Sinatra, Oleg Cassini, Aly Khan, and King Farouk. He was also a jewel thief, and an intimate of one of the world’s most bloodthirsty dictators. And when he died at the age of fifty-six—wrapping his sports car around a tree in the Bois de Boulogne—a glamorous era of white dinner jackets at El Morocco and celebrity for its own sake died along with him.

He was one of a kind, the last of his breed. And in The Last Playboy, author Shawn Levy brings the giddy, hedonistic, and utterly remarkable story of Porfirio Rubirosa to glorious Technicolor life.

“Fascinating . . . A compulsive read. Shawn Levy is one of our best popular culture journalist-historians.” “Levy goes beyond the glitz to see Rubirosa as a product of a particular time and place…a perfect tribute.” “A terrific story about a fascinating character.” “Shawn Levy has written more than a good book—this is an irresistible read. Hollywood will soon come knocking.” “A compelling piece of social history…written in a breezy style perfectly suitable for conjuring Rubirosa’s seductive personality.” “As Shawn Levy amply documents in his bubbly, breathless and appropriately inconsequential biography, Rubirosa worked hard at having fun.” “A fitting elegy for a forgotten boldfaced name and a thoughtful study of mid-20th-century Pan-American politics.”

Additional information