Born 1871. This biography by Larry Haeg proves what I've always said about biographies: It doesn't matter who the subject is if the biography is well-written. Who in the world knows Charles Flandrau? I certainly didn't, but I loved this biog. I found it when I was reading about his sister-in-law, Theodate Pope Riddle. I wish Larry Haeg had written Theodate's biography. Heh. He probably does too.

Oh how I wish someone would publish an edition of Charlie's correspondence. Haeg says that Charlie approached letter-writing as an art form.

He had such a wicked, nasty tongue. He referred to three dowager women friends as "sexually unemployed." They were "fat females in tight black silk dresses that made little squeaking sounds in the upper abdominal regions." He was an alcoholic, and Haeg tells us that alcohol "revealed his cruel, malicious streak." The youthful Charlie shied away from Radcliffe women--"all alike and all unendurable."

One final word from Charlie. Oh God, Charlie, how I relate: "Grace is really almost a brilliant person, but in all sincerity, at the age of almost fifty, I no longer give a damn about brilliancy." ( )