The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation’s grant of 1.6 million dollars to pay for the digitalization of thousands of tape-recorded oral histories of indigenous people has a special meaning for me.
What Was Cut
I suppose it’s a stretch—but then what is the point of writing without stretching?—but I think if Doris Duke had known about Julian Abele’s work, she would have admired him and regretted that during his life time, he was never given his due.
Legacy of Harm
Doris Duke must at least have wondered if her generosity, in all its forms, could ever compensate for the destructive effects of nicotine addiction.
Celebrities
These days if a writer is smitten with the idea of writing a new book—a new analysis—of any supposedly well-known person, the obstacles to her research will be enormous.
Doris Duke: Changing Faces
We are all too complicated and contradictory to be explained.
Doris Duke, the Patriarchy, and God
My surprise almost outweighed my satisfaction when I found that in one letter, written in middle age, Doris referred to the patriarchy.
Happy Birthday, Doris
Sometimes a choice of a name without family connotations means an attempt to break loose from the past.
The Silver Swan: In Search of Doris Duke
Changing the title of my biography of Doris Duke, especially after more than six years of work, is a big deal.
Doris Duke Takes Another Step
I wonder what Doris would think if she could sit at the breakfast table with my editor and me and talk about who the book’s readers will be.
Doris Duke Moves into the Limelight
I am now reading, and occasionally wrestling with, what might be call the collision—or the creative cooperation—of two minds, essentially different: the mind of the writer and the mind of the editor.