Fremont and his wife were millionaires and paupers, one of the most famous couples of their times. The Fremont that a town and peak in California are named for, the one who discovered Carson Pass and was one of the first white people to see Lake Tahoe, who issued the first Emancipation Proclamation. Yes, the same Fremont who mapped large sweeps of the West, was instrumental in California becoming a state, ran for president as the first Republican and almost won, paved the way for a transcontinental railroad, etc. Rather, you follow the sweep of US history in the 1830's through the eyes of one of its most intriguing players, Jessie Benton Fremont and her husband, John Fremont.

yawn).īut that's not the appeal of this book. It is a historical novel, with some of the contrivances we expect sometimes in the genre (she looks at herself in the mirror and observes her features. So I re-read it and was not at all disappointed. I read this book in high school, and have remembered parts of it ever since. The Italian government lauded Stone with several honorary awards during this period for his cultural achievements highlighting Italian history. For example, he spent many years living in Italy while working on The Agony and the Ecstasy. Stone additionally did much of his research 'in the field'. It seems probable that Vincent's letters to and from his own brother Theo provided a foundation for Adversary in the House. Stone's main source for Lust for Life, as noted in the afterword, were Van Gogh's letters to his brother Theo. During their lifetime, Stone and his wife funded a foundation to support charitable causes they believed in. The Stones lived primarily in Los Angeles, California.

Stone enjoyed a long marriage to his wife and editor on many of his works, Jean Stone. When at home, Stone relied upon the research facilities and expertise made available to him by Esther Euler, head research librarian of the University of California at Los Angeles, to whom he dedicated and thanked, in addition to many others, in several of his works. In the 1960s, Stone received an honorary Doctorate of Letters from the University of Southern California, where he had previously earned a Masters Degree from the College of Letters, Arts, and Sciences. In 1923, Stone received his bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley.

They also ran by irving stone