cover image Onassis, Aristotle and Christina

Onassis, Aristotle and Christina

L. J. Davis. St. Martin's Press, $16.95 (269pp) ISBN 978-0-312-58471-9

Davis is a novelist, also author of the factual Bad Money, and he uses both his storytelling and reporting skills in this dual biography. Much of the material is by now over-familiar, but he adds sufficient color to heighten reader interest. The author details Onassis's financial coups, rivalries, many romantic affairs, friendships, etc. More engrossing sections describe his daughter Christina's life, stressing the vast difference between the private woman and the adopted persona. Outwardly, she suggests a neurotic: four failed marriages interrupting frantic running around in search of diversions. But Davis shows that Christina has inherited and is wisely using her father's business acumen. Immediately after his death, she took control of the Onassis empire and is building on it. The book is sharply witty and entertaining. Photos. (July 28)