Ari: The Life & Times of Aristotle Onassis

[Onassis, Aristotle] Evans, Peter. Ari: The Life and Times of Aristotle Socrates Onassis. London, Jonathan Cape, 1986. 16 cm x 24 cm. 367 pages. Black and white illustrations throughout. Original Hardcover with original dustjacket in protective collector's mylar. Excellent condition with only very minor signs of external wear, for example a slight tear to the back cover. Aristotle Socrates Onassis was a Greek shipping magnate, who amassed the world's largest privately owned shipping fleet and was one of the world's richest and most famous men. He was known for his business success, his great wealth and also his personal life, including his marriage to Athina Mary Livanos (daughter of shipping tycoon Stavros G. Livanos); his affair with famous opera singer Maria Callas; and his 1968 marriage to Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of American President John F. Kennedy. Onassis was born in Smyrna and fled the city with his family to Greece in 1922 in the wake of the Greco-Turkish War. He moved to Argentina in 1923 and established himself as a tobacco trader and later a shipping owner during the Second World War. Moving to Monaco, Onassis rivaled Prince Rainer III for economic control of the country through his ownership of SBM and in the mid 1950s sought to secure an oil shipping arrangement with Saudi Arabia and engaged in whaling expeditions. In the 1960s Onassis attempted to establish a large investment contract, Project Omega, with the Greek military junta, and sold Olympic Airways which he had founded in 1957. Onassis was greatly affected by the death of his 24-year-old son, Alexander, in a plane crash in 1973, and died two years later. (Wikipedia) Peter Evans, former award-winning journalist and foreign correspondent, was born and lives in London. His books have included biographies of Peter Sellers and Brigitte Bardot, and a recent novel, The Englishman's Daughter. (from the backcover).