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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Blums importanceBy JBThere is hardly anything available on Rene Blums life and this book reveals many of the difficulties experienced by Blum in his role of carrying on the Diaghilev tradition of ballet.With his follow up by his organizing "Ballet de Monte Carlo" after De Basils thievery of the (his) first company "Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo"; and the subsequent selling to Massines American co=hosts; while trying to maintain control of the company. Then with the start of Hitlers WW II adventure and his lost life in prison. It is rather a tragedy that his memoirs were seemingly lost to dance history. The book is greatly appreciated in telling more the history of ballet during this troubled times.3 of 3 people found the following review helpful. Rene Blum: In Search of a Lost LifeBy Albert NoyerAuthor Judith Chazin-Bennahums biography of Reneacute; Blum is subtitled "In Search of a Lost Life;" and she delves deeply into the artistic and intellectual accomplishments of a fascinating critical writer; producer; and creative force in the first half of 20th century French; European and American cultural life. He was an aesthete passionately devouring every aspect of theatre; literature; music and dance between the two World Wars. He resurrected the Ballets Russes after Diaghilev died in 1929; battling with sensitivity the greed and competitive drives for power by Colonel de Basil; and the sometimes irresponsible actions of gifted but often insecure choreographers and dancers. In 1942 Blum lost his life in the Holocaust when Vichy French and German Nazis sent him to Auschwitz concentration camp. He suffered for a year in miserable conditions; yet persisted throughout to educate and inspire other prisoners. The authors exhaustive research has resulted in a richly painted view of cultural life in Paris; Monte Carlo; London; Russia; and later the United States where the Ballets Russes played a central role in the development of American dance. He helped bring the worlds greatest choreographers and dancers to the United States; including Massine; Fokine; Balanchine; and Branislav Nijinska. Blum lived a life crowded with literary and art salons; writing art criticism; working as editor of the prestigious literary journal Gil Blas; producing opera and theatre works; and above all sponsoring gifted choreographers and dancers through new ballet companies. His close friends included Marcel Proust; and he circulated in artistic groups with Claude Debussy; Pierre Bonnard; Edouard Vuillard; and Andre Gide. Chazin-Bennahum notes that Georges Lecomte; a member of the Academie Francaise; wrote that Blum "organized a union of writers; a kind of federation of intellectuals." Blum was not totally divorced from politics and was a devout French patriot. He served in World War I and won the Croix de Guerre. His brother; Leon Blum; was the first socialist prime minister of France; who undoubtedly influenced Reneacute;s social conscience. When invited to stay in the United States after the German invasion of France; Blum insisted that as a French citizen he needed to return to his homeland. It was a disastrous decision; due to the war atrocities and destruction Blums life and accomplishments remained hidden for many years. This author has resurrected the life of a brilliant cultural hero by gathering an enormous list of his productions in Monte Carlo; notes on each chapter; and a select bibliography. Her book was published by the Oxford University Press in 2011. Jennifer Noyer/Dance Critic Albuquerque Journal