SLAUGHTER FOR ELEPHANTS

An ivory trunk sale; living with 9/11; the Emma Stone dilemma; randy Prince Andy; Catch-22; McCourting disaster; guilty by gait; and Demi’s baby bump

Thank you for the wonderful arM tide about elephants and the ivory trade [“Agony and Ivory,” by Alex Shoumatoff, August],

While the senseless slaughter of such magnificent animals is heartbreaking, it is at least encouraging to learn that with aggressive education people may change their buying habits.

Consumers have far more power than they think. Every time they reach for their pocketbook, their purchase determines so many things: whether the ivory demand will continue, whether cruel and redundant animal testing will continue, whether greyhounds will be used up and destroyed, whether animals will languish in factory farms to produce meat and eggs, whether we trade with countries dealing in exotic-animal parts or illegally hunted whales, clubbed baby seals or viciously killed dolphins—and the list goes on.

The power of the thoughtful, educated consumer can have a huge impact on the world’s treatment of its animals. I hope that everyone recognizes this power and uses it.

LYNN O’TOOLE Walnut Grove, Missouri

AFTER READING Alex ShoumatofFs devastating expose of the ivory trade, my husband and I are canceling our holiday to China. We are going to Zimbabwe to see what’s left of the elephants instead.

MICHAELA POND Corona Del Mar, California

EXQUISITE ARTICLE about the demise of elephants in Africa. We must not allow such violence and dispassion to continue. I wish only that there were links in the article to specific animal-welfare groups that one could financially support. As humans we

must fight to educate others and end this kind of cruelty. It is very disheartening to see how people so wantonly use technology and arms to push species toward extinction. We can be such a violent and mindless species. I worry about the future of our planet when people are driven to this degree by greed, ignorance, and stupidity.

LINDA DUGAN Hastings, Nebraska

EDITOR’S NOTE: For a list of ways to support the protection of elephants and other endangered species, please visit VF.com/save-elephants.

TORRENTS OF ARABIA

I READ THE ARTICLE “The Kingdom and the Towers” [by Anthony Summers and Robbyn Swan], in the August issue, and

feel compelled to write not because I am a surviving family member of one of the 3,000 who perished on 9/11, but because I am an American who too would like to know the truth. My wife, Michele, was the senior flight attendant aboard American Airlines Flight 77, which was hijacked and subsequently flown into the Pentagon.

Most, if not all, of the information contained in the article is public knowledge that has been disseminated in the media or gleaned from the countless books written post-9/11, and sadly as we approach the 10year anniversary of the attacks, despite the death of bin Laden, not much has changed. And our loved ones arc no longer here with us.

What I find most disturbing is the lack of mention made of the efforts by the families in finding the truth in order to hold those responsible for the attacks accountable. As the article suggests, there is stonewalling, not just by the Saudis but by everyone involved.

What should not be overlooked: truth always and ultimately prevails.

CAPTAIN THOMAS P. HEIDENBERGER Chevy Chase, Maryland

“THE KINGDOM AND THE TOWERS” compiled and updated important material in a compelling way. There likely is some overlap between that story and my own.

I worked for the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago for 13 years, as an economist and financial-markets policy analyst. I found myself in hot water in late 2003 for several things I’m now proud of, including a critical analysis of the federal government’s pricing of Fedwire—a system that enables financial institutions to electronically move funds among its participants—and for a paper I developed, in mid-2001, which examined the implications for Federal Reserve independence, given increased executive-branch authority during a declared national emergency or “time of war.”

But my last role at the Federal Reserve Bank was in the money-laundering area, where my job was eliminated in early 2004, soon after I began asking questions about financial matters that had taken place just before the attacks, in July and August 2001—matters that still seem very relevant.

WILLIAM BERGMAN La Grange Park, Illinois

A QUIRKY CONUNDRUM

EMMA STONE CERTAINLY deserves to be on your August 2011 cover [“Hollywood Is Her Oyster,” by Alexandra Wolfe]—she has already demonstrated, in her short career, that she is a natural actress who can deliver lines with intelligence and humor. However, your cover photo does her no fa-

vors. In fact, she is barely recognizable. The Emma Stone who gained her acting cred in Superbcid, Zombieland, and Easy’ A is far more attractive and appealing.

STEVEN MORRIS East Hampton, New York

EMMA STONE was the perfect choice for your August cover, and the article couldn’t have done a better job of proving why she deserves all the attention she is receiving in Hollywood. With her down-to-earth style and truly natural comedic timing, Stone is consistently funny and likable in every role she takes on. It’s easy to root for her characters on the big screen, and after learning more about her personality and discipline, even easier to cheer for her and her success as an actress.

MICHAEL AARON GALLAGHER Syracuse, New York

I CAME ACROSS the movie Easy A last night and instantly fell in love with the freshfaced, quirky, and totally original Emma Stone. What a welcome presence and naturally charismatic actress!

Today, my issue of Vanity Fair arrived. On the cover is yet another pouting, blonde, bikini-clad bimbo. Who was this one? Abbie Cornish? Hayden Panettiere? Kristen Bell? Blake Lively? I was so sorry to see it was the very same eflortlessly sexy redhead I had come to adore mere hours before. Her natural beauty had been smothered by too much makeup and the twinkle in her eye was now a forced come-hither look. There wasn’t any of the self-deprecating, mischievous, oddball charm that drew me to her originally. Put her in the overcrowded pile of half-dressed “sexy young things.” I’m sticking with Diane Keaton, until someone uncompromising comes along. What a disappointment.

TRACEY BELLAND Laguna Beach, California

THANK YOU for showcasing on your cover a woman who is not tanned—by methods either fake or natural. As a fellow sun-avoiding, pale-skinned one, I found it refreshing to see a healthy, beautiful girl look so seductive while remaining flesh-colored, rather than the orange or taupe actresses and models we normally see in most magazines. Kudos to Emma and her photographer, Patrick Dcmarchclicr!

JULIA JABLONSKI Palm Harbor, Florida

THE IGNOBLE DUKE

REGARDING THE STORY about H.R.H. Prince Andrew [“The Trouble with Andrew,” by Edward Klein, August]: is this the “Randy Andy” of yore, as he was branded in his youth? He has not grown much. It is easy to blame his mother, the

Queen, for his faults (she has been very accommodating), but he clearly took advantage. And what have Andrew’s daughters learned from him? Certainly not selfsufficiency. And certainly not the elegance of simplicity. And not the lesson of “There you are” instead of “Here I am5’’ the former mind-set bringing so much oxygen into the room and the latter taking all the oxygen out. The recently completed tour of North America by the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge—who are elegant, charming, open, and friendly, connecting with everyone in the most wonderful wayshould give Andrew pause. If it weren’t for his other duties, I think Prince William would be a wonderful trade ambassador for Great Britain.

BARBARA HEBERT San Francisco, California

WAR IS HELLER

A SMALL ADDITION to your excellent history of this amazing book [“The War for Catch-22,” by Tracy Daugherty, August]: Candida Donadio, Joseph Heller’s literary agent, sent the first chapter of the novel to the magazine Discovery’, edited by novelist Vance Bourjaily. Discovery, published by Pocket Books, was similar to New World Writing in puipose and format. We—I was then its assistant editor-published original work by, among others, Norman Mailer, William Styron, Bernard Malamud, and Muriel Rukeyser. The magazine lasted for six semi-annual issues.

When Heller’s manuscript came in to the office, Vance read it immediately and then handed it to me for my opinion. I told him I thought it was astonishingly good. Vance went back and forth on it, holding it for a couple of months before finally turning it down. He was unusually reticent about his reasons—and I’m still not sure why he didn’t buy it. I steamed quietly. Next thing we knew Arabel Porter had bought it for New World Writing.

ANNE BERNAYS Cambridge, Massachusetts

AS A LOYAL AND HIGHLY SATISFIED subscriber of V.F. for 10 years, I am writing for the first time in regard to your publication of the excerpt from Tracy Daugherty’s biography of Joseph Heller. On a personal note, this one article accomplished three things.

First, it prompted a conversation with my father (a man so traumatized by enforced reading in his school days that he hasn’t willingly touched a book since 1973), in which Dad admitted that Catch-22 was the only book he had read in school that he wanted to keep reading in

order to find out what happened; he stayed up late into the night to finish it in a single sitting.

Second, it made me eager to read Catch-22 after years of dismissing it as “just another W.W. II novel” (a category that has not always appealed to me; From Here to Eternity took me an eternity to slog through!). Reading about Heller’s originality, creativity, and use of humor enlightened me to the power of this classic novel, at last.

Third, it reminded me to track down a copy of The Letters of Evelyn Waugh (a favorite author of mine), because few people were as devastatingly clever (witness his letter to publishing executive Nina Bourne, quoted in your excerpt).

So, thank you for another great selection!

ANN M. HOPPEL Piscataway, New Jersey

WHILE THERE IS NO DOUBT Catch-22 is Joseph Heller’s masterpiece, I still make an annual point of rereading his novel Good as Gold for its sheer laugh-out-loud moments. And in Heller’s later years, whenever some churlish critic would point out that he hadn’t in the ensuing decades written a book as good as Catch-22, Heller would simply smile and say, “Who has?”

STEVE MARSHALL Melbourne, Australia

A DODGY DIVORCE

WHEN VANESSA GRIGORIADIS WRITES. “If fate had shined differently upon the McCourts ... they would probably have still owned the Dodgers, with billions of dollars to share between them,” she makes it sound as if Frank and Jamie McCourt are innocent victims of happenstance [“A Major-League Divorce,” August], More accurately, if they had not been so driven by their own megalomania, the pair wouldn’t have made such reckless financial calculations. And had they only known that mindless, unethical behavior has serious karmic consequences, their lives wouldn’t be prisons of debt, rage, and fear, to the point where Jamie “shakes like a dog” and Frank is circling the drain. All the money in the world won’t buy them peace of mind. Sad, really.

CHRIS LAMUT Chicago, Illinois

MS. GRIGORIADIS HAS HIT it out of the park with her article on the McCourts. Not only Dodgers fans but baseball fans all over the country are absolutely disgusted with what the McCourts have done to what was once a world-class sports fran-

MORE FROM THE V.F. MAILBAG

h, how I adore anything James Wolcott writes!” reports Sarah Albrecht, from Denver.

Praise as well for Emma Stone, though not for the cover on which she appeared. There was a “disconnect between the photos and the accompanying story, in which we get a sense of a smart, talented actress who isn’t interested in being a pinup girl,” says Archer Parr, of Portland, Oregon. Also: “She looks like a cartoon” (Kathleen Doyle, of New Hampshire); “washed out” (Pierangela Murphy, River Forest, Illinois); “I can’t even detect a pulse” (Rose Miller, Fishkill, New York). Gee, the Mailbag kind of liked— “Boooo!” (Don Maloney, Richardson, Texas). O.K., O.K.!

The Duchess of Cornwall will not be the first commoner to become queen consort—that was Elizabeth Woodville, who married King Edward IV in 1464. This according to both the Reverend Dr. Laurence J. James, of Comins, Michigan (her great-grandson “times 20 or so,”

he says), and Elizabeth Clark, of Jacksonville, Florida (apparently no relation).

One thoughtful reader, Catherine Rupani, speaks for many when she writes, “Thank you for your article on the ivory trade and the plight of the elephant. You have the ability to reach audiences that may not readily read of these things.” And from Karen Edney, of Auckland, New Zealand: “It is absolutely awesome to put this out to the public.” “I was somewhat surprised at your so open political bias,” says Marilyn Barfoot, of Houston, referring to an “anti-Bush editorial,” and adding, cryptically, “Your readers do not look to your magazine for your political opinion. I am a naturalized citizen from Canada.”

Another reader has called our attention to a dubious-sounding e-mail inviting people to participate in a dubioussounding photo shoot. “Though, this project does not required [sic] that you have any experience before you can do it,” assures the d.-s. e-mail. Clearly a scam and not from V.F. there’s no political bias, no anti-Bush editorializing. We do not look to that e-mail for its political opinion. We are a naturalized Mailbag from Canada.

chise. I grew up going to Dodger Stadium with my family and friends, attending between 20 and 30 games a season in our private box, and I considered the stadium to be one of the most beautiful, fun places anywhere. Not anymore—not until the McCourts are gone.

COLLEEN DeLEE Los Angeles, California

KAHN MAN

IN DESCRIBING the Dominique StraussKahn debacle, James Wolcott focuses heavily (and rightly so) on “the perp walk” [“Pepe Le Perp,” August], How many times have we seen the same sickening and sad scenario replayed? The alleged perpetrator is forced to walk from (choose one: his house, his apartment building, his school, his place of employment) in front of (choose one: tens, dozens, hundreds of cameras and popping lights), pushed into a police car or van, handcuffed, looking (choose one: ghastly, ghostly, guilty), all before those images show up on (choose one or all four: newspapers, magazines, television news, the Internet).

And it means nothing.

The perp walk, New York City’s creation, is exactly what Wolcott says it is: “raw meat flung to the mob, a prejudicial indictment.”

What ever happened to the idea that a person really is innocent until he or she has been proved guilty in a court?

Now it appears possible that the full Strauss-Kahn case was one of untruths piled upon concocted stories, tied up by fake accusations, and related by a lying person.

So, Strauss-Kahn actually may be completely innocent of these specific charges? After that mortifying walk and those photos all over town? Innocent?!

BARRY GOLBIN Staten Island, New York

GIMME MOORE!

I GOT GOOSE BUMPS reading the ode to Annie Leibovitz’s August 1991 cover photo of Demi Moore, in which the actress is shown in all her pregnant glory [“Flashback: Demi Moore,” by George Lois, August]! I was 21 when this cover hit the stands and was so struck by Demi’s strength and regal poise, all captured in simple, painterly beauty by Leibovitz. Yes, it was sexy—not only because Moore is nude but because she’s powerful. I was in awe; too young to imagine being pregnant myself but inspired to create portraits that would celebrate the magi-

cal, biological form of the maternal body.

Now I’m a 40-year-old mother of three who has commemorated all my pregnancies with photos, and I’m also a professional photographer specializing in capturing pregnancy and the families that come after. During almost every session with a pregnant woman, this cover photo of Demi is mentioned with affection and excitement by the mother-to-be, who gets to “do a Demi.” Without a doubt, Annie’s portrait, and V.F. ’s vision to feature it on the cover, sparked my desire to help all moms see their beauty in pregnancy. Demi’s image completely changed our culture’s image of the pregnant woman from someone who should hide her belly under a muumuu. Thank you for showing us beauty where it is—even when some people aren’t ready for it.

ALICE KUO SHIPPEE Palos Verdes Estates, California

CORRECTION: On page 110 of our September issue, ive mischaracterized the Press Complaints Commissions investigation of the News of the World hacking scandal. The P.C.C. did look into it. Also, ive misidentified Les Hinton’s role at the P.C.C. At the time of the discovery of the hacking he was chairman of the Editors Code of Practice Committee, the P.C.C.s code-enforcement arm.

Letters to the editor should be sent electronically with the writer’s name, address, and daytime phone number to letters@vf.com. All requests for back issues should be sent to subscriptions@vf.com. All other queries should be sent to vfmail@vf.com. The magazine reserves the right to edit submissions, which may be published or otherwise used in any medium. All submissions become the property of Vanity Fair.

POSTSCRIPT

The late Honorable Colin Tennant, I third Baron of Glenconner, paid I $67,500 in 1958 for what was then a desolate, undeveloped island in the Caribbean: Mustique. Lord Glenconner, Scottish heir to an industrial-bleach fortune, quickly established his tropical enclave as the exclusive playground for a select elite—a status cemented in 1960 when he gave a 10-acre estate to Princess Margaret on the occasion of her wedding to Lord Snowdon (who spotlights theatrical designer Oliver Messel on page 251 of this issue). Glenconner’s wife. Lady Anne, kept to her own house, in Norfolk, England, more than 4,000 miles away from his famous parties, where rock stars such as Jagger and Bowie rubbed elbows, and perhaps a bit more, with royalty. In recent years, William and Kate have taken far quieter holidays to the island.

In “A Postcard from Mustique,” his dispatch from the island oasis for the January 1986 issue of V.F., Glenconner recounts the highlights of the 1985 season, including a “golden ball” thrown by Jasper Guinness, the horticulturist and brewing scion. “They danced till dawn, which inconsiderately breaks up parties at six A.M.,” Glenconner writes in the article.

By the 1990s, Glenconner had relocated to the nearby island of Saint Lu-

cia, where he built a magnificent house and opened a restaurant. Between jetset visitors, his faithful companions were a pet elephant, Bupa, and a devoted manservant, Kent Adonai, who had entered Glenconner’s employ at the age of 18 as the elephant’s caregiver. Adonai spent 30 years serving Glenconner, who died in his arms in August 2010.

In life, Glenconner was the picture of an eccentric aristocrat, but perhaps his most unconventional act was unveiled posthumously. Seven months before his death, he altered his will, disinheriting his family and leaving everything instead to Adonai—a bounty that included the estate on Saint Lucia, worth many millions. When news of the change broke, this past summer, his widow. Lady Anne, told the British papers that she hoped Adonai would “follow what we all knew were [Glenconner’s] wishes,” namely that the Caribbean estate go to their teenage grandson Cody, whose sole inheritance was a title: fourth Baron of Glenconner.

As for Adonai, he is resigned to putting his newly acquired array of exotic art, furniture, and jewelry up for sale, at the topflight London auction house Bonhams, this fall, -REBECCA SACKS To read “A Postcard from Mustique,” visit VF.com,