Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker
by Stacy A. Cordery
"Princess Alice" (daughter of Teddy Roosevelt) was a tempestuous teenager. Smoking, gambling, and dressing flamboyantly, she flouted social conventions and opened the door for other women to do the same. Her husband was Speaker of the House Nicholas Longworth but - as Cordery documents for the first time - she had a child with her lover, Senator William Borah of Idaho. Alice's political acumen was widely respected in Washington. She was a sharp-tongued critic of her cousin FDR's New Deal programs, and meetings in her drawing room helped to change the course of history, from undermining the League of Nations to boosting Nixon. During the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, her legendary salons were still the center of political ferment.
"Cordery pens an authoritative, intriguing portrait of a first daughter who broke the mold. " - Publishers Weekly.
"A rigorous portrait of a woman of strong opinions who surely should have run for office herself. Promises to revive the old dame's reputation. " - Kirkus Reviews.
"A fine biography of America's ultimate -- and eminently quotable--bad girl. Stacy Cordery has fixed Alice Roosevelt Longworth on the page in all her vibrant color."
Stacy Schiff, author of A Great Improvisation: Franklin, France, and the Birth of America.
"[A] vivid picture not only of the woman who was for a time America's princess, but also of the American Century. Meticulously researched and recounted in lively and evocative prose, Alice sheds new light on TR's White House, the growth of the modern cultures of celebrity and teenage rebellion, the backroom politics and social skirmishes of the nation's capital, and inter-war isolationism and postwar anti-Communism." - Amanda Smith, editor of Hostage to Fortune: The Letters of Joseph P. Kennedy.
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