This is a very readable book that moves you quickly along this biography of Alice, and her family. Page 16 mentions Teddy's attacks of asthma and cholera morbus, and his interest in animal specimens. Could this exposure to arsenic explain his problems? The book says the Roosevelt family was wealthy, but does not say how it was acquired. TR entered politics after his honeymoon, but the book does not tell why (p.25).

Alice's mother died in childbirth. TR's mother died the same day. Expected happiness was replaced by unexpected sorrow. TR left for the Dakotas where he tried out cattle ranching; he lost most of his fortune in the 1886 drought and the severe winter. He returned to NY and the steady income of a Government job, and married again. Young Alice never knew her mother, but only her stepmother (p.37). Alice grew up lonely with no playmates (p.41). She caught a disease that left one leg shorter than the other. Alice enjoyed her semiannual trip to her Boston grandparents, who spoiled her (p.37). Her stepmother would tell her that her mother was stupid, her father wanted to give her away, and TR proposed to her first and was rejected (p.47)! What a heavy emotional load for an 8 year old! Page 49 tells more about this disfunctional family. Alice was the only female member of an all-boys club where the boys dressed in girls clothes! Alice rejected Christianity and grew up a pagan with no formal education (p.53). Would she be considered an abused child today?

TR's enemies prevented him from a second term as Governor and shunted him off as Vice President. Then a lone gunman appeared and changed Administration policies. Alice began to socialize with the new-monied "Four Hundred" who disregarded old-money proprieties; TR and Edith held them in "high-minded contempt" (p.57). Alice had an income from her mother's parents. Was her behavior a way to gain attention from her parents (p.66)? Does this explain the rest of her life? There is a lesson here for any parents in a similar situation. Alice wrote "Father doesn't care for me ... as much as he does for the other children" (p.70). Alice was anxious to escape her parents by a marriage, like countless other girls from more humble backgrounds. It was a dynastic marriage: she got a rich heir of a Congressman, he got the President's daughter and a political ally. But change continued like a flowing river.

Page 113 shows an old political trick. Get some background facts before meeting a new person, then feed it back as a compliment in feigned admiration. It works every time! Page 129 tells how a political deal was made to keep a Bull Moose candidate out of Nick Longworth's district. Page 130 gives another example of Alice's perverse personality. She bragged about having caused her husband's defeat (p.131)! I wonder if her problems were genetic, or caused by her environment? The rest of the book covers the next 60 years of her life.

Chapters 10 and 11 make it seem that Paulina and the country would have been better off if Alice died in childbirth. What good has she ever done? These portrayals of the members of the Ruling Class will never be printed in your local newspaper.

This is a very readable book that moves you quickly along this biography of Alice, and her family. Page 16 mentions Teddy's attacks of asthma and cholera morbus, and his interest in animal specimens. Could this exposure to arsenic explain his problems? The book says the Roosevelt family was wealthy, but does not say how it was acquired. TR entered politics after his honeymoon, but the book does not tell why (p.25).

Alice's mother died in childbirth. TR's mother died the same day. Expected happiness was replaced by unexpected sorrow. TR left for the Dakotas where he tried out cattle ranching; he lost most of his fortune in the 1886 drought and the severe winter. He returned to NY and the steady income of a Government job, and married again. Young Alice never knew her mother, but only her stepmother (p.37). Alice grew up lonely with no playmates (p.41). She caught a disease that left one leg shorter than the other. Alice enjoyed her semiannual trip to her Boston grandparents, who spoiled her (p.37). Her stepmother would tell her that her mother was stupid, her father wanted to give her away, and TR proposed to her first and was rejected (p.47)! What a heavy emotional load for an 8 year old! Page 49 tells more about this disfunctional family. Alice was the only female member of an all-boys club where the boys dressed in girls clothes! Alice rejected Christianity and grew up a pagan with no formal education (p.53). Would she be considered an abused child today?

TR's enemies prevented him from a second term as Governor and shunted him off as Vice President. Then a lone gunman appeared and changed Administration policies. Alice began to socialize with the new-monied "Four Hundred" who disregarded old-money proprieties; TR and Edith held them in "high-minded contempt" (p.57). Alice had an income from her mother's parents. Was her behavior a way to gain attention from her parents (p.66)? Does this explain the rest of her life? There is a lesson here for any parents in a similar situation. Alice wrote "Father doesn't care for me ... as much as he does for the other children" (p.70). Alice was anxious to escape her parents by a marriage, like countless other girls from more humble backgrounds. It was a dynastic marriage: she got a rich heir of a Congressman, he got the President's daughter and a political ally. But change continued like a flowing river.

Page 113 shows an old political trick. Get some background facts before meeting a new person, then feed it back as a compliment in feigned admiration. It works every time! Page 129 tells how a political deal was made to keep a Bull Moose candidate out of Nick Longworth's district. Page 130 gives another example of Alice's perverse personality. She bragged about having caused her husband's defeat (p.131)! I wonder if her problems were genetic, or caused by her environment? The rest of the book covers the next 60 years of her life.

Chapters 10 and 11 make it seem that Paulina and the country would have been better off if Alice died in childbirth. What good has she ever done? These portrayals of the members of the Ruling Class will never be printed in your local newspaper.

I really love this book, for it exposes Phyllis for what she really is, a professional hypocrite. This woman, who did everything in her power to defeat the ERA, was raised in a home where her mother was the chief breadwinner. As an adult, she married an attorney who made a decent living, and while raising numerous children, could afford to employ full-time domestic help while she completed law school and pursued various political positions. In other words, the same person who told American women to be satisfied with the domestic side of life and second-class citizenship enjoyed the fruits of the pampered, powerful class, and was hardly ever home!
Although this reviewer has a negative attitude toward Phyllis as a traitor and anti-feminist, one can appreciate Ms. Felsenthal's compelling depiction of Phyllis's incredible stamina, which is something not all of us are blessed with. Most people can only do so much and need at least eight hours of sleep a night. To paraphrase Erma Bombeck, I am one of those moms who people won't call a great mom. but I spend a lot of time with my kids, play poker with them and eat cookies right out of the box.

I'm not sure if the other reviewer actually read the book because if she did she would have known that Mrs. Schlafly had 5 adu;t children and a child in high school when she finished her law degree at Harvard, so she didn't leave her children home to fend for themsleves while she selfishly chose to further her career. The other thing is she only went to law school because she was debating the ERA and every time her opponent couldn't counter with an argument based in fact, they would try to discredit Mrs Schafly and say she was unqualified to debate the issue because she wasn't an attorney and couldn't possibly understand the legal implications of the amendment. Funny thing is I think she completely understood them. We don't have ERA now, and what great injustice are women suffering because of it? None.

This book chronicles Mrs. Schlafly's extraordinary life. She put herself through college in the 40's by working nights testing [weapons] for the military. She met her husband at 25, (an age that most women of the day might have been considered spinsters), when he read a political analysis and he thought he better meet the author who he assumed was a man. She ran for congress twice, was an expert at nuclear strategy, she wrote a book called A Choice Not An Echo whci sold over 3 million copies, etc. Some say she was a hyppocrite because she accomplished so much but that doesn't make sense. Her success was rooted in her philosophy that nobody could keep her down unless she let them. She never allowed herself to think that she was being handicapped by society and therefore she wasn't. It's a healthy attitude, devoid of the bitterness that comes with seeing yourself as a victim. She was also almost unfathomably focused and an imitable master of time management. She kept all 6 of her kids home until they were 6 so she could teach them to read herself. During this period I believe she also published several books.

I'm 25, a minority woman, and a graduate from the most liberal school in the country, UC Berkeley. I am not one who is easily convinced and I definitely didn't have a conservative bone in my body. This book really changed the way I see things. Here we have one of the most self-accomplished women of the 20th century and almost nobody has heard of her. She's practically a Marie Curie of modern times and nobody knows what she's done because she apparently wasn't playing for the right team. If she had whined and complained about how hard her life was and entered politics on that basis she would probably be president. The fact that she didn't speaks volumes about her character and is so refreshing to see from a white woman. I really admire her and have changed my way of thinking to be more positive. I know that society doesn't have a greater power over my life than I do.

This is an excellent book about Katherine Graham, former owner and publisher of The Washington Post. Katherine is initially, for all intents and purposes, ignored by her family throughout her youth. Little attention is bestowed upon her as her father, Eugene Meyer, runs The Washington Post and her mother, Agnes Meyer, socializes with every powerful individual she possibly can. Katherine perseveres through these harsh circumstances only to have her husband, Phil Graham, blow his brains out in the bathroom of one of their homes during a respite from an insane asylum. Katherine takes control of the newspaper (and company behind it), makes it the most influential paper in the nation, and becomes the most powerful woman in the world in the process. I recommend this book for any individual seeking a source of inspiration. This book should, and will hopefully, inspire many downtrodden people the world over for years to come.

I've read every book I could find about Katharine Graham and the Washington Post -- and if you're only going to read one, this is it. Complex business dealings are explained clearly, people are approached evenhandedly, and scandals (public and private) are discussed without either shirking or sensationalism (and with a lot of citations.) The book focuses on the personalities of these fascinating people, making for a riveting story.

Biographer Carol Felsenthal turned her fine talents ro Katherine Graham and produced a top-notch bio, one which the reader can easily understand, and feel for, the housewife-turned-Fortune 500 businesswoman. What sticks in my mind is how Graham's distant mother finally decided to talk to her daughter about menstruation, to which Kay replied, "I started that last year."
Rich detail such as this makes it easy to see why Readers Digest condensed the book, and opens up a controversy over just how much of Felsenthal's research was co-opted by Graham herself to write, or have ghostwritten, her "Personal History." Felsenthal's objectivity adds to Graham's life story in a way only a detached biographer can. If one wants a map of how a shy woman can succeede in the business world, one can do no better than to read Felsenthal's illuminating text.

An enormous undertaking, with awesome research, and a comfortable easy read doesn't improve either the personality of or the aura that has surrounded Si Newhouse since his college years. Ms. Felsenthal's portrayal of this self-concerned, thoughtless print media mogul is written with sharp, honest and precise clarity. Truth is indeed stranger than fiction, and this author has neatly recorded it all. The print fraternity will not like this one!

Carol Felsenthal has made all the right moves in research, writing and having published the excellent biography CITIZEN NEWSHOUSE. She interviewed hundreds of people, came up with a strong story line and kept it up hundreds of pages later. Alas, this readable study of a publisher broke an unwritten rule in the business of publishing writers: don't write about us. When finished, Viking accepted her work then, violating its contract, said it wouldn't publish it because "people we know are on every page." It was left to Seven Stories to pick it up. While Ms. Felsenthal didn't have a fatwa issued against her, any freedom-respecting reader should buy a copy to support those who challenge the powers that be simply by writing the truth.

This lady has an astounding way of taking you to the moment! The research is awesome and the ability to create the incidents, characteristics, and responses is eerie! It WAS just as Ms. Felsenthal writes.....it was like re-reading a part of my past. This lady's talent is quite remarkable when one considers she's written a page-turner about a somewhat prickly, eccentric, even though very privileged guy!