Select A Store
Select Store
My Store:
Select A Store
The White House Wild Child: Alice Roosevelt, Molded by a President's Grief, Driven by a Haunted Childhood
by Mickle, Shelley Fraser
Availability:
$15.17
Used
-
Hardcover
-
9781623545499
Overview
Overview
The fascinating historical biography of America's most memorable first daughter, Alice Roosevelt, whose free spirit and status made her the Princess Diana and Jackie O of the early 20th century. Perfect for readers of female-centric biographies like The Daughters of Yalta and for fans of the glitzy drama of The Gilded Age and The Crown. "I can do one of two things, I can be President of the United States or I can control Alice. I cannot possibly do both."--Theodore Roosevelt During Theodore Roosevelt's presidency--from 1901 to 1909, when Mark Twain called him the most popular man in America--his daughter Alice Roosevelt mesmerized the world with her antics and beauty. Alice was known for carrying a gun, a copy of the Constitution, and a green snake in her purse. When her father told her she couldn't smoke under his roof, she climbed to the top of the White House and smoked on the roof. She became the most famous woman in America--and even the world--predating Princess Diana and Jackie Kennedy as an object of public obsession. As her celebrity grew, she continued to buck tradition, push against social norms, and pull political sway behind the curtain of privilege and access. She was known for her acerbic wit and outspoken tendencies which hypnotized both the social and political world. Brilliantly researched and powerfully told, Shelley Fraser Mickle places the reader in the time and place of Alice and asks what would it have been like to be a strong-willed powerful woman of that day. Drawn from primary and secondary sources, Alice's life comes into focus in this historical celebration of an extraordinary woman ahead of her time. "With wit and fresh insight, Shelley Fraser Mickle brings vividly to life one of the most colorful figures of the 20th Century--the most glamorous, rebellious and contentious woman in the United States, and for a time the most famous. Imagine what Alice would have done on Twitter! Wild Child also offers an extraordinary angle of vision on great events of eight decades and illuminates the suffering and poisonous rivalries that afflicted the Roosevelt family."
-Jonathan Alter, former editor for Newsweek, author of His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life "This is a gripping, revealing tale not just of Alice Roosevelt, but also of the many women who branded the Roosevelt name in American history. I couldn't put it down. Mickle, once again, reveals herself as a brilliant storyteller - I devoured this in a single day."
--Deirdre Mask, author of THE ADDRESS BOOK, What Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth and Power "What a tale! Biographer Shelley Fraser Mickle finds the perfect subject in Alice Lee Roosevelt, President Teddy Roosevelt's eldest child. Alice went from rogue teenager to political confidant. She was wickedly smart, a witty woman who knew no boundaries and led a life worthy of examination. The history of the Roosevelts has been predominantly about men, now it's Alice's turn."
--Diana Williams, WABC news anchor "With The White House Wild Child Shelley Mickle brings Alice Roosevelt back into the public eye, and recovers the dramatic history of the daughter of a president, Theodore Roosevelt, who, Mickle tells us, "learned how far she could go without tipping over." The engaging prose and narrative turns match the dramatic story of Alice's life in the White House, which brings new light to T.R. and recovers many other forgotten Roosevelt women, any number of whom might have become president if born a century later. Mickle's empathetic work brings both the dazzlingly beautiful and naughty child to the pages, while digging below the surface to find compassion for thegirl whose father could not call her by the name she shared with her mother who had died in childbirth. Historically accurate and well-written, this book is a must-read for younger and older women interested in the history of the United States and its female legacy."
--Victoria Phillips, Ph.D., author of Martha Graham's Cold War: The Dance of American Diplomacy "With verve and vividness, White House Wild Child spotlights Alice Roosevelt during her father's presidency from 1901 to 1909. Like a tragedy building to a crisis and cascading to its aftermath, this well-grounded account offers illuminating details even for readers well acquainted with Theodore Roosevelt's life and times. Born in 1884, Alice added glitter to the Gilded Age and beyond, but at a cost. She jockeyed between attention getting, outrageousness, and even dangerous behavior, spurred by her feelings of being inadequate and unloved. Her mother's death a few days after Alice's birth shaped her life, providing a case study of debilitating grief, the relationship of fathers and daughters, and the destructiveness of the media eager for a headline regardless of harm. As the Wild Child in the White House, Alice required more care than her family, especially her father, gave. Author Shelley Fraser Mickle makes our hearts go out to this exuberant but lost child, Alice Roosevelt. Her redemption came only late in life."
--Susan M. Stein, author of On Distant Service: The Life of the First U.S. Foreign Service Officer to Be Assassinated "In The White House Wild Child, Shelley Fraser Mickle chronicles the life of Alice Roosevelt, a lost soul starving for love and recognition and careening from passion to passion to fill the bottomless void within her, while at the same time attracting a devoted following that kept her at the center of the nation's attention throughout her father's Presidency and beyond."
--Richard Moskovitz, M.D., author of Lost in the Mirror: an Inside Look at Borderline Personality Disorder, Carousel Music a novel, and Shared Madness "In White House Wild Child, Shelle
-Jonathan Alter, former editor for Newsweek, author of His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life "This is a gripping, revealing tale not just of Alice Roosevelt, but also of the many women who branded the Roosevelt name in American history. I couldn't put it down. Mickle, once again, reveals herself as a brilliant storyteller - I devoured this in a single day."
--Deirdre Mask, author of THE ADDRESS BOOK, What Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth and Power "What a tale! Biographer Shelley Fraser Mickle finds the perfect subject in Alice Lee Roosevelt, President Teddy Roosevelt's eldest child. Alice went from rogue teenager to political confidant. She was wickedly smart, a witty woman who knew no boundaries and led a life worthy of examination. The history of the Roosevelts has been predominantly about men, now it's Alice's turn."
--Diana Williams, WABC news anchor "With The White House Wild Child Shelley Mickle brings Alice Roosevelt back into the public eye, and recovers the dramatic history of the daughter of a president, Theodore Roosevelt, who, Mickle tells us, "learned how far she could go without tipping over." The engaging prose and narrative turns match the dramatic story of Alice's life in the White House, which brings new light to T.R. and recovers many other forgotten Roosevelt women, any number of whom might have become president if born a century later. Mickle's empathetic work brings both the dazzlingly beautiful and naughty child to the pages, while digging below the surface to find compassion for thegirl whose father could not call her by the name she shared with her mother who had died in childbirth. Historically accurate and well-written, this book is a must-read for younger and older women interested in the history of the United States and its female legacy."
--Victoria Phillips, Ph.D., author of Martha Graham's Cold War: The Dance of American Diplomacy "With verve and vividness, White House Wild Child spotlights Alice Roosevelt during her father's presidency from 1901 to 1909. Like a tragedy building to a crisis and cascading to its aftermath, this well-grounded account offers illuminating details even for readers well acquainted with Theodore Roosevelt's life and times. Born in 1884, Alice added glitter to the Gilded Age and beyond, but at a cost. She jockeyed between attention getting, outrageousness, and even dangerous behavior, spurred by her feelings of being inadequate and unloved. Her mother's death a few days after Alice's birth shaped her life, providing a case study of debilitating grief, the relationship of fathers and daughters, and the destructiveness of the media eager for a headline regardless of harm. As the Wild Child in the White House, Alice required more care than her family, especially her father, gave. Author Shelley Fraser Mickle makes our hearts go out to this exuberant but lost child, Alice Roosevelt. Her redemption came only late in life."
--Susan M. Stein, author of On Distant Service: The Life of the First U.S. Foreign Service Officer to Be Assassinated "In The White House Wild Child, Shelley Fraser Mickle chronicles the life of Alice Roosevelt, a lost soul starving for love and recognition and careening from passion to passion to fill the bottomless void within her, while at the same time attracting a devoted following that kept her at the center of the nation's attention throughout her father's Presidency and beyond."
--Richard Moskovitz, M.D., author of Lost in the Mirror: an Inside Look at Borderline Personality Disorder, Carousel Music a novel, and Shared Madness "In White House Wild Child, Shelle
- Format: Hardcover
- Author: Mickle, Shelley Fraser
- ISBN: 9781623545499
- Condition: Used
- Publication Year: 2023
Language:
English