Susan mary alsop biography books
Cloth. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: Good. First Edition. Hardback. First Edition. The Congress Dances. Previous owners ex libris name sticker to inside cover. Very slight shelf wear to edge of D/J. The Congress of Vienna met in 1814 to build a new Europe following the defeat of Napoleon. It was dominated by four remarkable men: Metternich, Talleyrand, Castlereagh and Alexander I of Eussia. As well as portraying the delicate and dangerous diplomatic manoeuvring during the nine months of the conference, the author also goes behind the scenes to tell the engrossing story of the private lives of the protagonists. In no other international gathering in history have women so substantially influenced events. Three beautiful women were loved by the great men at the congress; all three were as keenly political as they were glamorous. The book's title is taken from the Prince de Ligne's famous remark, 'The Congress doesn't advance, it dances', and the author vividly recreates the atmosphere of elegant hedonism that reigned in Vienna. The narrative is fast-paced, the research thorough and the book admirably illustrated. With 8 pages of photographs. 228 pp. (We carry a wide selection of titles in The Arts, Theology, History, Politics, Social and Physical Sciences. academic and scholarly books and Modern First Editions, Reference books ,and all types of Academic Literature.).
‘American Lady: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop’
By Georgetowner • September 12, 2018 0 1958
Reviewed by Kitty Kelley
For the “American aristocrat” who hobnobbed with Washington’s power elite for four decades, maintaining her place in society mattered most.
The jacket copy makes your mouth water with tantalizing promises of wealth, glamour and power. Even the title bespeaks upper-class gentility: “American Lady: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop.”
This biography, by Caroline de Margerie, is the story of “the second lady of Camelot.” Many of us thought in the Kennedy administration that title belonged to the vice president’s wife, Lady Bird Johnson. While we’re never told who bestowed the honorific on Mrs. Alsop, weare assured that she is “an American aristocrat,” who “reigned over Georgetown society forfour decades, her house a gathering place for everyone of importance, including John F. Kennedy, Katharine Graham and Robert McNamara.”
As someone who lives in Georgetown and enjoys reading about the myths of Camelot and American aristocrats, I could hardly wait to gobble up this book.
Perhaps the author, a member of the Conseil d’État, the highest administrative court in France, and once a diplomat, could not shake her silk-stocking background long enough to probe beneath the surface. Or maybe she drew too close to Mrs. Alsop’s family, who gave her access to letters, papers and diaries that she barely quotes.
Perhaps it was the author’s intercontinental collaboration with her sister, whom she credits with helping her complete the book. Then again, it might be the translation from French to English that makes this book — at 256 pages — read like Biography Lite.
“Slim” is the word de Margerie uses to describe Mrs. Alsop, an understatement for the stick- thin woman I met in Washington, D.C. (we went to the same Georgetown hairdresser). At 5 foot 7, she was almost skeletal and appeared to weigh no more than 95 pounds, with blue- veined skin tissued o The fascinating story of one of the grand dames of Georgetown society and a true Washington insider
Henry Kissinger once remarked that more agreements were concluded in the living room of Susan Mary Alsop than in the White House. A descendent of Founding Father John Jay, Susan Mary was an American aristocrat whose first marriage gave her full access to post-war diplomatic social life in Paris. There, her circle of friends included Winston Churchill, Isaiah Berlin, Evelyn Waugh, and Christian Dior, among other luminaries, and she had a passionate love affair with British ambassador Duff Cooper. During the golden years of John F. Kennedy’s presidency—after she had married the powerful journalist Joe Alsop—her Washington home was a gathering place for everyone of importance, including Katharine Graham, Robert McNamara, and Henry Kissinger. Dubbed “the second lady of Camelot,” she hosted dinner parties that were the epitome of political power and social arrival, bringing together the movers and shakers not just of the United States, but of the world. Featuring an introduction by Susan Mary Alsop’s goddaughter Frances FitzGerald, American Lady is a fascinating chronicle of a woman who witnessed, as Nancy Mitford once said, “history on the boil.”
Susan Mary Alsop
American socialite and writer (1918–2004)
Susan Mary Alsop | |
|---|---|
Alsop at the White House in 1961 | |
| Born | Susan Mary Jay (1918-06-19)June 19, 1918 Rome, Italy |
| Died | August 18, 2004(2004-08-18) (aged 86) Washington, D.C. |
| Nationality | American |
| Education | Foxcroft School Barnard College |
| Occupations | |
| Spouses | William Samuel Patten (m. 1939; died 1960)Joseph Alsop (m. 1961; div. 1978) |
| Parent(s) | Peter Augustus Jay Susan Alexander McCook |
| Relatives | John J. McCook (grandfather) Augustus Jay (grandfather) |
Susan Mary Alsop (née Jay; June 19, 1918 – August 18, 2004) was an American writer and socialite active in Washington, D.C., political circles. She was the wife of columnist Joseph Alsop and a descendant of founding father John Jay. Her Georgetown home hosted dignitaries and publishers during the 1960s and 1970s ranging from John F. Kennedy, Phil Graham, Katharine Graham, and Isaiah Berlin, earning her the nickname "the grand dame of Washington society."
Early life
Alsop was born Susan Mary Jay in Rome on June 19, 1918, to Susan Alexander McCook and U.S. diplomat Peter Augustus Jay, who served as U.S. General Consul to Egypt, U.S. Minister to El Salvador and Romania and U.S. Ambassador to Argentina. She had an older sister, Emily Kane Jay, who died young. Her paternal grandparents were Augustus Jay and Emily Astor (née Kane) Jay and her maternal grandfather was Civil War officer and prominent attorney John James McCook.
She attended Foxcroft School in Virginia and later took courses at Barnard College.
Career
In 1939, she began working at Vogue magazine as a receptionist, writer and model.
Alsop authored several books and dozens of magazine articles. In 1975,