Audiobook6 hours
American Lady: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop
Written by Caroline de Margerie
Narrated by Laural Merlington
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
()
About this audiobook
An American aristocrat-a descendant of founding father John Jay-Susan Mary Alsop (1918-2004) with husband, Joe Alsop, brought together the movers and shakers of not just the United States, but the world. Henry Kissinger remarked that more agreements were concluded in her living room than in the White House.Born in Rome, brought up in Argentina and the United States, Susan Mary arrived in Paris in 1945 to join her first husband, Bill Patten. There she witnessed "history on the boil" at dinners with Winston Churchill, Duff Cooper (the British ambassador and the love of her life), FDR, Greta Garbo, and many others. A year after Bill's death in 1960, she married the renowned journalist and legendary power broker Joe Alsop. Dubbed "the second lady of Camelot," Susan Mary hosted dinner parties that were the epitome of political power and social arrival. She reigned over Georgetown society for four decades; her house was the gathering place for everyone of importance, including John F. Kennedy, Katharine Graham, and Robert McNamara.
Related to American Lady
Related audiobooks
Camera Girl: The Coming of Age of Jackie Bouvier Kennedy Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The First Kennedys: The Humble Roots of an American Dynasty Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Malice in Wonderland: My Adventures in the World of Cecil Beaton Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Kennedy Wives: Triumph and Tragedy in America's Most Public Family Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Forever Young: My Friendship with John F. Kennedy, Jr. Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Fabulous Bouvier Sisters: The Tragic and Glamorous Lives of Jackie and Lee Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jennie Churchill: Winston's American Mother Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Schlesinger: The Imperial Historian Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5First Ladies: The Ever Changing Role, from Martha Washington to Melania Trump Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Edward VII: The Prince of Wales and the Women He Loved Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dinner With the President Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/51939: The Last Season Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsWait for Me!: Memoirs Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Working With Winston: The Unsung Women Behind Britain's Greatest Statesman Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Windsors at War: The King, His Brother, and a Family Divided Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Prince Albert: The Man Who Saved the Monarchy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grace of Monaco: The True Story Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Sons of Camelot Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Grace Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsAll That Glitters: Anna Wintour, Tina Brown, and the Rivalry Inside America's Richest Media Empire Rating: 2 out of 5 stars2/5Lord Snowdon Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsFrance and England’s Most Famous Palaces: The History of the Most Famous Royal Residences in Western Europe Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDiamonds and Deadlines: A Tale of Greed, Deceit, and a Female Tycoon in the Gilded Age Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Come to the Edge: A Memoir Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Princes at War: The Bitter Battle Inside Britain's Royal Family in the Darkest Days of WWII Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Under This Roof: The White House and the Presidency--21 Presidents, 21 Rooms, 21 Inside Stories Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Queen Bess: An Unauthorized Biography of Bess Myerson Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Political Biographies For You
John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Dead Are Arising: The Life of Malcolm X Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Trump Tapes: Bob Woodward's Twenty Interviews with President Donald Trump Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Romney: A Reckoning Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The White House Plumbers: The Seven Weeks That Led to Watergate and Doomed Nixon's Presidency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Assassination Vacation Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5An Unfinished Love Story: A Personal History of the 1960s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Dressed for a Dance in the Snow: Women's Voices from the Gulag Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Truman Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mornings on Horseback Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Team of Rivals Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5V Is For Victory Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for American Lady
Rating: 3.5357142857142856 out of 5 stars
3.5/5
14 ratings1 review
- Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5I love vintage society biographies and this one is certainly satisfying. The story of Susan Mary Alsop is one of the now mostly by-gone American WASP establishment. Born into a prominent family (her father was a Jay), Susan Mary was born in Rome in 1918, where her father had as diplomatic posting, and lived in various other international capitals until in 1926 when her older sister died in Buenos Aires. AFter that her father retired from the diplomatic service to become a wealthy American living on his investments in Washington, DC and Bar Harbour, Maine . Susan Mary was educated at Foxcroft in Virginia & after graduating from high school (thought to be enough education for a girl), was a debutant & made a suitable early marriage to a man who was not in good health, but came from an appropriate WASP background and who was also destined to be in the diplomatic corps.After World War II, the couple was posted to Paris where they remsined until his death in 1960. In that time, Susan Mary established herself as a great hostess, seemingly knowing everyone (even being parodied in two of Nancy Mitford's novels), and being accepted into high-bound Parisian society. She also had a years long affair with Duff Cooper, at that time the British Ambassador to France, who was apparently the great love of her life.After her husband's death she entered into a marriage of convenience with the columnist Joe Alsop, who was homosexual, mostly because he was an old friend & she knew that with him, she'd be close to the center of political power in the US. After 12 not so satisfying years, they divorced and she embarked upon a new career an author and magazine writer. She died in 2004.Reading this book reminded me that it was not so long ago that women received their power by being ornamental extensions of other men. It also reminded me of how interconnected - almost incestuous - the old Establishment was. Everyone went to the same schools, summered in the same places & married each other. The days of political salons and letters of introduction have long since passed, but it is still fascinating to read about them.