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    American Lady: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop
    American Lady: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop
    American Lady: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop
    Audiobook6 hours

    American Lady: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop

    Written by Caroline de Margerie

    Narrated by Laural Merlington

    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.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTantor Media, Inc
    Release dateNov 8, 2012
    ISBN9781452680392
    American Lady: The Life of Susan Mary Alsop

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    3.5/5

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    • 4/5
      I 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.