Some lives are lived so richly, so extraordinarily, that their spirits must be preserved for posterity so that others might look back upon them and taste some measure of what it must have been like to live in exceptional times. Ms. Cordery has set herself the task of chronicling just such a life. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, daughter of Theodore Roosevelt, styled by the world the American princess, rebel, political activist, globe-trotter, tragic... Ms. Cordery may be working with excellent clay, but her end product is still made pleasing by her own quality efforts.
Alice Longworth lived 96 years on this earth. A Washington D.C. Legend, she loomed over the capital's social scene for nearly the whole of her life, dictating the rise and fall of personal fortunes while watching the generations of the powerful come and go. But long before she presided over dinner engagements, she was the American Princess, the first American celebrity. Daughter of Theodore Roosevelt, she was born into fame, but it was her personality which kept the still-developing media spotlight upon her. For she seemed at times allergic to custom, flaunting the conventionalities of a woman's role in favor of smoking when she wanted to, riding trains how she wished to, voyaging where she longed to, and dating whoever the hell she yearned to. A celebrity must needs be a free spirit to captivate the media's attention and Alice clearly had spirit in spades.
Though much of her defiance seems to have stemmed from a difficult relationship with her father who, on some level, seems to have blamed Alice for the death of her mother, her keen mind may have caused her to rebel regardless. In 1905, she was the headliner of the so-called Imperial Cruise, a diplomatic mission to Asia in which she outshone the seven senators and 23 congressmen who accompanied her. Greeted by ecstatic crowds at every port, she became the first global, American celebrity, a royal without a title which was certainly something the British could understand. Her wedding, the formalization of her relationship with Nicholas Longworth who became Speaker of the House, was the most anticipated event of its year. But though the alliance lasted until the alcoholic Longworth's death, and though it kept her at the heart of power, the marriage was, in many ways, the beginning of a new and dark chapter in Alice's life, one which would come to dominate the decades to come.
Some celebrities live loudly, flamboyantly, craving the attention paid to them by our rapacious media. But though Alice did not seem afraid of the attention, Ms. Cordery successfully portrays the sense of grace that seems to have infused her. Alice handled her fame with a class that we have forgotten and would do well, I think, to revive. For there's something eminently powerful about a graceful star, a brilliance that spans generations, inspiring us even while invading us. Alice was the epitome of such a creature and Ms. Cordery brings her to life in pleasing detail. (4/5 Stars)
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