Untold Power by Rebecca Boggs Roberts

Untold Power by Rebecca Boggs Roberts

A nuanced portrait of the first acting woman president, written with fresh and cinematic verve by a leading historian on women's suffrage and power

While this nation has yet to elect its first woman president--and though history has downplayed her role--just over a century ago a woman became the nation's first acting president. In fact, she was born in 1872, and her name was Edith Bolling Galt Wilson. She climbed her way out of Appalachian poverty and into the highest echelons of American power and in 1919 effectively acted as the first woman president of the U.S. (before women could even vote nationwide) when her husband, Woodrow Wilson, was incapacitated. Beautiful, brilliant, charismatic, catty, and calculating, she was a complicated figure whose personal quest for influence reshaped the position of First Lady into one of political prominence forever. And still nobody truly understands who she was.

For the first time, we have a biography that takes an unflinching look at the woman whose ascent mirrors that of many powerful American women before and since, one full of the compromises and complicities women have undertaken throughout time in order to find security for themselves and make their mark on history. She was a shape-shifter who was obsessed with crafting her own reputation, at once deeply invested in exercising her own power while also opposing women's suffrage. With narrative verve and fresh eyes, Untold Power is a richly overdue examination of one of American history's most influential, complicated women as well as the surprising and often absurd realities of American politics.

Roberts, Rebecca Boggs: - Rebecca Boggs Roberts has been many things including, but not limited to, journalist, producer, tour guide, forensic anthropologist, event planner, political consultant, jazz singer and radio talk show host. Currently, she is a program coordinator for Smithsonian Associates, where she has made it a personal mission to highlight the history of our capital city. Roberts lives in Washington, D.C., with her husband, three sons and a big fat dog. Suffragists in Washington, D.C.: The 1913 Parade and the Fight for the Vote is her second book. www.rebeccaroberts.org

SKU	Unavailable
ISBN 13	9780593489994
ISBN 10	0593489993
Title	Untold Power
Author	Rebecca Boggs Roberts
Condition	Unavailable
Binding Type	Hardback
Publisher	Penguin Putnam Inc
Year published	2023-03-07
Number of pages	320
Cover note	Book picture is for illustrative purposes only, actual binding, cover or edition may vary.