Rating: 
Summary: One of the best biographies ever
Review: Carl Anthony reports in his prologue that the inspiration for this project came from none other than Alice Roosevelt Longworth, one of Florence Harding's collection of mercurial and dysfunctional friends. That fact alone speaks volumes about the tenor and atmosphere of the story. Perhaps aware of America's antipathy toward "The Duchess," Anthony has given this work a title worthy of an Oliver Stone epic. The reader who gets past the burlesque title will discover an intensively fascinating narrative of a driven, unconventional woman intertwined with a malleable young newspaper editor. When, years later, the Duchess would tell her "W'urrn" that she had made him president of the United States, many of their contemporaries would have agreed.Born in 1860 to an Ohio businessman who wanted a son, Florence was in fact raised as a boy until her fourteenth year, when her domineering father realized that what he had actually created was a feminist with an attitude. He struck back ferociously and physically; Florence eventually retaliated by having herself impregnated by a hayseeder several years her junior. Christmas Day of 1882 found the young mother homeless and abandoned. Anthony takes the time to access the options available to this intelligent, ambitious, but impoverished woman. Determined to not disappear into rural Ohio obscurity giving piano lessons, Florence makes two critical decisions that would change her life forever, for better and worse: she gave her child away, and she set her cap for the man through whom she could make her mark in the public forum. On the surface these seem like cynical strategies, but with feminist sympathies Anthony takes pains to remind the reader that American business and politics were both male bastions in the Gilded Age. There were few routes for a woman of ambition. Florence married the handsome and randy Warren Harding and immediately took over the operation of his local paper, turning a handsome profit and expanding the couple's business ventures. Anthony lets his facts carry the story: the Harding marriage is clearly one of convenience, arguably Florence's more than her husband's. Unencumbered by children, the Duchess, as she came to be called for obvious reasons, had time to consort with the political beat writers and politicians who came to Marion. She tended bar at their poker games, plied them with liquor for information and party gossip, and strategized a grand design for her husband's career in Ohio Republican politics. Managing Warren Harding was a full time job. He was not by nature ambitious, he was not a particularly good businessman, and he was not physically or mentally well, having suffered nervous breakdowns and indications of cardiovascular disease. His most obvious flaw-and one particularly odious to his wife-was his womanizing, which continued virtually to his death, with little concealment, and occasionally on the sly with her best friends. For two people as different as Warren and the Duchess, it is surprising that they shared one common fatal flaw: they were both dreadfully poor judges of character. For all her intelligence and savvy, the Duchess became dependent [perhaps co-dependent] upon two outright rogues, Charles "Doc" Sawyer, her personal physician, and a gypsy fortune teller, Madame Marcia, both of whom exercised excessive influence throughout the entire Harding Administration. There is a sense in which Florence becomes more insecure with her greater success: Anthony describes her as weeping on Warren's Inauguration Day because of Madame Marcia's prediction that the new president would not live out his term. Writing about a president's wife inevitably involves detailing the president and the presidency itself. Anthony does a creditable job in paying appropriate attention to Teapot Dome and Veterans Affairs scandals, for example, but in ways that keep the focus of the narrative on Florence and other political wives--Grace Coolidge, Emma Fall, and the aforementioned Mrs. Longworth, for example. The later unraveling of the Harding Administration has obscured the activism of the First Lady; Anthony reminds us of the Duchess's emotional investment in women's rights, veterans' welfare, animal rights, and international peace. Anthony takes the position that the fateful 1923 "Alaska Trip" was essentially the First Lady's act of self-promotion. Ostensibly, the President's lavish cross continent tour was undertaken to rally political support at a time when congressional investigation of the executive branch was accelerating. The author's narrative of the trip forms a good portion of the book and deservedly so. Warren Harding was depressed and ill as the presidential train left Washington and journeyed across the continent. After innumerable speeches and rallies, the party sets sail from California to Alaska, traveling overland to sites that have probably not seen a president since. Although Anthony debunks many of the myths about the trip, the facts are strange enough-the presidential vessel collided twice with other vessels, and several members of the party were killed in various accidents. The great mystery of the trip among conspiracy buffs is what [or who?] killed Warren Harding. In one sense the answer is simple enough-the trip exhausted the president to the point where he either suffered a stroke or heart attack in San Francisco. That we cannot say for certain is due to the Duchess, who permitted only Doc Sawyer to treat her husband. Sawyer's incompetence is excelled only by his arrogance; when Herbert Hoover fetched a renowned cardiologist from Stanford to the president's bedside, Sawyer, who was treating the chief executive with questionable purgatives, would have nothing to do with him. For a veteran of the journalist profession, the Duchess's management of the news of the President's death was poor, and veteran reporters at once smelled cover-up. Most likely her immediate concern was the reputation of Sawyer, and she refused permission for an official autopsy. But her greater worry was the legacy of her husband; she spent weeks burning his official papers and personal correspondence. Her podium destroyed, Florence Harding outlived her husband by one year; she died while in residence at Sawyer's "sanitarium." .
Rating:
Summary: American History more Fascinating than Fiction
Review: Florence Harding's biography is not something that I would normally want to read, let alone spend money to obtain. However, after leafing through it in our local bookstore, I added it to my cart on a whim the last time I bought from Amazon. If you are interested in American History in general and the presidency in particular (as I am), you will devour this book (as I did). The parallels to the Clintons, while unmentioned by the author, are undeniable; in fact, it would be appropriate for Hillary to attempt channeling with Florence rather than Eleanor Roosevelt! This makes the reading all the more lively and contemporary. This biography does a great service to the memory of Florence Harding, who comes off very poorly in nearly all the historical summaries I have read. She is usually portrayed as imperious, aggressive, and authoritarian -- which she was, but not without reason; and Harding is portrayed as being the victim of a loveless marriage -- which he was not, she adored him. Why is the wife always blamed for her "coldness" when a husband sleeps around? I was left with great admiration for Mrs. Harding, and a desire to learn even more about her. Congratulations, Mr. Anthony, on a monumental biography.
Rating:
Summary: American History more Fascinating than Fiction
Review: Florence Harding's biography is not something that I would normally want to read, let alone spend money to obtain. However, after leafing through it in our local bookstore, I added it to my cart on a whim the last time I bought from Amazon. If you are interested in American History in general and the presidency in particular (as I am), you will devour this book (as I did). The parallels to the Clintons, while unmentioned by the author, are undeniable; in fact, it would be appropriate for Hillary to attempt channeling with Florence rather than Eleanor Roosevelt! This makes the reading all the more lively and contemporary. This biography does a great service to the memory of Florence Harding, who comes off very poorly in nearly all the historical summaries I have read. She is usually portrayed as imperious, aggressive, and authoritarian -- which she was, but not without reason; and Harding is portrayed as being the victim of a loveless marriage -- which he was not, she adored him. Why is the wife always blamed for her "coldness" when a husband sleeps around? I was left with great admiration for Mrs. Harding, and a desire to learn even more about her. Congratulations, Mr. Anthony, on a monumental biography.
Rating:
Summary: Florence Harding--a strong yet controlling survivor
Review: How does a historian separate fact from fiction, especially when the truth is as scandalous, intriguing and complex as the life that Florence Harding led? Mr. Anthony takes on this onerous chore with an obsessive yet methodical zest that pervades his book. It must have been somewhat like uncovering buried treasure every time he came across another piece of the puzzle. He must surely cringe every time he thinks about the huge bonfire that Florence lit to burn any incriminating evidence about her husband's wrongdoings. Even so, Mr. Anthony seems to have dug deep enough and long enough to bring us a fascinating, thoroughly riveting account of a women who was most definitely "before her time". Particularly interesting is the description of the Hardings on their trip North. Mr. Anthony incidentally gives as convincing an impression in person as he does in print that he has gleaned an accurate and detailed account of this charming, compelling first lady.
Rating:
Summary: A Magnificent Work!
Review: How to make a fairly dull and unpleasant like Florence Harding come alive is a difficult enough feat, however the author does a splendid job of doing it! Expertly researched and pleasantly told, Mrs. Harding comes off far better than she has ever been depicted before - and perhaps even better than she deserves.
Rating:
Summary: A Magnificent Work!
Review: How to make a fairly dull and unpleasant like Florence Harding come alive is a difficult enough feat, however the author does a splendid job of doing it! Expertly researched and pleasantly told, Mrs. Harding comes off far better than she has ever been depicted before - and perhaps even better than she deserves.
Rating:
Summary: A Great Social Biography
Review: I came to this book knowing little about the Harding administration except for its scandals and babbitry and knowing virtually nothing about Harding's wife Florence. This is an absolutely captivating piece of writing, both vividly portraying an era and brimming with human interest stories. Florence Harding was at least as much a modern First Lady as Eleanor Roosevelt--outspoken, a strong feminist, a woman with a major voice in her husband's administration. Her life was filled with tragedy--an out-of-wedlock child to a drunken, shiftless man before she met Warren; a domineering German-American father who was both unloving and bigoted; a philandering husband the equal of Bill Clinton at his worst; and an espousal of "causes" like animal rights and veterans' welfare that had a way of backfiring on her. Florence was very much the ambition behind Warren, who probably would not have made it further than being a small town Ohio newspaper editor without her; yet he showed considerable resentment toward her outspokenness over the years--perhaps the root of some of his womanizing. Florence's life provides a very apt prism through which to view Harding's rise to power, his demise, and his mysterious death, upon which the author sheds some new and interesting light. This is a book filled with memorable characters, including Florence's wealthy and bohemian friend, Evelyn Walsh McLean, owner of the Hope diamond, and the vitriolic Alice Roosevelt Longworth. As countless other reviewers have noted, it is hard to put down, too. A great book for a summer escape, with the redeeming virtue of shedding light on an understudied piece of American history.
Rating:
Summary: Captivating biography reminiscent of Dreiser, Sinclair Lewis
Review: I came to this book knowing little about the Harding administration except for its scandals and babbitry and knowing virtually nothing about Harding's wife Florence. This is an absolutely captivating piece of writing, both vividly portraying an era and brimming with human interest stories. Florence Harding was at least as much a modern First Lady as Eleanor Roosevelt--outspoken, a strong feminist, a woman with a major voice in her husband's administration. Her life was filled with tragedy--an out-of-wedlock child to a drunken, shiftless man before she met Warren; a domineering German-American father who was both unloving and bigoted; a philandering husband the equal of Bill Clinton at his worst; and an espousal of "causes" like animal rights and veterans' welfare that had a way of backfiring on her. Florence was very much the ambition behind Warren, who probably would not have made it further than being a small town Ohio newspaper editor without her; yet he showed considerable resentment toward her outspokenness over the years--perhaps the root of some of his womanizing. Florence's life provides a very apt prism through which to view Harding's rise to power, his demise, and his mysterious death, upon which the author sheds some new and interesting light. This is a book filled with memorable characters, including Florence's wealthy and bohemian friend, Evelyn Walsh McLean, owner of the Hope diamond, and the vitriolic Alice Roosevelt Longworth. As countless other reviewers have noted, it is hard to put down, too. A great book for a summer escape, with the redeeming virtue of shedding light on an understudied piece of American history.
Rating:
Summary: A scholarly book that reads like a thriller!
Review: In this biography of Florence Harding, Carl Anthony portrays an unfogettable cast of colorful and shady individuals who continued to influence American politics long after the Hardings' brief tenure. What a treat to read a page-turner that is also impeccably researched, richly annotated, and painstakingly attributed! The characters, especially the Hardings and their intimates, are deeply drawn with both compassion and accuracy, leaving the reader to form his own judgments. The machinations of politics are described in chilling detail. Anthony takes advantage of newly available material to answer mysteries which have long shadowed the Harding legacy, in a way no previous author could have done. The book is not without its shortcomings. In some places, the verbiage is thickly entangled, with absurd grammatical errors ("Late into the warm spring night poker games, illuminated by strings of tiny white bulbs, the popular songs of Tin Pan Alley and racing pieces in the new jazz sound wafted as far out as Evalyn's new greenhouses as she cranked the Victrola.") Anthony's descriptions of Mrs. Harding's medical problems make little sense in terms of today's knowledge. Also, I feel he employs an exaggerated sense of melodrama in relating the circumstances of Harding's death. However, compared to the other Harding literature I've read, this is far away the best-researched and most objective. Overall--one of the best books I've read on politics, the Jazz Age, and the hypocrises of public life.
Rating:
Summary: A fair and impartial treatment of Florence Harding
Review: Over the years, Florence Harding has been portrayed in an extremely negative light. I felt that Carl Anthony did an excellent job of presenting a fair and impartial view of this controversial first lady. He shows her to be a woman ahead of her time and perhaps that is the reason that she was subjected to so much abuse.It appears to be well researched and contrary to one of the other reviews, I found it to be extremely readable.
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