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"Assured and compelling . . . Wondrous Beauty is a fascinating and perceptive account of love and scandal." --William Dietrich, New York Journal of Books
"An extraordinary story. . . . Berkin has researched the primary sources diligently and quotes judiciously throughout." --Sara Wheeler, The New York Times Book Review
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Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 21647827-n
Book Description Soft Cover. Condition: new. Seller Inventory # 9780307476258
Book Description Condition: New. Brand New. Seller Inventory # 9780307476258
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Paperback. From the award-winning historian and author of Revolutionary Mothers (oIncisive, thoughtful, spiced with vivid anecdotes. Don't miss it.o-Thomas Fleming) and Civil War Wives (oUtterly fresh . . . Sensitive, poignant, thoroughly fascinating.o-Jay Winik), here is the remarkable life of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, renowned as the most beautiful woman of nineteenth-century Baltimore, whose marriage in 1803 to Jerome Bonaparte, the youngest brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, became inextricably bound to the diplomatic and political histories of the United States, France, and England. In Wondrous Beauty, Carol Berkin tells the story of this audacious, outsized life. We see how the news of the union infuriated Napoleon and resulted in his banning the then pregnant Betsy Bonaparte from disembarking in any European port, offering his brother the threat of remaining married to that oAmerican girlo and forfeiting all wealth and power-or renouncing her, marrying a woman of Napoleon's choice, and reaping the benefits. Jerome ended the marriage posthaste and was made king of Westphalia; Betsy fled to England, gave birth to her son and only child, Jerome's namesake, and was embraced by the English press, who boasted that their nation had opened its arms to the cruelly abandoned young wife. Berkin writes that this naive, headstrong American girl returned to Baltimore a wiser, independent woman, refusing to seek social redemption or a return to obscurity through a quiet marriage to a member of Baltimore's merchant class. Instead she was courted by many, indifferent to all, and initiated a dangerous game of politics-a battle for a pension from Napoleon-which she won- her pension from the French government arrived each month until Napoleon's exile. Using Betsy Bonaparte's extensive letters, the author makes clear that the obelle of Baltimoreo disdained America's obsession with moneymaking, its growing ethos of democracy, and its rigid gender roles that confined women to the parlor and the nursery; that she sought instead a European society where women created salons devoted to intellectual life-where she was embraced by many who took into their confidence, such as Madame de Stael, Madame Recamier, the aging Marquise de Villette (goddaughter of Voltaire), among others-and where aristocracy, based on birth and breeding rather than commerce, dominated society. Wondrous Beauty is a riveting portrait of a woman torn between two worlds, unable to find peace in either-one a provincial, convention-bound new America; the other a sophisticated, extravagant Old World Europe that embraced freedoms, a Europe ultimately swallowed up by decadence and idleness. A stunning revelation of an extraordinary age. From the Hardcover edition. Shipping may be from multiple locations in the US or from the UK, depending on stock availability. Seller Inventory # 9780307476258
Book Description Condition: New. pp. 256. Seller Inventory # 26105040643
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. Buy for Great customer experience. Seller Inventory # GoldenDragon0307476251
Book Description Paperback. Condition: new. New. Seller Inventory # Wizard0307476251
Book Description Condition: New. Num Pages: 256 pages, 8 pages of colour. BIC Classification: 1KBBFM; 3JH; BGH. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 129 x 201 x 22. Weight in Grams: 288. . 2014. Reprint. Paperback. . . . . Seller Inventory # V9780307476258
Book Description Condition: New. Num Pages: 256 pages, 8 pages of colour. BIC Classification: 1KBBFM; 3JH; BGH. Category: (G) General (US: Trade). Dimension: 129 x 201 x 22. Weight in Grams: 288. . 2014. Reprint. Paperback. . . . . Books ship from the US and Ireland. Seller Inventory # V9780307476258
Book Description Condition: New. Seller Inventory # 21647827-n