American Queen

September 29, 2014
“Behind every great man, there’s a great woman,” goes the saying, and Kate Chase Sprague, the “American Queen” of the Gilded Age, was just such a woman. Daughter of Salmon P. Chase, Lincoln’s secretary of the treasury, Sprague was a politically savvy and fiercely ambitious woman at a time women were expected to remain in the background. Despite never actually being first lady, Sprague was
almost a de facto one: she was host of some of the best parties and salons in D.C., a frequent subject of the news, and was at the edge of most of the scandals of the time (she was suspected of having an affair with Sen. Roscoe Conkling). After her marriage to textile tycoon and politician William Sprague collapsed, she went bankrupt, ending her life peddling eggs and milk. Oller (Jean Arthur: The Actress Nobody Knew) details Sprague’s fascinating life, introducing readers to an inspiring woman in spite of her faults: haughtiness; personal, rather than ideological, politics; financial profligacy. The book’s analysis may not be well enough grounded in fact, verging on the speculative at times, but otherwise, Oller offers an accessible, attention-grabbing work.

October 15, 2014
Biography of the 19th-century socialite who made her way to or near "the center of more major events...than any woman and most men of her time." Born at a time in American history when females could neither vote nor hold office, Kate Chase Sprague (1840-1899) came to wield more political influence than any American woman ever had before. Her father and first political teacher was Salmon Chase. After he won the governorship of Ohio in 1855, Chase made his beautiful and accomplished daughter into his hostess and political confidante. When he accepted Lincoln's appointment as treasury secretary on the eve of the Civil War in March 1861, Kate immediately established a social "court" in Washington that outshone that of Lincoln's far-less-glamorous wife, Mary. Both father and daughter became known for the brilliance of their gatherings as well as the ruthlessness of their communal desire to eventually occupy the White House. In an effort to secure the money they needed to fund their political dream, Kate married the wealthy but erratic Rhode Island businessman-turned-politician William Sprague. While her staunchly anti-slavery father eventually broke with the Republican Party he helped found and made an unsuccessful run for the presidency as a Democrat, Kate's marriage to Sprague foundered. She became the mistress of the charismatic, and married, New York state senator and Republican Party boss Roscoe Conkling. Their scandalous affair shared the headlines with other major events of the day, including the assassination of President James Garfield in 1881. Divorce the following year "dethroned" Kate from her unofficial status as American political "Queen" and made her a social outcast who would die in poverty at the age of 58. Oller's work is less the story of a woman's political rise and fall and more one that reveals how the social limitations of the past created tragic outcomes for talented females. A well-researched, thoughtful biography of a woman who "became entirely her own person, a rare feat for women of her day."

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Starred review from October 15, 2014

In the wake of the recent resurgence of interest in the Civil War era comes a biography of a once-formidable figure in the world of Washington whose fame is finally being rekindled. Oller (lawyer and journalist; Jean Arthur) writes sympathetically of Kate Chase Sprague (1840-99), the daughter of Treasury Secretary and Chief Justice Salmon Chase. The author takes us through his subject's life as she moves from a high-class social butterfly who rubs elbows with political elite, has designs on becoming first lady via her father's ascent to the presidency, and butts heads with Mary Todd Lincoln, to a poverty-stricken divorcee whose scandalous affair with a senator helped end her unhappy marriage to a volatile governor. Though some may view this as a sad tale, Oller depicts Chase as a headstrong, resilient, and ultimately content woman. VERDICT Well written, fast paced, and with a compelling attention to detail, this work should be a fascinating read for Civil War buffs, fans of Doris Kearns Goodwin's Team of Rivals (in which Salmon Chase is a main character), and Jennifer Chiaverini's Mrs. Lincoln's Rival.--Laura Marcus, Odenton, MD

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