The Pink Lady: The Many Lives of Helen Gahagan Douglas - Softcover

Denton, Sally

3.6 out of 5 stars

45 ratings by Goodreads

9781608191000: The Pink Lady: The Many Lives of Helen Gahagan Douglas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1608191001 ISBN 13: 9781608191000

Publisher: Bloomsbury Press, 2012

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Acclaimed author Sally Denton brings to life every dimension of the extraordinary Helen Gahagan Douglas in The Pink Lady, a compelling account of Douglas's incomparable life as stage star, politician, and public intellectual. A three-term congresswoman who ran for the U.S. Senate against Richard Nixon just thirty years after women gained the right to vote, Douglas was also a Broadway star, opera prima donna, friend of FDR, lover of LBJ, and passionate New Dealer. Tagged "The Pink Lady" during a brutal 1950 Senate campaign waged by Nixon and brought down by the same McCarthyist anti-Red hysteria that was sweeping Hollywood, Douglas is restored through Denton's rich narrative to her rightful place as a pioneer in American politics and torchbearer for progressive ideals.Praise for The Pink Lady: "Embracing her subject with verve and imagination, Sally Denton gives us the preposterously colorful life and times of an American heroine."-H

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About the Author

Sally Denton is an awardwinning author and investigative journalist. Her books include Passion and Principle, American Massacre, Faith and Betrayal, The Bluegrass Conspiracy, and The Money and the Power (co-written with Roger Morris).

Review

“Restores flesh and sinew to a remarkable woman and political personality, who stands as a kind of archetype of today's engaged Hollywood celebrity...compellingly propulsive narrative” ―Los Angeles Times

“Long before Geraldine Ferraro or Sarah Palin came on the scene, Douglas was the first woman politician to be seriously considered as vice presidential timber, and Denton’s absorbing portrait of this courageous politician sheds welcome light on an oft-maligned public figure.” ―Booklist

“first woman politician to be seriously considered as vice presidential timber, and Denton's absorbing portrait of this courageous politician sheds welcome light on an oft-maligned public figure.” ―Booklist

“Sally Denton does a handsome job exploring Helen Gahagan's early life as an actress and singer as well as her later political activism... Denton displays a solid grasp of the ignominious politics of McCarthy-era America. Eye-opening, entertaining portrait of a fascinating proto-feminist.” ―Kirkus Reviews

“Embracing her subject with verve and imagination, Sally Denton gives us the preposterously colorful life and times of an American heroine. Helen Gahagan Douglas was, truly, a woman for all seasons. You can't read about her without thinking: They just don't make 'em like that anymore.” ―Hampton Sides, author of Blood and Thunder and Ghost Soldiers

“Sally Denton has rendered great service to history by vividly describing the story of Helen Gahagan Douglas and her lifetime effort to expand the scope and meaning of American democracy. This Irish woman from Brooklyn not only had a love affair with the natural world, but she was a champion of liberal causes such as environmental protection, nuclear sanity, and the long list of humanitarian issues favored by Eleanor Roosevelt. In the process Douglas became a symbolic figure.” ―Stewart Udall, former U.S. Representative and Secretary of the Interior, 1961-1969

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