American Queen: The Rise and Fall of Kate Chase Sprague, Civil War "Belle of the North" and Gilded Age Woman of Scandal

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.