Nancy: The Story of Lady Astor

Fort's (Archibald Wavell: The Life and Times of an Imperial Servant) absorbing biography is the first full-length treatment of Nancy Astor (1879–1964) in almost 30 years, tracing her life from impoverished childhood as Nancy Keen, the daughter of a ne'er-do-well in the American South, to her marriage into one of the richest families on earth. Astor's early life and first unhappy marriage, sympathetically covered by Fort, helps explain her subsequent determination to break into English society. With great beauty and a gregarious personality, she used the power and position she attained through her marriage to Waldorf Astor to become the first woman elected to the House of Commons, opening the door for other women to become active in politics. For 25 eventful years, intimidation from her detractors never kept her down. Curiously, Fort presents the Astors' relationship with Adolf Hitler as innocuous, explaining it away as merely the couple's effort to inform German leaders about their Christian Science faith. The pair's association with isolationist Charles Lindbergh also tarnished their image and further put their loyalty into question.