Dangerous Ambition: Rebecca West and Dorothy Thompson: New Women in Search of Love and PowerRandom House Publishing Group, 8 nov 2011 - 512 pagine Born in the 1890s on opposite sides of the Atlantic, friends for more than forty years, Dorothy Thompson and Rebecca West lived strikingly parallel lives that placed them at the center of the social and historical upheavals of the twentieth century. In Dangerous Ambition, Susan Hertog chronicles the separate but intertwined journeys of these two remarkable women writers, who achieved unprecedented fame and influence at tremendous personal cost. American Dorothy Thompson was the first female head of a European news bureau, a columnist and commentator with a tremendous following whom Time magazine once ranked alongside Eleanor Roosevelt as the most influential woman in America. Rebecca West, an Englishwoman at home wherever genius was spoken, blazed a trail for herself as a journalist, literary critic, novelist, and historian. In a prefeminist era when speaking truth to power could get anyone—of either gender—ostracized, blacklisted, or worse, these two smart, self-made women were among the first to warn the world about the dangers posed by fascism, communism, and appeasement. But there was a price to be paid, Hertog shows, for any woman aspiring to such greatness. As much as they sought voice and power in the public forum of opinion and ideas, and the independence of mind and money that came with them, Thompson and West craved the comforts of marriage and home. Torn between convention and the opportunities of the new postwar global world, they were drawn to men who were as ambitious and hungry for love as themselves: Thompson to the brilliant, volatile, and alcoholic Nobel Prize winner Sinclair Lewis; West to her longtime lover H. G. Wells, the lusty literary eminence whose sexual and emotional demands doomed any chance they may have had at love. Tragically, both arrangements produced troubled sons, whose anger and jealousy at their mothers’ iconic fame eroded their sense of personal success. Brimming with fresh insights obtained from previously sealed archives, this penetrating dual biography is a story of twinned lives caught up in the crosscurrents of world events and affairs of the heart—and of the unique trans-Atlantic friendship forged by two of the most creative and complex women of their time. |
Dall'interno del libro
Risultati 6-10 di 83
Pagina 16
... Neither ever articulated what drew them together or why love seemed to have passed them both by ; perhaps they sensed that the sad- ness they shared was rooted so deep , that they dared not try . PART 1 16 DANGEROUS AMBITION.
... Neither ever articulated what drew them together or why love seemed to have passed them both by ; perhaps they sensed that the sad- ness they shared was rooted so deep , that they dared not try . PART 1 16 DANGEROUS AMBITION.
Pagina 26
... seemed to harbor a perverse delight in disappointing those who trusted him . He viewed people and events through a veil of indifference , she recalled , often so absorbed in himself that he was cruel and insensitive to those he loved ...
... seemed to harbor a perverse delight in disappointing those who trusted him . He viewed people and events through a veil of indifference , she recalled , often so absorbed in himself that he was cruel and insensitive to those he loved ...
Pagina 28
... seemed consonant with natural law . Content to walk the underground tunnels from her la- dy's kitchen to the servants ' quarters , she never questioned the superior- ity of her mistress or her own place as a handmaiden to her needs ...
... seemed consonant with natural law . Content to walk the underground tunnels from her la- dy's kitchen to the servants ' quarters , she never questioned the superior- ity of her mistress or her own place as a handmaiden to her needs ...
Pagina 32
... seemed the quintessential liberated woman . Taught by her parents to follow her conscience rather than the dicta of convention , she was a vivacious , rebellious , and strong - willed feminist who sought the companionship of older men ...
... seemed the quintessential liberated woman . Taught by her parents to follow her conscience rather than the dicta of convention , she was a vivacious , rebellious , and strong - willed feminist who sought the companionship of older men ...
Pagina 38
... seemed , had prepared her for this moment . She asserted that Wells's feminism smacked of self - deception and that his view of marriage , despite his hearty proclamations to the contrary , was " sin- fully " mired in patriarchal ...
... seemed , had prepared her for this moment . She asserted that Wells's feminism smacked of self - deception and that his view of marriage , despite his hearty proclamations to the contrary , was " sin- fully " mired in patriarchal ...
Sommario
3 | |
19 | |
Becoming Dorothy | 50 |
The Trinity | 76 |
Resurrection | 96 |
Descent | 113 |
Renaissance | 130 |
A Cold Wind | 144 |
Fractured | 261 |
The Kampf | 289 |
No Exit | 323 |
Descent to Glory | 358 |
Obsession | 391 |
EPILOGUE | 427 |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 439 |
NOTES | 443 |
A Good Wife | 159 |
The Riddle of the Universe | 173 |
The Faithful Warrior | 190 |
Bloodlust | 219 |
God Lust | 238 |
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY | 469 |
CREDITS | 479 |
INDEX | 481 |
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Dangerous Ambition: Dorothy Thompson and Rebecca West : New Women in Search ... Susan Hertog Anteprima limitata - 2011 |
Parole e frasi comuni
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