Customer Reviews

Princess Alice: A biography of Alice Roosevelt Longworth

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I found the first few pages of this biography enjoyable and informative reading. Once TR's second wife enters the picture, however, the going gets heavy. Edith Carow Roosevelt steals the show as the wicked stepmother who cannot do anything right. Mr. Brough seems to forget his book is about Alice--every other sentence is about the coldness, unkindness, sternness and nervous hypochondria of the second Mrs. R. After a chapter or two of this, it ceases to be believable. It is hard to trust a biographer with such an obvious bias against an individual.

Further, although Mr. Brough lists in the front acknowledgements books to which he is indebted (and also interviews with various individuals related to the story, including Alice herself) , he does not have a full proper bibliography or footnotes. Specific references for mentions of Mrs. E. Roosevelt's character would, at least, have been helpful.