Customer Reviews

Unwise Passions: A True Story of a Remarkable Woman---and the First Great Scandal of Eighteenth-Century America

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Highly recommended: If you're fascinated by true-crime stories, American history or just like a good read, you should really enjoy this compelling story about the Crime of the (18th) Century. Imagine a cross between Dominick Dunne, Stephen Ambrose and "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil," and you'll get a sense of the author's power at telling a gripping tale. The book tells the story of a young, tempestuous aristocrat, Nancy Randolph, part of the legendary Randolph clan of Virinia, who is accused of killing the love child she had with her brother-in-law, Richard Randolph. The two Randolphs were defended by Patrick Henry and even Thomas Jefferson was caught up in the family's crises. The book then traces the fate of Nancy Randolph in the wake of the scandal that clouded her name forever, as she tried to remake herself as the wife of Gouverneur Morris of New York, a signatory of the Declaration of Independence. The story is played out against the crumbling of the Virginia tobacco aristocracy and the politics and passions that swept America in the wake of the American Revolution. This is as riveting as any book published so far this year. I loved it, and I think you will, too.

True crime, mystery, biography, history - this book has it all. The happenings of more than 200 hundred years ago and involving some notable names in our American history - Patrick Henry, Thomas Jefferson, John Marshall, Gouverneur Morris to name a few, had this reader sitting up all night absolutely spellbound! A remarkable story, meticulously researched by Mr. Crawford, it brings to light many details that one would not find in an ordinary history book. Living just a stone's throw from the site of the old Bizarre Plantation I have heard this local legend many, many times, but never before with such accurate detail or startling revelations. BRAVO!!

This is a fun and fascinating book. It is a great story, all the more so because it is true. The characters are among our country's founding families, including Patrick Henry and Thomas Jefferson. The author shows us the very human side of the people involved. He smoothly works in quotes of letters to and from the characters to give us an eyewitness account of people and events. Crawford tells the story impartially so we are free to draw our own conclusions and opinions. I found myself unable to put the book down and read it in a weekend.

_Unwise Passions: A True Story of a Remarkable Woman and the First Great Scandal of Eighteenth Century America_ (Simon & Schuster) by Alan Pell Crawford reminds us that there was scandal in the age of our Founding Fathers, and among those in government. If you want to read a lurid potboiler containing mischief that would make J. R. Ewing blush, but is all true, this is your book. It contains reports of seductions, incest, child murder, family infighting, the decay of a prominent aristocratic family, drug addiction, and general scoundrelism. All true, and all occurring in the public eye, and among supporters and family members of Thomas Jefferson. It is a historical feast of scandal.

The main character, Nancy Randolph, was accused at various times by rumor, and by her family, of seducing her cousin Richard Randolph, helping Richard murder the infant, and then murdering Richard himself. Many of the charges came from Richard's brother Jack, a fiery orator and congressman who grew increasingly unstable in matters concerning Nancy, perhaps because she had herself spurned him.

Nancy was therefore unmarriageable, but that didn't bother the fun-loving, cheerful patriot Gouverneur Morris, who took her on as housekeeper, and then married her, giving her two decades of true happiness. Nancy was a resourceful woman and this amazing chronicle of scandal brings her out of oblivion into our own times, times that are no better or worse than her own.

Alan Crawford has pulled off a real coup here: he has not only done enough research for two or three doctoral dissertations, but he has turned the data into a very well-told tale, almost novelistic in its style yet free of fictionalizing. Moreover, beneath the fast-moving narrative, there is lots of food for reflection: the collapse of dynasties, the cultural drift toward civil war, the American tradition of starting over, something like a saga but without the pretentiousness the term implies. Comparisons with "In the Garden of Good and Evil" are inevitable, but I like "Unwise Passions" better.

I read a lot of biography and historical fiction and I was intrigued by the reviews of this book so I bought it. The print is large, there are many reproductions of paintings, and it's a rather quick read, but it's "pretty good" as far as historical biography goes. It was interesting to read a thumbnail sketch of the rise and fall of the Virginia tobacco farmers, and it was also a fun task to try and keep track of all of the Randalph's as they inter-married! The main problem that keeps the book from being truly wonderful is that the scandal and the main characters aren't very compelling to begin with and the author doesn't do much to infuse the story with any urgency. There a few points where I found myself wondering what would happen next, but for the most part I was simply mildly entertained and when I was finished I felt I'd read a decent book that further illuminated a period in American history for a me and also educated me about Nancy Randolph and her kinsmen.

Although this book is the biography of Nancy Randolph, who was the daughter of one of the great Virginia planters, Unwise Passions is rich with history of Virginia, and it has a cast of characters that includes not only the haughty Randolphs, but also Thomas Jeffereson, Patrick Henry, and John Marshall. This book offers a valuable look at the lives of historical figures that we have previously known only as public figures of great stature. Here the reader gets a "real" view of these figures. The research process for this book was obviously conducted painstakingly with excellent results. It is an delightful read. It brings all the characters to life. I would like to go back to some of the original documents. I hope tjhat Mr. Crawford will write another book, bringing the history of our country into real focus for us.

Although I take issue with the subtitle of this book: "...the First Great Scandal of Eighteenth-Century America", author Alan Pell Crawford does deliver an interesting narrative of one extended family's disintegration. The family in question are the Randolph's of Virginia, and Crawford provides the reader with both a map and a family tree to chart all the characters. By lineage, the Randolph's were Virginia aristocracy, in every sense of the word; they were the `patricians' who would form the English colonies of the South, and the new nation after the Revolution. By marriage (and they had the tendency to marry each other as cousins), they were linked with Thomas Jefferson and Gouverneur Morris.
Crawford makes a point of how `high on the hog' these patricians were, and based on the events in the book, it's a good illustration of `how the mighty have fallen'. The central scandal involves Nancy, a Randolph who may - or may not - have had an affair with her brother-in-law (and cousin) Richard, become pregnant, and with Richard's connivance, disposed of the baby (while her sister, Richard's wife, was in the next room). Great things had been expected from Richard, and this scandal threatened to destroy his and the family's reputation. Defending Richard (and Nancy) was Patrick Henry, the antithesis of what the Randolph's stood for; when he wins the case, it seems as if the debate over what happened between Nancy and Richard would die down. However, over the next 50 years, Nancy is hounded by her extended family, especially brother-in-law Jack, with the original charge of seduction and infanticide, then a relationship with a slave, then with possibly murdering her own nephew. And that's the tip of the iceberg.
Crawford does a good job with setting the scene of Nancy's life. He also paints an informative and entertaining picture of the many scandals - personal and political - that embroiled not just the Randolph's, but by extension all the Virginia aristocracy, whose way of life was dying after the Revolution, and they did not like it. However, Nancy herself, and what if any part she played in the various scandals, remains unclear. We know more about Jack, her principal tormentor, and her husband, the cosmopolitan Morris, than we do about Nancy. Also, I would argue the `first great scandal of the 18th C' idea: there were several events that could claim that title, including the treason of Benedict Arnold, about 20 years before the events in this book began. Also, the events in the book go on well beyond the 18th C. Still, it does make the title more intriguing for marketing purposes!

This book is a historical mystery surrounding Nancy Randolph who lived during Colonial times. It is engaging and interesting, a good page-turner. It is also a good introduction to the many interrelationships between the families of plantation Virginia, providing an interesting perspective on people associated with some of the "founding fathers" and how those relationships develop and transform over the early 1800's.

I got the book at my local library and just completed it. Mr. Crawford is good writer. I like that the chapters are short and the story line keeps moving.

I see that he has a new book coming out on Jefferson's last years. The research from this book probably helped on the new one since the Randolph and Jefferson familes were related (cousins married cousins) and Jefferson's son-in-laws were also politicians. I really appreciated the family tree even though the larger family lines aren't complete.

The main story line was not really resolved for me unless we are to believe Nancy's response to Jack in their later years. Did Nancy deliberately abort with her cousin's "medicine" or did she really miscarry? Was Nancy really pregnant by Theodorick who died before she delivered and not his brother Richard? How could Nancy go about in society as she "increased" without any censorship and why didn't any of her relatives, especially her sister who lived in the same house, know about the pregnancy?

Some characters appear for only a few paragraphs yet interest me to find out more about them in other biographies or histories. I was surprised to see that President Adams was not liked and Jefferson was extremely political. Crawford shows the political parties switched platforms over time so current parties cannot claim ownership of ideas. I will be interested in reading more books about the early founders, politicians and other Americans. This taste of early years in congress was very interesting.