American Princess: A Novel of First Daughter Alice Roosevelt by Stephanie Marie Thornton

As a history major, I always knew that is was said Alice Roosevelt was a wild child.  I did not know until reading this novel that was an understatement and that Alice also had a keen mind for politics.  In fact, some of her stunts were to promote political ideas, like women’s rights!

The novel opens just as Alice’s father, Theodore, finds out about President McKinley‘s imminent death and his own rise to the presidency.  From that point, it follows Alice throughout her white House years.  Alice made it a point to stand out from the crowd and not bee meek. She cruised around town in a car, chewed gun in public, and played poker.  Her name was almost always in the newspaper, causing her to be dubbed the “american princess.” Then Alice used the…