Social sciences

摘要

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 thernHouse of Commons, opening the door for other women to become active in politics.