Clare Boothe Luce

<p><i>Clare Boothe Luce: American Renaissance Woman</i> is a concise and highly readable political biography that examines the life of one of the most accomplished American women of the 20th century.</p><p>Wife and mother author editor playwright political activist war journalist Congresswoman ambassador pundit and feminist—Luce did it all. Carefully placing Luce in a series of shifting historical contexts this book offers the reader an insight into mid-century American political cultural gender and foreign relations history. Eleven primary sources follow the text including excerpts from Luce’s diary letters speeches and published works as well as a TV talk-show appearance and a critic’s diary entry describing an evening with her helping readers to understand her fascinating life. Together the narrative and documents afford readers a brief yet in-depth look at Luce with all her complications: glamorous intellectual acid-tongued diplomat and feminist conservative she was a deeply flawed high-achiever who repeatedly challenged the entrenched sexism of her age to become a significant actor in the rise of the “American Century.”</p><p>Addressing the neglect suffered by women in foreign relations history this will be of interest to students and scholars of US foreign relations 20th-century US history and US women’s history.</p>