Wondrous Beauty: The Life and Adventures of Elizabeth

Wondrous Beauty: The Life and Adventures of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte

From the award-winning historian and author of Revolutionary Mothers (â‚¬Å“Incisive, thoughtful, spiced with vivid anecdotes. Donâ‚¬t miss it.â‚¬Ââ‚¬"Thomas Â Fleming) and Civil War Wives (â‚¬Å“Utterly fresh . . . Sensitive, poignant, thoroughly fascinating.â‚¬Ââ‚¬"Jay Winik), here is the remarkable life of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte, renowned as the most beautiful woman of nineteenth-century Baltimore, whose marriage in 1803 to JÂ©rÂ´me Bonaparte, the youngest brother of Napoleon Bonaparte, became inextricably bound to the diplomatic and political histories of the United States, France, and England.

In Wondrous Beauty, Carol Berkin tells the story of this audacious, outsized life. We see how the news of the union infuriated Napoleon and resulted in his banning the then Âpregnant Betsy Bonaparte from disembarking in any European port, offering his brother the threat of remaining married to that â‚¬Å“American girlâ‚¬Â and forfeiting all wealth and powerâ‚¬"or renouncing her, marrying a woman of Napoleonâ‚¬s choice, and reaping the benefits.

JÂ©rÂ´me ended the marriage posthaste and was made king of Westphalia; Betsy fled to England, gave birth to her son and only child, JÂ©rÂ´meâ‚¬s namesake, and was embraced by the English press, who boasted that their nation had opened its arms to the cruelly abandoned young wife.

Berkin writes that this naÂ¯ve, headstrong American girl returned to Baltimore a wiser, independent woman, refusing to seek social redemption or a return to obscurity through a quiet marriage to a member of Baltimoreâ‚¬s merchant class. Instead she was courted by many, indifferent to all, and initiated a dangerous game of politicsâ‚¬"a battle for a pension from Napoleonâ‚¬"which she won: her pension from the French government arrived each month until Napoleonâ‚¬s exile.

Using Betsy Bonaparteâ‚¬s extensive letters, the author makes clear that the â‚¬Å“belle of Baltimoreâ‚¬Â disdained Americaâ‚¬s obsession with moneymaking, its growing ethos of democracy, and its rigid gender roles that confined women to the parlor and the nursery; that she sought instead a European society where women created salons devoted to intellectual lifeâ‚¬"where she was embraced by many who took into their confidence, such as Madame de StaÂ«l, Madame RÂ©camier, the aging Marquise de Villette (goddaughter of Voltaire), among othersâ‚¬"and Â where aristocracy, based on birth and breeding rather than commerce, dominated society.Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
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Wondrous Beauty is a riveting portrait of a woman torn between two worlds, unable to find peace in eitherâ‚¬"one a provincial, convention-bound new America; the other a sophisticated, extravagant Old World Europe that embraced freedoms, a Europe ultimately swallowed up by decadence and idleness.
A stunning revelation of an extraordinary age.

From the Hardcover edition.
Country USA
Manufacturer Vintage
Binding Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate 2014-02-11
Format Kindle eBook

Country	USA
Manufacturer	Vintage
Binding	Kindle Edition
ReleaseDate	2014-02-11
Format	Kindle eBook

Wondrous Beauty: The Life and Adventures of Elizabeth Patterson Bonaparte

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