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Alias Agnes: The Notorious Tale of a Gilded Age Spy
Hardcover
19th Century United States HistoryGeneral World History
ISBN13: 9781985902237
Publisher: University Press of Kentucky
Published: Apr 29 2025
Pages: 368
Weight: 1.36
Height: 1.18 Width: 6.35 Depth: 9.20
Language: English
Jane Armstrong Tucker was a Boston stenographer scrabbling to get by as a single woman in the Gilded Age, until she was offered a once-in-a-lifetime chance. Madeleine Pollard was a Kentuckian with humble roots who had used charisma to work her way into the parlors of the Washington, DC, elite. Tucker hid behind an alias--Agnes Parker--but Pollard had a secret, too.
Alias Agnes details the story of Jane Tucker, who took a job as an undercover detective with a ten-week mission. Her target: Madeleine Pollard, former mistress of Congressman William C. P. Breckinridge, whom she had sued for breach of promise when he failed to marry her. Exploring the intricacies of this trial and a scandal that captivated the nation, author Elizabeth A. DeWolfe demonstrates that a shared lack of power did not always lead to alliances among women. DeWolfe uncovers the strategies women used to make their way in the world, drawing parallels between the previously forgotten and incomplete tales of Tucker, Pollard, and the women who testified in the trial--from formerly enslaved persons, to white socialites, to single government clerks, to divorced physicians.
Written in engaging prose with all the intrigue and suspense of a detective tale, Alias Agnes chronicles the lives of women at the cusp of the twentieth century--the opportunities that beckoned them and the challenges that thwarted their dreams.
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