American Queen

In this beautifully written and meticulously researched biography, John Oller captures the tumultuous, passionate, and tragic life of Kate Chase Sprague, Mary Lincoln’s ambitious rival.

Kate Chase, the beautiful and charismatic daughter of Abraham Lincoln’s treasury secretary, enjoyed unprecedented political power for a woman. As her widowed father’s hostess, Chase set up a rival “court” against Mary Lincoln in hopes of making herself the first lady to her father’s president. She married one of the richest men in the country to facilitate that goal, but, when he turned out to be an unreliable profligate, Chase found comfort in the arms of a powerful married senator. The ensuing scandal ended her virtual royalty, leaving her a social outcast who died in poverty.

Set against the seductive allure of the Civil War and Gilded Age, Kate Chase Sprague’s dramatic story is one of ambition and tragedy involving some of the most famous personalities in American history.