Susan Hertog

I won Dangerous Ambition through the Goodreads First Read program, and overall I'm glad I did. This was a fascinating and extensively researched biography of two very intriguing women.

I didn't know much about either Rebecca West or Dorothy Thompson, but I do believe that this book gave me a comprehensive overview of their good and bad qualities. It's true that neither woman came off as a completely likeable person, but I didn't find this to detract from the appeal of the book. In fact, I show more enjoyed it all the more because the author clearly held nothing back.

Both women lead dynamic lives, especially considering the time periods in which they lived. Dorothy was an accomplished journalist. In fact, she was the first reporter to be granted an interview with Adolf Hitler, and was likewise the first reporter expelled from Germany, after she questioned his manhood, breeding and mental stability.

Rebecca was extremely prolific, and wrote dozens upon dozens of critiques. She was of the opinion that her female contemporaries were writing the best work, and that the 'establishment' deemed their work as 'minor fiction'.

Of course much of this book centers around the love lives of these women, which I wasn't particularly looking forward to - until I discovered that Dorothy was married to Sinclair Lewis, and that Rebecca had a long-term affair and child with H.G. Wells. The look into the lives of these accomplished authors was quite interesting in its own right, especially as the book followed their successes and falls from grace.

I expected there to be more overlap between Rebecca and Dorothy's lives, and I expected that they would be very good friends. As it turned out, while there did seem to be an awful lot of coincidences in their lives, they weren't really close friends. I thought the dual biography setup was interesting, unique and ultimately successful, though it didn't turn out the way I expected it to.

Of course, the book wasn't perfect, and my main issue was the way it jumped around in time. One chapter would cover one woman's life in 1930, and the next would jump to the other woman's life in 1915. There didn't seem to be a method behind the jumping, and it got especially jarring when while reading a chapter about one women, there would be a mention of something that happened to the other - only we hadn't gotten to that chapter yet.

Overall, this book was jam-packed with information, and was extremely detail rich and really immersed me in the world of these women. At the same time, it was quite accessible and I would highly recommend it to anyone who's interested in feminist literature, literary history, or simply a thought provoking biography. show less

This is an Early Reviewers book.
The author did an amazing job of juxtaposing two biographies into one comprehensive book. Dorothy Thompson and Rebecca West lived at an essential historical period: prior to, during, and following WW II. Both were journalists and authors. Both were brilliant, driven, and ahead of their era.
The author develops a clear sense of the character/personality of each woman as well as their oeuvre. The women were moving in "uncharted waters." They "forged" show more opportunities unprecedented in their time. They married famous, brilliant, inadequate men.
Biographically, each woman is revealed to have an expectation that some man would make them feel whole, worthy, significant. Their marriages failed them. Neither woman knew how to be married. Both were parents. Neither woman understood motherhood. Neither was drawn to the feeling of nurturing.
The book offers important glimpses of the era politically and historically. I found myself totally immersed when the book arrived at the period developing WW II.
These women had failings: their failings were similar. As each felt less important in their professional worlds, they became more prejudiced. Dorothy Thompson moved from a position supporting Israel to an anti-semitic one. Rebecca West became increasingly paranoid.
I am impressed by how completely Susan Hertog developed and revealed the characters of these amazing women as well as the period of their lives. I strongly recommend the book. show less

Well-researched biography that uses and examines Anne's own poetry and prose in describing the life events and dilemmas of a woman with much strength and talent. Conflicts Anne faced are universal: spiritual, holding one's center while being married; how to find time and space for the creative productivity while running a household, being a wife and mom; political/social upheaval while trying to support her husband though disagreeing at heart with his racism and his support of ethnic show more cleansing and fascism. Astonishing loyalty and compromise, deep examination of her loneliness within a marriage. Effective review of how she wove metaphor through her travel memoirs to reflect her spiritual and social conflicts. show less

Rebecca West & Dorothy Thompson were amazing women who led incredible lives, so Hertog is lucky in her choice of subject; it would be difficult to write an uninteresting book about these women. In my purely subjective opinion, though, Hertog has failed in writing this biography. She intrudes too much, injects novelistic imaginings when a straightforward account of her subjects’ lives would be so much more interesting. A previous reviewer cites this as a strength in the book; those who like show more their biographies to read like fiction will be pleased here. I, however, am less interested in what Hertog thinks happened than in what really did. I wish more of the text were given over to the womens’ letters. I neither care nor agree that “One might imagine that Dorothy would have preferred to pass through the magnificent archways of Budapest’s Inner City Church on her way to the altar” (69). One might just as easily imagine she didn’t.

I should admit: I was put-off of this book almost immediately when I read in the publisher’s information that Hertog is a fellow of the far-rightwing American Enterprise Institute. West and Thompson were excoriated by AEI sorts in their day. I wonder what they’d make of their biographer’s politics. show less