A Mother in History
by Jean Stafford
On This Page
Description
Jean Stafford's unforgettable portrait of Marguerite Oswald, the mother of Lee Harvey Oswald.Curious about “the influences and accidents and loves and antipathies and idiosyncrasies” that shaped Lee Harvey Oswald, the novelist and short story writer Jean Stafford spent nine hours interviewing Marguerite Oswald in May 1965. A Mother in History (1966) is the acerbic result, an indelible portrait of a woman hungry for money, fame, and attention, full of righteous self-pity, and show more relentless in professing her son’s blamelessness: “Killing does not necessarily mean badness. You find killing in some very fine homes for one reason or another.” Stafford’s controversial profile elicited mixed reviews—Newsweek praised it as a “masterpiece of character study,” while Time called it “the most abrasively unpleasant book in recent years”—and angry readers accused her of seeking to “enthrone a wicked woman” and “demolish the sacred throne of motherhood.” It captures a moment in history when the trauma of Dallas was still raw, Lee Harvey Oswald’s guilt was widely accepted, and Marguerite Oswald, with her obsessive “research” into hidden “truths” and the machinations of an omnipresent “they,” appeared to be a singular prisoner of maternal delusion, and not a harbinger of the decades to come. Biography & Autobiography. Language Arts. Nonfiction. History. show less
Tags
Recommendations
Member Reviews
This little book set in motion the idea for my senior history thesis -- how LHO's mother and her mental capacity affected her ability to raise children and how it affected LHO and his mental stability.
Ratings
Members
- Recently Added By
Author Information
27+ Works 1,417 Members
Common Knowledge
- Original publication date
- 1966
Classifications
- Genres
- Biography & Memoir, Nonfiction, General Nonfiction, History
- DDC/MDS
- 364.1524 — Society, government, & culture Social problems and social services Crime Criminal offenses Offenses against the person Homicide Assassination
- LCC
- E842.9 .S67 — History of the United States United States Later twentieth century, 1961-2000 Kennedy's administration, 1961-November 22, 1963 Assassination, funeral, memorial services, etc.
Statistics
- Members
- 43
- Popularity
- 685,939
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (4.00)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 1
