Alice James
A Biography

In a colorful, chatty, and ironically self-aggrandizing letter to her Aunt Kate, Alice James concludes with a quip: "Forgive me all this egotism but I have to be my own Boswell." Alice James had to wait nearly a century, but she eventually found her Boswell in Jean Strouse. First published in 1980,......more

Among the best biographies written of a member of the James family. Strouse has scoured all available sources and woven her findings into a compelling narrative of Alice James' life, the distortions of personality and emotion that male James inflicted upon the women in their families and households,......more

I wavered between three and four stars but I rounded up because I really did enjoy the experience of reading this book. Alice was a fascinating person and that shines through. You turn the last page wondering (as I'm sure the author intended) what Alice's life might have been like if she'd been a Ja......more

After hearing about Henry’s and William’s invalid sister and her diary for decades, I finally read this award-winning biography. I wish I had read it years ago, but perhaps I wasn’t quite ready. Now, with more years of experience as a woman, sister, daughter, and mother (of sons), I perhaps have mor......more

A bit too heavy on the family, the famous two older brothers, and the social scene. More focus on Alice James would have been preferred. The last quarter of the biography was marvelous, so much so that the diary Alice wrote during the last four years of her life is definitely in my future as another......more