The Woman Who Knew Everyone
The Power of Perle Mesta, Washington's Most Famous Hostess
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By Meryl Gordon
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A deeply researched biography of the socialite, political hostess, activist and United States envoy to Luxembourg, Perle Mesta, from New York Times bestselling author Meryl Gordon.
Perle Mesta was a force to be reckoned with. In her heyday, this wealthy globe-trotting Washington widow was one of the most famous women in America, garnering as much media attention as Eleanor Roosevelt. Renowned for her world-class parties featuring politicians and celebrities, she was very close to three presidents–Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson. Truman named her as the first female envoy to Luxembourg, which inspired the hit musical based on Perle’s life – “Call Me Madam” – which starred Ethel Merman, ran on Broadway for two years and later became a movie. A pioneering supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, she was a prodigious Democratic fundraiser and rescued Harry Truman’s financially flailing 1948 campaign.
In this intensely researched biography, author Meryl Gordon chronicles Perle’s lavish life and society adventures in Newport, Manhattan and Washington, while highlighting her important, but nearly forgotten contribution to American politics and the feminist movement.
Perle Mesta was a force to be reckoned with. In her heyday, this wealthy globe-trotting Washington widow was one of the most famous women in America, garnering as much media attention as Eleanor Roosevelt. Renowned for her world-class parties featuring politicians and celebrities, she was very close to three presidents–Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower and Lyndon Johnson. Truman named her as the first female envoy to Luxembourg, which inspired the hit musical based on Perle’s life – “Call Me Madam” – which starred Ethel Merman, ran on Broadway for two years and later became a movie. A pioneering supporter of the Equal Rights Amendment, she was a prodigious Democratic fundraiser and rescued Harry Truman’s financially flailing 1948 campaign.
In this intensely researched biography, author Meryl Gordon chronicles Perle’s lavish life and society adventures in Newport, Manhattan and Washington, while highlighting her important, but nearly forgotten contribution to American politics and the feminist movement.
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"A lively, well-researched account of a powerful woman."Kirkus
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"Gordon’s thoroughly researched account showcases how Mesta wielded social power as political power, resulting in a finely observed character study...It’s a reverent ode to an overlooked fixture of midcentury American politics."Publishers Weekly
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“Mesta’s larger-than-life persona shines in journalist Gordon’s deeply sourced narrative.”Booklist
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"Meryl Gordon has painted an absorbing and illuminating portrait of a lost world--one in which Perle Mesta helped shape the public life of the nation through hospitality, friendship, and genuine human relations. It was not a perfect universe, but there is much for us to learn from this story in our own divided time."Jon Meacham, Pulitzer Prize winning biographer
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“So famous they based a hit Broadway musical on her – Perle Mesta lived life out loud, and what a life it was. Meryl Gordon captures this smart, pushy, determined, unsinkable character – a girl from Oklahoma who became a friend to presidents and one of the most influential women in Washington.”Susan Page, Washington Bureau chief of USA TODAY and NYT bestselling author of The Rulebreaker
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“Meryl Gordon’s “The Woman Who Knew Everyone” is a masterful telling of the wily, brilliant Perle Mesta, a wealthy hostess and keen political observer who was as comfortable throwing wild, all-night parties as she was whipping party votes. Gordon’s lively narrative depicts Mesta’s singular determination to pass the Equal Rights Amendment and lays bare how drawing rooms were often as powerful as backrooms. In another era, Mesta might have become the U.S. President, rather than befriended them.”Julie Satow, New York Times bestselling author of "When Women Ran Fifth Avenue: Glamour and Power at the Dawn of American Fashion"
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“Meryl Gordon’s deeply researched and consistently entertaining biography is a happy reminder that history is made not only by political leaders but by people like Perle Mesta, the tough and determined “hostess with the mostess.” In mid-century America, Mesta carved a memorable path through the rivalrous social life of a city where a lost invitation feels like a wound and the right sort of guestlist is a celebration of the tribe."Jeffrey Frank, author of The Trials of Harry S. Truman and Ike and Dick
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“In mid-twentieth-century America, wealthy widow Perle Mesta was a household name – renowned as a savvy hostess, a diplomat, a confidant of presidents, an activist for feminist causes. Meryl Gordon has written a fascinating book weaving Mesta's improbable life with the Washington whose society she shaped. I loved every minute of this trip back in time.”Karen Tumulty, associate editor for the Washington Post and author of The Triumph of Nancy Reagan
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“Meryl Gordon has done it again with another superb portrait of a wealthy society matron whose private life was vastly more complicated than her public profile. What adds special zest to her biography of Perle Mesta is that this Washington doyenne was born an outsider from Oklahoma—rather than a child of the WASP aristocracy. Mesta was brash, politically cunning, and passionate about women’s rights, even as she relished her role as a “hostess.” Gordon brings alive a lost world of Washington with her trademark deep reporting and vivid detail.”David Ignatius, columnist at The Washington Post and bestselling author
- On Sale
- Jan 7, 2025
- Page Count
- 512 pages
- Publisher
- Grand Central Publishing
- ISBN-13
- 9781538751237
