February 28, 2001 Catherine Allgor to Discuss New Book About "Parlor Politics" at the Library of Congress

Historian Catherine Allgor will discuss her popular new book, Parlor Politics: In Which the Ladies of Washington Help Build a City and a Government (University Press of Virginia, 2000) at noon, Friday, March 23, in Room 119, Thomas Jefferson Building, 10 First Street S.E. The event, part of the Center for the Book's "Books & Beyond" author series, is sponsored by the center and the Library's Manuscript Division.

A History Book Club Selection, Parlor Politics draws heavily on the manuscript collections of the Library of Congress and other institutions to examine the critical role that women played in early days of Washington politics. Joseph J. Ellis, author of Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation, called Parlor Politics "an extraordinary piece of work, easily one of the most intellectually original and stylishly elegant first books I have ever read." "Parlor Politics is cultural history at its best," said Joyce Appleby, author of Inheriting the Revolution: The First Generation of Americans.

Catherine Allgor, winner of dissertation awards from Yale University and the Organization of American Historians, is an assistant professor of history at Simmons College.

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