Eye on Books

For four decades, Susan Mary Alsop reigned over Georgetown society in the nation’s capital. The Alsop home was the gathering place for everyone of importance in Washington. Henry Kissinger once famously remarked that more agreements were concluded in her living room than in the White House.

Now this American aristocrat, and unofficial American diplomat, is the subject of a new biography by Caroline de Margerie called “American Lady.”

What was it about Susan Mary Alsop that made her such an influential grande dame? How did she come to be known as “the second lady of Camelot”?

And how would she regard today’s Washington, where polite conversation between political opponents has fallen out of favor?

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