John F. Marszalek is professor of history at Mississippi State University and the author of Court Martial: A Black Man in America and Sherman: A Soldier's Passion for Order.
Marszelak (history, Mississippi State Univ.) has written a scintillating account of the "Eaton Affair," America's first great tabloid tale. Deemd a "loose woman" by the wives of Andrew Jackson's cabinet, Margaret Eaton, the new spouse of Secretary of War John Eaton, was therefore snubbed at all social functions. A seemingly trivial matter, it soon escalated into a major cause célèbre with a variety of political repercussions. (The vice president's wife, Floride Calhous, was her most ardent detractor.) The author, whose biography Sherman: A Soldier's Passion for Order (Free Pr., 1993) has become the standard work on the subject, places the Eaton Affair squarely within the context of Jacksonian democracy. Thoroughly researched and wonderfully written, this book will no doubt become the definitive work on the topic. This is academically informed "popular" history at its very best.‘Stephen G. Weismar, Springfield Technical Community Coll., Mass.
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