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Theodosia Burr Alston: Portrait of a Prodigy
Theodosia Burr Alston was a brilliant, independent, highly-educated and freethinking woman in an age which valued none of those traits in females. She was born June 21, 1783 in Albany, New York, the daughter of prominent attorney Aaron Burr (1756-1836) and his wife, the former Mrs. Theodosia Prevost (d. 1794), a widow. Young Theodosia spent most of her unmarried life in New York City with her charismatic, influential father, who had distinguished himself as an officer in the Revolutionary War. There he served under Col. Benedict Arnold and became a member of General George Washington's inner circle. After her mother died when Theodosia was eleven, she became her father's closest confidante and the mistress of Richmond Hill, his New York country estate. A child prodigy whose education was designed by her adoring and demanding father, Theodosia spoke Latin, French, German, and read Greek by the age of twelve.
For Aaron Burr, providing his little girl with an extraordinary education was a lifelong obsession. But Burr's desire to rear a superior woman-child went far beyond mere education. By the time she could walk, Burr had envisioned an incredible goal for her and crafted a master plan to achieve it. Every waking breath of her day was directed by her father to shape Theodosia into something new, radical, and monumental. He was not interested in turning out just a smart, pretty girl; a father's pride; or a husband's delight. Burr was no petty theorist. He was a passionate, egotistical visionary on scale that made the gods cringe. With his vision and his daughter's talent, Burr intended to push the envelope of mortal achievement to its absolute limit. Burr's goal was to sculpt Theodosia into a model for the woman of the future: a female Aaron Burr. She was not trained to serve hearth, home, or plantation. From her first breath of life, she was groomed and educated to take her intended station in life: nothing less than president, queen... or empress. From her birth into New York's high society, her childhood among the leaders of the new nation, her marriage to Joseph Alston, a Southern slaveholding aristocrat, to her mysterious death at sea at the age of twenty-nine, this is the true story of Theodosia Burr Alston. From the letters she exchanged with her father, Aaron Burr, and her husband, Joseph Alston, and from the accounts of those who knew her personally, emerges a powerful portrait of a true American prodigy.
For Aaron Burr, providing his little girl with an extraordinary education was a lifelong obsession. But Burr's desire to rear a superior woman-child went far beyond mere education. By the time she could walk, Burr had envisioned an incredible goal for her and crafted a master plan to achieve it. Every waking breath of her day was directed by her father to shape Theodosia into something new, radical, and monumental. He was not interested in turning out just a smart, pretty girl; a father's pride; or a husband's delight. Burr was no petty theorist. He was a passionate, egotistical visionary on scale that made the gods cringe. With his vision and his daughter's talent, Burr intended to push the envelope of mortal achievement to its absolute limit. Burr's goal was to sculpt Theodosia into a model for the woman of the future: a female Aaron Burr. She was not trained to serve hearth, home, or plantation. From her first breath of life, she was groomed and educated to take her intended station in life: nothing less than president, queen... or empress. From her birth into New York's high society, her childhood among the leaders of the new nation, her marriage to Joseph Alston, a Southern slaveholding aristocrat, to her mysterious death at sea at the age of twenty-nine, this is the true story of Theodosia Burr Alston. From the letters she exchanged with her father, Aaron Burr, and her husband, Joseph Alston, and from the accounts of those who knew her personally, emerges a powerful portrait of a true American prodigy.
416 pages, Kindle Edition
First published December 3, 2005
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Displaying 1 - 17 of 17 reviews
January 21, 2015
After visiting Theodosia Burr Alston's plantation site in South Carolina in October, I am "hooked" on learning more about her and her father, Aaron Burr, who was Vice-President in 1913 when Theodosia's ship was lost. I found this non-fiction account of Theodosia and Aaron Burr fascinating!
November 23, 2016
Well-researched, well-written -- but at the end of the day, I'm not sure we know enough about Theodosia for anybody to write a really comprehensive biography about her. As a result, the book was unfortunately more about Aaron Burr than Theodosia. Burr is interesting, and his story is inextricably intertwined with Theodosia's -- but I wanted more about her.
Still, I became fascinated with Theodosia after visiting the site of the Oaks in South Carolina, so I appreciated getting more background about her to help me understand this unique person.
(This book also introduced me to two figures I'd like to know more about: Rebecca Motte, a Revolutionary War heroine; and Margaret Agnew Blennerhassett, a close friend of Theodosia's.)
Still, I became fascinated with Theodosia after visiting the site of the Oaks in South Carolina, so I appreciated getting more background about her to help me understand this unique person.
(This book also introduced me to two figures I'd like to know more about: Rebecca Motte, a Revolutionary War heroine; and Margaret Agnew Blennerhassett, a close friend of Theodosia's.)
January 27, 2022
Another of those books where the title promises something other than the actual contents.
Between these covers Côté manages a fairly readable - if an unremarkable excepting the number of typos - biography of Aaron Burr that is interrupted occasionally by a repetitive page or two about his daughter. None of this is surprising given how little is known of Theodosia outside of her correspondence with her larger -than-life father and high profile husband. The artifact of these sources is inevitably that she herself is backgrounded while the context she is writing about in her letters is explained.
That dynamic right there is what is wrong about this book. We are told that Theodosia is the apple of Aaron's eye, that her husband adored her, that she was accomplished, beautiful, and cultured. That her intelligence matched her education and her accomplishments as a child promised a remarkable future. Then just as her life as an adult begins Aaron arranges a suitable marriage that meets his political needs, she has a child which destroys her health, and then she dies at sea after losing her markers of respectability. Is this really a tale of squandered promise, or simply another example of how rigid and stifling 18th century American culture was when it came to women? Côté wants us to accept that Aaron adored his daughter, but outside of her education there is no sign that he wanted more for her than any father of the time expected of his daughters. This interpretation is actually more in keeping with the attitudes and actions of this very egocentric man. It is far easier for me to believe that Aaron pumped Theodosia full of education and culture so that he could shine by her reflected glory. Her elevation in his schemes to the Empress of Mexico following his death is also an attempt to keep his name alive and obviously to keep the line of succession through to his grandchild. Also, I find it difficult to swallow that anyone as precocious and with so much sway over Aaron as is described here would have meekly gone along with the preposterous scheme launched from Blennerhassett Island.
Then there is the matter of the Burr Conspiracy. Côté gives what is almost certainly the kindest possible spin on the entire affair I have ever read. The sheer boneheadedness of the attempt is mitigated somewhat by the tidal wave of Filibustering that followed in the next three decades, each tiny army of imperialists repeatedly invading Central America with just as much certainty of success. Where Aaron's plan was no more insane than a thousand others to come, his choice of allies was spectacularly stupid. The keystone idiocy was believing that he could rely on James Wilkinson, a general whose past already included multiple failed conspiracies and innumerable betrayals by the time of the Burr Conspiracy, and was long a suspected spy for the Spanish government (later proven true). Making this man, so self serving and faithless, the linchpin of an act of massive treason reveals a breathtaking lack of judgement. That Theodosia rather passively fell in with this scheme betrays any claims of her good sense.
The book ends with several chapters of the odd literary legacy of Theodosia and closes with an attempt to unravel the 'mystery' of the Nags Head portrait. None of this is handled adroitly and requires an author better at analysis and synthesis than Côté, and was fairly boring and unconvincing.
To conclude, I can guess as to why Côté wrote this book the way he did. He was Editor in Chief of his own little publishing house and he saw an opportunity to target a South Carolina angle on the infamous Aaron Burr. He was a leading light of the South Carolina Historical Society so he dwells at great length on the Alston Family and the Carolina connections, which made Theodosia a natural subject. That he could say very little about her actual life meant adding on an extended coda about how people imagined her, or remembered her long after her disappearance. The natural outlets he saw for this book are very likely the employers of the persons writing the blurbs on the back cover; the Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park; The Rice Museum, Georgetown, SC; The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. To wit, it wasn't a better book because it didn't need to be.
Between these covers Côté manages a fairly readable - if an unremarkable excepting the number of typos - biography of Aaron Burr that is interrupted occasionally by a repetitive page or two about his daughter. None of this is surprising given how little is known of Theodosia outside of her correspondence with her larger -than-life father and high profile husband. The artifact of these sources is inevitably that she herself is backgrounded while the context she is writing about in her letters is explained.
That dynamic right there is what is wrong about this book. We are told that Theodosia is the apple of Aaron's eye, that her husband adored her, that she was accomplished, beautiful, and cultured. That her intelligence matched her education and her accomplishments as a child promised a remarkable future. Then just as her life as an adult begins Aaron arranges a suitable marriage that meets his political needs, she has a child which destroys her health, and then she dies at sea after losing her markers of respectability. Is this really a tale of squandered promise, or simply another example of how rigid and stifling 18th century American culture was when it came to women? Côté wants us to accept that Aaron adored his daughter, but outside of her education there is no sign that he wanted more for her than any father of the time expected of his daughters. This interpretation is actually more in keeping with the attitudes and actions of this very egocentric man. It is far easier for me to believe that Aaron pumped Theodosia full of education and culture so that he could shine by her reflected glory. Her elevation in his schemes to the Empress of Mexico following his death is also an attempt to keep his name alive and obviously to keep the line of succession through to his grandchild. Also, I find it difficult to swallow that anyone as precocious and with so much sway over Aaron as is described here would have meekly gone along with the preposterous scheme launched from Blennerhassett Island.
Then there is the matter of the Burr Conspiracy. Côté gives what is almost certainly the kindest possible spin on the entire affair I have ever read. The sheer boneheadedness of the attempt is mitigated somewhat by the tidal wave of Filibustering that followed in the next three decades, each tiny army of imperialists repeatedly invading Central America with just as much certainty of success. Where Aaron's plan was no more insane than a thousand others to come, his choice of allies was spectacularly stupid. The keystone idiocy was believing that he could rely on James Wilkinson, a general whose past already included multiple failed conspiracies and innumerable betrayals by the time of the Burr Conspiracy, and was long a suspected spy for the Spanish government (later proven true). Making this man, so self serving and faithless, the linchpin of an act of massive treason reveals a breathtaking lack of judgement. That Theodosia rather passively fell in with this scheme betrays any claims of her good sense.
The book ends with several chapters of the odd literary legacy of Theodosia and closes with an attempt to unravel the 'mystery' of the Nags Head portrait. None of this is handled adroitly and requires an author better at analysis and synthesis than Côté, and was fairly boring and unconvincing.
To conclude, I can guess as to why Côté wrote this book the way he did. He was Editor in Chief of his own little publishing house and he saw an opportunity to target a South Carolina angle on the infamous Aaron Burr. He was a leading light of the South Carolina Historical Society so he dwells at great length on the Alston Family and the Carolina connections, which made Theodosia a natural subject. That he could say very little about her actual life meant adding on an extended coda about how people imagined her, or remembered her long after her disappearance. The natural outlets he saw for this book are very likely the employers of the persons writing the blurbs on the back cover; the Blennerhassett Island Historical State Park; The Rice Museum, Georgetown, SC; The Graveyard of the Atlantic Museum. To wit, it wasn't a better book because it didn't need to be.
March 10, 2016
Good general history book
This book gave absolutely no insight on Theodosia Burr...how did she feel, what did she do...Instead it is a very interesting history of Aaron Burr and other dignitaries that surrounded her. I l earned more about French expatriate Natalie than the title character. Almost 30% of the book occurs after her death and relates to the conspiracy theories surrounding her death. It was not a bad book, but it was mislabeled.
This book gave absolutely no insight on Theodosia Burr...how did she feel, what did she do...Instead it is a very interesting history of Aaron Burr and other dignitaries that surrounded her. I l earned more about French expatriate Natalie than the title character. Almost 30% of the book occurs after her death and relates to the conspiracy theories surrounding her death. It was not a bad book, but it was mislabeled.
February 20, 2026
I wouldn’t say this book had a huge impact on me. I do think it was a good book and I did learn a lot. However, I think this is another case of something that I have discovered in nonfiction. That is that the title is misleading simply there is not enough information on Theodosia to write this length of a book on this is mainly the story of Aaron Burr with some hints of his daughter. Let me say, Aaron Burr is quite the character and was a very outlandish figure in American history. I learned a lot about him here, but I would love to read a book dedicated just to him and I do plan to do that in the coming months.
There is so much history that I know it is near impossible to cover every bit of American history in a class. A lot of this was new information for me and almost shocking. I never realized Burr was vice president when he had his duel with Alexander Hamilton. He was then a fugitive, on the run, who wanted to start an empire with a monarchy that included western states and modern day Mexico. As for Theodosia, she was quite unusual,for a woman, for this time. She was fully educated, like a man would be. She’s even considered to be, most likely, the most educated woman in America of her time.
Something that I loved was that the author reclaimed Theodosia‘s narrative. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries multiple non-fiction and fiction books came out alike about her. A lot of those writers didn’t really look at the facts. Some of them might have not even had access to these archives of history. Some of those writers took hearsay, rumors, and gossip for fact. When now you can look at historical records and find out there’s no proof whatsoever of some of these instances like Theodosia having an intimate romance with Merriweather Lewis, At the time he was on the frontier, rather than being in Washington DC. Therefore they couldn’t have a physical romance like previous biographers have claimed. The author did tremendous amounts of research to find out what Theodosia’s story was most likely like. He did show some theories of her disappearance, but never said one set one was true as we just do not know. (I lean towards the pirate theory).
The structure did get confusing at times. Especially, towards the end of the book. When we do have Theodosia’s disappearance and the death of her son. We were kind of getting thrown all over the place. It was hard to follow. The writing style was accessible to read. I wouldn’t call this narrative non-fiction. It did take time to read. It was a lot to digest as these chapters can be quite long. Overall, the author did do a good job at telling Theodosia’s story as best as he could with as little evidence as we have. This is a good book if you would like to know what life was like in the early days of our country for an upper class woman, and what life would’ve been like for a woman who was far more educated than other women of her time.
3.75 out of 5 stars.
There is so much history that I know it is near impossible to cover every bit of American history in a class. A lot of this was new information for me and almost shocking. I never realized Burr was vice president when he had his duel with Alexander Hamilton. He was then a fugitive, on the run, who wanted to start an empire with a monarchy that included western states and modern day Mexico. As for Theodosia, she was quite unusual,for a woman, for this time. She was fully educated, like a man would be. She’s even considered to be, most likely, the most educated woman in America of her time.
Something that I loved was that the author reclaimed Theodosia‘s narrative. Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries multiple non-fiction and fiction books came out alike about her. A lot of those writers didn’t really look at the facts. Some of them might have not even had access to these archives of history. Some of those writers took hearsay, rumors, and gossip for fact. When now you can look at historical records and find out there’s no proof whatsoever of some of these instances like Theodosia having an intimate romance with Merriweather Lewis, At the time he was on the frontier, rather than being in Washington DC. Therefore they couldn’t have a physical romance like previous biographers have claimed. The author did tremendous amounts of research to find out what Theodosia’s story was most likely like. He did show some theories of her disappearance, but never said one set one was true as we just do not know. (I lean towards the pirate theory).
The structure did get confusing at times. Especially, towards the end of the book. When we do have Theodosia’s disappearance and the death of her son. We were kind of getting thrown all over the place. It was hard to follow. The writing style was accessible to read. I wouldn’t call this narrative non-fiction. It did take time to read. It was a lot to digest as these chapters can be quite long. Overall, the author did do a good job at telling Theodosia’s story as best as he could with as little evidence as we have. This is a good book if you would like to know what life was like in the early days of our country for an upper class woman, and what life would’ve been like for a woman who was far more educated than other women of her time.
3.75 out of 5 stars.
October 2, 2021
well, bio of Theodosia by Richard N. Côté. it’s a lot.
I’m more patient to women’ biographies for many reasons including the fact it’s pretty tough to do research since most of the sources are forever lost to us. so yeah, I usually give credit to people who’re trying to work with what we have.
this one is not an exception I’ve been patient to it for the first 50 pages before I started getting frustrated. and angry. mostly angry.
since the last woman’s bio I’ve read was Mazzeo’s bio of Betsy Hamilton I’ve been comparing it to it and found some similarities.
long story short none of them is good.
1. He rarely puts sources. Very. What’s even worse is that most of sources are highly questionable and that often enough he doesn’t mention prime sources. And sometimes it’s very weird not to. I’ll explain what I mean.
2. Burr’s Conspiracy. Yeah. Not good. Not good at all. Long story short for him it’s Burr’s Enterprise to concur Mexico, separate western states from Union and become Emperor. Yeah. It’s painful. And he made this conclusion without reading prime sources or more or less serious literature on the topic except for what, short summary of trial? Come on. If I can do it you can as well if you’re going to sell your book to people.
3. He often puts wrong facts and yes, I’m talking about Paterson being Burr’s attorney on trial. Jesus Christ no job was done with treason trial as it seems.
4. Incest. Yes, this one of main complaints. You should have a balls to state that the whole thing was a plot of Vidal’s imagination and then proceed to say that it makes sense. I can’t put in words how disrespectful it is to Theodosia and this man’s tries to paint everyone else as treating her without one. It’s disgusting and I won’t proceed to discuss it further.
5. I’ve been thinking for so long whether he treats Theo better than Mazzeo treats Eliza in her book. Partly, yeah. He really tries not to paint her as a copy of her father and make us look at her independently from her father and yet he talks about Burr for so long that it makes the book more about him than about Theo. I’m adult and I understand that considering they deeply close and mature relationship it’s hard to talk about them separately and yet it ruins the point of the book if we’re mostly talking about Burr. I think he does a bit better job with Theo than Mazzeo have done with Betsy, yes. I can see it. But it doesn’t mean he did a good job on this front. Sadly, far from it.
at least he didn’t use posts from tumblr as his sources. congratulations I guess?..
I’m more patient to women’ biographies for many reasons including the fact it’s pretty tough to do research since most of the sources are forever lost to us. so yeah, I usually give credit to people who’re trying to work with what we have.
this one is not an exception I’ve been patient to it for the first 50 pages before I started getting frustrated. and angry. mostly angry.
since the last woman’s bio I’ve read was Mazzeo’s bio of Betsy Hamilton I’ve been comparing it to it and found some similarities.
long story short none of them is good.
1. He rarely puts sources. Very. What’s even worse is that most of sources are highly questionable and that often enough he doesn’t mention prime sources. And sometimes it’s very weird not to. I’ll explain what I mean.
2. Burr’s Conspiracy. Yeah. Not good. Not good at all. Long story short for him it’s Burr’s Enterprise to concur Mexico, separate western states from Union and become Emperor. Yeah. It’s painful. And he made this conclusion without reading prime sources or more or less serious literature on the topic except for what, short summary of trial? Come on. If I can do it you can as well if you’re going to sell your book to people.
3. He often puts wrong facts and yes, I’m talking about Paterson being Burr’s attorney on trial. Jesus Christ no job was done with treason trial as it seems.
4. Incest. Yes, this one of main complaints. You should have a balls to state that the whole thing was a plot of Vidal’s imagination and then proceed to say that it makes sense. I can’t put in words how disrespectful it is to Theodosia and this man’s tries to paint everyone else as treating her without one. It’s disgusting and I won’t proceed to discuss it further.
5. I’ve been thinking for so long whether he treats Theo better than Mazzeo treats Eliza in her book. Partly, yeah. He really tries not to paint her as a copy of her father and make us look at her independently from her father and yet he talks about Burr for so long that it makes the book more about him than about Theo. I’m adult and I understand that considering they deeply close and mature relationship it’s hard to talk about them separately and yet it ruins the point of the book if we’re mostly talking about Burr. I think he does a bit better job with Theo than Mazzeo have done with Betsy, yes. I can see it. But it doesn’t mean he did a good job on this front. Sadly, far from it.
at least he didn’t use posts from tumblr as his sources. congratulations I guess?..
April 16, 2025
Immensely helpful as I undertake my own biographical project of Theodosia. One thing any biography of her will struggle with is not becoming a biography of Aaron Burr. I think this one struggled with that at times, but I acknowledge it is also very necessary at times to give context to Theodosia’s life and who she is.
As a 20 year old biography, this holds up fairly well. A few minor qualms at some assumptions made and there are portions repeated when context was previously given (this may have been intentional and to help the reader with keeping track of things but I found it distracting and unnecessary most of the time).
Something I loved about this biography was that it was very cohesive in covering Aaron and Theodosia as whole, complex people and not simply caricatures or romanticized versions of themselves (Theodosia frequently gets this treatment).
I know it is unlikely we will ever get to know what happened to Theodosia, but even though her life was short, I think there is a lot we can learn from the spark that was Theodosia Burr Alston.
As a 20 year old biography, this holds up fairly well. A few minor qualms at some assumptions made and there are portions repeated when context was previously given (this may have been intentional and to help the reader with keeping track of things but I found it distracting and unnecessary most of the time).
Something I loved about this biography was that it was very cohesive in covering Aaron and Theodosia as whole, complex people and not simply caricatures or romanticized versions of themselves (Theodosia frequently gets this treatment).
I know it is unlikely we will ever get to know what happened to Theodosia, but even though her life was short, I think there is a lot we can learn from the spark that was Theodosia Burr Alston.
dnf
August 19, 2023Gave up when I was at 14% read on my Kindle and Aaron Burr had just met his wife. I found the family history in the first chapter tedious and overly detailed. I wanted to learn about Thedosia. While her father played a huge role in her life, this book seemed way more about him than her,
May 9, 2022
Very readable! Especially enjoyed the read after seeing Hamilton for the first time live. Also, fascinated by stories of her ghost roaming the East Coast, Bald Head Island included.
February 15, 2024
This book really wasn’t about Theodosia. It was more about her father, Aaron Burr. I’m a bit disappointed.
May 10, 2016
Believe it or not, I first read about Theodosia, in a long-forgotten book on the Bermuda Triangle that claimed she was stuck in it. Hmm, I don't think so. I, of course, I read about her in Burr as well, and references to her in a few other works. I always wondered about her. Now I don't have to wonder so much.
Unfortunately there isn't much documentation (I guess), on her. Maybe if I had access to Burr's papers, I'd find something, so we pretty much get an outline of her. And that's OK, up to a point. I'd really like to know, though how she felt about herself and her father. And yikes, what she thought about her father writing her about his sexploits.,I mean that's just not "normal" but then nothing about Aaron Burr was much normal. Since it's doubtful we'll ever find letters or other papers she laid herself out for self-reflection, though the book is probably is as good as it will l get.
Ever since I read Burr, I've not thought he was as awful as mainstream history tells us, and this book does nothing to dissuade me from that opinion. Burr and Theodosia (and Hamilton) are brilliant, tragic figures, each in their own way. I think Cote teased out Theodosia as much as he could under the circumstances. I'd love to know if she really had her heart set on being Queen of Mexico. I'd think she had more closer concerns--like her horrible rotten heatlh, to worry about. Did Burr realize how sick she realy was? Anyway, I thought Cote laid out the Blennerhasset scheme quite well and made it understandable. Outside of an outline of Theodosia's life, the most interesting part of the book for me were the last 2 chapters--the legends that grew around her and the myjstery of the Nag's Head portrait. And I now I know to avoid Anya Seton's novel about Theodosia.
Unfortunately there isn't much documentation (I guess), on her. Maybe if I had access to Burr's papers, I'd find something, so we pretty much get an outline of her. And that's OK, up to a point. I'd really like to know, though how she felt about herself and her father. And yikes, what she thought about her father writing her about his sexploits.,I mean that's just not "normal" but then nothing about Aaron Burr was much normal. Since it's doubtful we'll ever find letters or other papers she laid herself out for self-reflection, though the book is probably is as good as it will l get.
Ever since I read Burr, I've not thought he was as awful as mainstream history tells us, and this book does nothing to dissuade me from that opinion. Burr and Theodosia (and Hamilton) are brilliant, tragic figures, each in their own way. I think Cote teased out Theodosia as much as he could under the circumstances. I'd love to know if she really had her heart set on being Queen of Mexico. I'd think she had more closer concerns--like her horrible rotten heatlh, to worry about. Did Burr realize how sick she realy was? Anyway, I thought Cote laid out the Blennerhasset scheme quite well and made it understandable. Outside of an outline of Theodosia's life, the most interesting part of the book for me were the last 2 chapters--the legends that grew around her and the myjstery of the Nag's Head portrait. And I now I know to avoid Anya Seton's novel about Theodosia.
April 3, 2015
Well-researched, thorough, and authoritative, although I was somewhat dismayed by the repetition of information present throughout the book. It gave the appearance of having been poorly edited, with the author neglecting to omit superfluous passages upon revisiting a topic or letter at greater length further on in the book. I also found his criticism of other works on Theodosia Burr to be petty and distasteful, especially his long-winded comments on the inaccuracies in Anya Seton's novel "My Theodosia," which is a work of fiction and not meant to be considered factual. It seemed to me the (Southern) author of this book was offended by Ms. Seton's somewhat unfavorable representation of the South (the climate of which certainly having killed Mrs. Alston's son, it becomes somewhat easy to understand why Ms. Seton chose to portray Theodosia as being anti-Southern) and attacked her novel because of this.
Aside from these considerations, I enjoyed the book, and learned a good amount of new information and opinions on Theodosia Burr Alston, as well as on her father, Aaron Burr. It does not newly resolve any theories or rumors on these subjects, but it provides information in a thorough and orderly manner, making it easy for readers to consider these topics themselves and formulate our own conclusions. I especially appreciated the breakdown of the theories regarding Theodosia's disappearance, and the possibilities surrounding the Nag's Head portrait. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the life (and death) of Theodosia Burr Alston or that of her father Aaron Burr.
Aside from these considerations, I enjoyed the book, and learned a good amount of new information and opinions on Theodosia Burr Alston, as well as on her father, Aaron Burr. It does not newly resolve any theories or rumors on these subjects, but it provides information in a thorough and orderly manner, making it easy for readers to consider these topics themselves and formulate our own conclusions. I especially appreciated the breakdown of the theories regarding Theodosia's disappearance, and the possibilities surrounding the Nag's Head portrait. I would recommend this book to anyone interested in the life (and death) of Theodosia Burr Alston or that of her father Aaron Burr.
January 7, 2021
If you're related to the Burrs or the Alstons, this book is for you. Did you know that Aaron Burr, besides killing Alexander Hamilton in a duel, had plans to invade Mexico and become its emperor? Did you know that he had an adored daughter that he raised to be an empress? And a less grandiose fact: Theodosia and her husband, Joseph Alston (wealthy planter from SC and later governor of SC) were the first couple to go to Niagara Falls on their honeymoon? They were so impressed that another young couple went there, too: Napoleon's little brother Jerome and his wife.
Theodosia was a prodigy. She was brilliant, beautiful, and generally adored. She also met a tragic end, and that is the mystery of her--we don't know what happened. Joseph had been governor of SC for 3 weeks when Theodosia........I'm not going to write a spoiler.
Theodosia was a prodigy. She was brilliant, beautiful, and generally adored. She also met a tragic end, and that is the mystery of her--we don't know what happened. Joseph had been governor of SC for 3 weeks when Theodosia........I'm not going to write a spoiler.
April 10, 2016
A dull, clunky, poorly-written biography. Could have used a good editor, as it is oddly repetitive at points and Côté also has a couple too many bizarre axes to grind. But the story is intrinsically fascinating, and one that should be told. Theodosia Burr Alston, her deeply odd relationship with her father Aaron Burr, and their plot to invade Mexico is one of the most ripping yarns of the early republic. It deserves a better narrator.
October 2, 2016
the author had a tendency to repeat himself and there were a lot of typos..in the beginning he said that it was a challenge to write a biography of Theodosia without half of the book being about her father, but that's what he did. I would even argue that most of it was about Aaron. I forgot I was reading about Theodosia. nevertheless, it was educational and interesting. 3/5 stars
May 21, 2009
I readthis book because I volunteer at Brookgreen Gardens in SC. The plantation where Theodosia lived with her husband, SC governor Joseph Alston, is now part of these gardens. I enjoyed reading about Theodosia and learning of her role in local history.
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December 24, 2016Second time I've read this book. Love her story.
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