A well-behaved woman

Alva Smith her southern family destitute after the Civil War married into one of America's Gilded Age dynasties: the newly wealthy but socially shunned Vanderbilts. Ignored by New York's old-money circles but determined to win respect she designed and built mansions hosted grand balls and arranged for her daughter to marry a duke. Alva also defied convention by asserting power within her marriage and becoming a leader in the womaen's suffrage movement proving that history is made by those who know the rules - and how to break them.--back cover