Out in Paperback / Alice

Alice -- Alice Roosevelt Longworth, from White House Princess to Washington Power Broker, Penguin '08 paperback, $18, 590 pages, ISBN #0143114271. Index, bibliography, source notes, two groupings of b&w glossy images.

We should all go out so playfully. Alice Roosevelt Longworth's last action before she died at age 96 was to stick out her tongue playfully at those surrounding her bedside. Teddy Roosevelt's daughter, in her tenth decade, was not above entertaining guests at evening galas by lifting a leg and winding it behind her neck. Asked her life philosophy, Alice Roosevelt Longworth opined, "Fill what's empty, empty what's full, and scratches where it itches."

In a paperback edition, author Stacy A. Cordery recounts the long, colorful life of one of the most public people ever to grace Washington salons. She served as hostess for her father when Teddy was president, then married Nicholas Longworth, later to become Speaker of the House, and in her later years, ending in 1980, was sought after for her always colorful opinions.