The First Lady of Fleet Street: The Life of Rachel Beer: Crusading Heiress and Newspaper PioneerA panoramic portrait of a remarkable woman and the tumultuous Victorian era on which she made her mark,The First Lady of Fleet Streetchronicles the meteoric rise and tragic fall of Rachel Beer—indomitable heiress, social crusader, and newspaper pioneer. Rich with period detail and drawing on a wealth of original material, this sweeping work of never-before-told history recounts the ascent of two of London’s most prominent Jewish immigrant families—the Sassoons and the Beers. Born into one, Rachel married into the other, wedding newspaper proprietor Frederick Beer, the sole heir to his father’s enormous fortune. Though she and Frederick became leading London socialites, Rachel was ambitious and unwilling to settle for a comfortable, idle life. She used her husband’s platform to assume the editorship of not one but two venerable Sunday newspapers—theSunday TimesandThe Observer—a stunning accomplishment at a time when women were denied the vote and allowed little access to education. Ninety years would pass before another woman would take the helm of a major newspaper on either side of the Atlantic. It was an exhilarating period in London’s history—fortunes were being amassed (and squandered), masterpieces were being created, and new technologies were revolutionizing daily life. But with scant access to politicians and press circles, most female journalists were restricted to issuing fashion reports and dispatches from the social whirl. Rachel refused to limit herself or her beliefs. In the pages of her newspapers, she opined on Whitehall politics and British imperial adventures abroad, campaigned for women’s causes, and doggedly pursued the evidence that would exonerate an unjustly accused French military officer in the so-called Dreyfus Affair. But even as she successfully blazed a trail in her professional life, Rachel’s personal travails were the stuff of tragedy. Her marriage to Frederick drove an insurmountable wedge between herself and her conservative family. Ultimately, she was forced to retreat from public life entirely, living out the rest of her days in stately isolation. While the men of her era may have grabbed more headlines, Rachel Beer remains a pivotal figure in the annals of journalism—and the long march toward equality between the sexes. WithThe First Lady of Fleet Street,she finally gets the front page treatment she deserves. |
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Alfred Archive Arnold Bennett Arthur Ashley Park August Baghdad Baghdadi Jews Beer zur Kanne Beer's Bombay bordereau Britain British brother Cambridge century CHAPTER Chesterfield Gardens court Jew Daily daughter David Sassoon death December Dreyfus Affair Dreyfus's editor Edward Dicey Émile Zola England English Esterhazy Esterhazy's Faber Farha father Fleet Street Flora France Frankfurt French friends German ghetto Gladstone Hamo Hamo Thornycroft Hebrew Henry Highgate Cemetery History husband India January Jewish Chronicle John Joseph Journal journalists Julius Beer Julius's July June lady later letter live Löb London March marriage married mother newspaper nurse Observer October opium Oxford painting paper Paris political pounds Prince published Rachel Beer reported Rothschild Rowland Strong Royal S. D. Sassoon Sassoon family September Siegfried Sassoon Society Sunday Telegraph Theresa Thornycroft Thyrza tion took Tunbridge University Press Victorian wife woman women wrote York