A new biography of Nancy Astor, American socialite and social crusader who blazed a trail through British society amid two World Wars

In 1919, Nancy Astor became the first female Member of Parliament elected to the House of Commons--she was not what had been expected. Far from a virago who had suffered for the cause of female suffrage, Lady Astor was already near the center of the ruling society that had for so long resisted the political upheavals of the early twentieth century, having married into one of the richest families in the world. She wasn't even British, but the daughter...