Vinnie Ream - An American Sculptor

[Tom Bogar]

I tend to agree with Gene, that this is a good but not great treatment of this fascinating young woman. It does have flaws (a bit too much useless detail, e.g., the list of Vinnie's father's expenditures at one point). She certainly knew how to use her feminine wiles to lobby aggressively at all levels of government. Some real eye-opening (if not eye-popping) moments are herein, of which my favorite is having two of her lovers, the absolutely besotted Albert Pike and "Uncle Billy" Sherman as the best man and father of the bride for her wedding to a man who thought he could tame her. To a certain extent he succeeded, though, and she sadly shelved her career. I wouldn't say this was a page-turner, but I learned a great deal about how Washington worked back then (as much to learn about Congress as about Vinnie). As another thread on this board discusses (really: take the time to go back and search all the threads with her name), Vinnie did tend to stretch the truth a little, but I have no doubt, for instance, that Mary Lincoln had no idea that Vinnie was in her husband's office as he worked, making sketches for her model of his statue. But, bottom line: if you can get a good used copy, snag it and enjoy an intriguing life story.