American Queenmaker How Missy Meloney Brought Women Into Politics

The first biography of Missy Meloney, the most important woman you've never heard of

Marie "Missy" Mattingly Meloney was born in 1878, in an America where women couldn't vote. Yet she recognized the power that women held as consumers and family decision-makers, and persuaded male publishers and politicians to take them seriously. Over the course of her life as a journalist, magazine editor-in-chief, and political advisor, Missy created the idea of the female demographic. After the passage of the 19th Amendment she encouraged candidates to engage with and appeal to women directly. In this role, she advised Presidents from Hoover and Coolidge to FDR. By the time she died in 1943, women were a recognized political force to be reckoned with.

In this groundbreaking biography, historian Julie Des Jardins restores Missy to her rightful place in American history.

Julie Des Jardins holds a PhD in American Women's and Gender History from Brown and until 2014 was a full professor of history at Baruch College, CUNY. She has taught at Harvard, Macalester, Tufts, and currently sits on the Advisory Council of National Women's History Museum in Washington, D.C. The author of four critically-acclaimed books (including a volume on Lillian Gilbreth for Westview's Lives of American Women series, edited by Carol Berkin), she regularly writes for academic journalsand has written for the Smithsonian Magazine and Salon, and lectures widely on gender in America. Des Jardins lives in San Carlos, California.