Book description
Known as the Great Compromiser, Henry Clay earned his title by
addressing sectional tensions over slavery and forestalling civil war
in the United States. Today he is still regarded as one of the most
important political figures in American history. As Speaker of the
House of Representatives and secretary of state, Clay left an
indelible mark on American politics at a time when the country's
solidarity was threatened by inner turmoil, and scholars have
thoroughly chronicled his political achievements. However, little
attention has been paid to his extensive family legacy.
In The Family Legacy of Henry Clay: In the Shadow of a Kentucky
Patriarch, Lindsey Apple explores the personal history of this famed
American and examines the impact of his legacy on future generations
of Clays. Apple's study delves into the family's struggles with
physical and emotional problems such as depression and alcoholism. The
book also analyzes the role of financial stress as the family fought
to reestablish its fortune in the years after the Civil War. Apple's
extensively researched volume illuminates a little-discussed aspect of
Clay's life and heritage, and highlights the achievements and
contributions of one of Kentucky's most distinguished families.
""Readers will discover that this great politician faced
not only major public disappointments but also demons of his own
making. The successes and ruined lives of so many members of Clay's
immediate family did not end with his death. We need more family
histories of this extraordinary caliber." -- Bertram Wyatt-Brown,
author Southern Honor: Ethics and Behavior in the Old South" --
Lindsey Apple, retired professor and chair of history at
Georgetown College, is the editor of Scott County: A History and
author of Cautious Rebel: A Biography of Susan Clay Sawitzky. He lives
in Georgetown, KY.
