Want to create an interactive transcript for this episode?
Podcast: New Books in Women's History
Episode: Vanessa Wilkie, "A Woman of Influence: The Spectacular Rise of Alice Spencer in Tudor England" (Atria Books, 2023)
Description: For readers of historical biography, meet Alice Spencer Stanley Egerton—the 16th century English noblewoman who was determined to bring her family into the upper strata of society. Born the daughter of an upstart sheep farmer in 1560, Alice’s marriages and maneuvers into and through aristocratic circles as well as the judicial system point to one clear example of a woman relying on her own influence to navigate a society that was not necessarily receptive women exercising power. Although Spencer faced lawsuits, tragedy, scandal, libel, and perhaps even witchcraft, she would never be derailed from doing everything to elevate her f...