The youngest of four daughters, Primrose Ainsworth is used to getting lost in the shuffle. When her parents decide to delay her debut into English society, Prim hatches a plan to go rogue on the night of her sixteenth birthday. She dons a mask and escapes to Vauxhall Gardens for one wild night-- and finds a masked stranger who becomes her partner in mischief and romance. -- adapted from jacket

Are sex scandals simply trivial distractions from serious issues or can they help democratize politics? In 1820, George IV's "royal gambols" with his mistresses endangered the Old Oak of the constitution. When he tried to divorce Queen Caroline for adultery, the resulting scandal enabled activists to overcome state censorship and revitalize reform. Looking at six major British scandals between 1763 and 1820, this book demonstrates that scandals brought people into politics because they evoked familiar stories of sex and betrayal. In vibrant prose woven with vivid character sketches and illustrations, Anna Clark explains that activists used these stories to illustrate constitutional issues concerning the Crown, Parliament, and public opinion. Clark argues that sex scandals grew out of the tension between aristocratic patronage and efficiency in government. For instance, in 1809 Mary Ann Clarke testified that she took bribes to persuade her royal lover, the army's commander-in-chief, to promote officers, buy government offices, and sway votes. Could women overcome scandals to participate in politics? This book also explains the real reason why the glamorous Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire, became so controversial for campaigning in a 1784 election. Sex scandal also discredited Mary Wollstonecraft, one of the first feminists, after her death. Why do some scandals change politics while others fizzle? Edmund Burke tried to stir up scandal about the British empire in India, but his lurid, sexual language led many to think he was insane. A unique blend of the history of sexuality and women's history with political and constitutional history, Scandal opens a revealing new window onto some of the greatest sex scandals of the past. In doing so, it allows us to more fully appreciate the sometimes shocking ways democracy has become what it is today.

For more than four decades, polarized politics in America has been driven by a vicious scandal machine comprised of partisan politicians, extremists on the left and right, and a sensationalist media energized by bringing public officials down. In this sorely needed book Lanny Davis, who has been in the belly of the beast as Special Counsel to the Clinton White House, explains--starting with historical scandals like Alexander Hamilton's extramarital affairs and moving on to the unsurpassable Watergate and beyond--how we reached this sorry state. Davis tells us how this poisonous atmosphere is damaging not just politics but American society as a whole. Davis also offers hope by revealing how a coalition of centrist politicians focusing on core policies that appeal to the frustrated electorate marooned in the middle can pull us back from the brink.

When a man searching for his brother uncovers a secret that could destroy a powerful nobleman’s life, he is offered the man’s daughter in exchange for his silence—but could their marriage of convenience turn into a love more powerful than the secrets keeping them apart? When Gideon Harwood returns to his home in Regency-era England after a trip to India makes him an immensely rich man, he is driven by two unrelenting quests: to raise his station in life for the sake of his young sisters and to find his missing brother. What he uncovers is a damning secret about Lord Stanwell, one of London’s most powerful noblemen. Desperate to avoid a ruinous scandal, Lord Stanwell buys Gideon’s silence by offering the one thing that will guarantee Gideon’s entry into the beau monde’s inner sanctum: his daughter, Julia. Now in her third insufferable social season, beautiful Lady Julia Barham has yet to meet a man deserving of her devotion. Rumors swirl about the towering, immensely wealthy Gideon Harwood, but he is a commoner, beneath her consideration—and yet, as she learns, he is to be her husband. Julia comes to find that Gideon awakens passion in her that she didn’t know she had. But dangerous secrets lie between them. Can they overcome the sins of the past and surrender to a once-in-a-lifetime love?

Sweeping and scandalous, rich and compellingly readable, here is the first biography of Lady Harriet Spencer, ancestor of Diana, Princess of Wales, and devoted sister of Georgiana, Duchess of Devonshire. Harriet Spencer was without a doubt one of the most glamorous, influential, and notorious aristocrats of the Regency period. The second daughter of the prestigious Spencer family, Harriet was born into wealth and privilege. Intelligent, attractive, and exceedingly eager to please, at nineteen years of age she married Frederick, Viscount Duncannon, an aloof, distant relative. Unfortunately, it was not a happy union; the only trait they shared was an unhealthy love of gambling. The marriage produced four children, yet Harriet followed in the footsteps of her older sister and began a series of illicit dalliances, including one with the prominent and charismatic playwright Richard Brinsley Sheridan. Then she met Lord Granville Leveson Gower, handsome and twelve years her junior. Their years-long affair resulted in the birth of two children, and all but consumed Harriet: concealing both pregnancies from her husband required great skill. Had the children been discovered, it surely would have resulted in divorce—which would have been disastrous. Harriet’s life was dramatic, and the history-making events she observed were equally fascinating. She was an eyewitness to the French Revolution; she participated in both the euphoria following Nelson’s victory at Trafalgar and the outpouring of grief at his spectacular funeral; she was privy to the debauchery of the Prince Regent’s wife, Princess Caroline. She quarreled bitterly with Lord Byron when he pursued her young daughter (rumor had it that he was truly interested in Harriet herself). She traveled through war-torn Europe during both the rise and the fall of Napoleon and saw the devastating aftermath of the Battle of Waterloo, where her son was gravely injured. Harriet, along with her sister, was one of the leading female political activists of her day; her charm allowed her to campaign noisily for Charles James Fox—while still retaining influence over supporters of his rival, William Pitt the Younger. Harriet survived Georgiana by fifteen years, living to see the coronation of George IV. Janet Gleeson’s elegant, page-turning style brings Harriet’s story vividly to life. Based on painstaking archival research, Privilege and Scandal gives readers an inside look at the lives of the British aristocracy during the decadent eighteenth century—while at the same time shining the spotlight on one of the era’s most fascinating women.

Examine the cornerstone incidents of modern gay political history! Scandal: Infamous Gay Controversies of the Twentieth Century is a compelling and thorough examination of same-sex controversies that range from accusations of obscenity and libel to espionage, treason, murder, and political dissent, with penalties that included censorship, imprisonment, deportation, and death. In each case, scandal brought the subject of homosexuality into public view in an explosive, sensational manner, stalling (and sometimes reversing) any progress made by the gay and lesbian community in mainstream society. Author Marc E. Vargo details the dignity, courage, and wisdom displayed by the gay men and women under attack in the face of public judgment. A unique blend of biography and gay political history, Scandal: Infamous Gay Controversies of the Twentieth Century recounts seven international incidents that tally the cost of being homosexual in a heterosexual society. In each episode, gay men or lesbians are targeted for legal persecution, subjected to sensationalized media coverage, and publicly condemned. The book examines the short- and long-term consequences of each controversy for those involved and the impact each scandal had on gay and mainstream society. Scandal: Infamous Gay Controversies of the Twentieth Century documents the stories of: Italian filmmaker Pier Paolo Pasolini--his 1975 murder and its subsequent cover-up British diplomats Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean--their defection to Russia at the height of the Cold War Cuban political dissident Reinaldo Arenas--his imprisonment in the 1960s that led to the exposure of the violent homophobia of the Castro regime Irish consul Roger Casement--his execution on treason charges and the later accusation that crucial evidence had been forged South African human rights activist Simon Nkoli--his persecution by his country's all-white, pro-apartheid government British writer Radclyffe Hall--the obscenity trial in the 1920s surrounding her novel, The Well of Loneliness German emperor Kaiser Wilhelm II--the exposé of his relationship with Prince Eulenburg A scholarly work of historical significance, Scandal: Infamous Gay Controversies of the Twentieth Century is written in a straightforward tone that appeals to academics, students, and interested readers, gay or straight. The book stands alone as a record of the role played by public opinion in modern gay history.

Mahatma Gandhi once chided a Christian friend, "All you Christians, missionaries and all, must begin to live more like Jesus Christ." And what Christian among us would disagree with him? After the holy wars and witch-hunts, after persecutions and political machinations, there is a broad sense today that the Church, however well-meaning, is on the wrong side of history. But do we really know our history? In this collaboration with historian Arnold Angenendt, best-selling German author Manfred Lütz dares to show us what contemporary historians actually say about Christianity's track record over the ages. This detailed overview begins with the ancient pagans, passing through Israel, the early Church martyrs, Constantine's Rome, the reign of Charlemagne, the Crusades, the Inquisition, the Reformation, the Borgia popes, the Galileo affair, the conquistadores, the French Revolution, the slave trade, the Holocaust, the sex abuse crisis, and more. The Scandal of the Scandals separates myth from fact, giving us a candid portrait of Christendom with its scars and all. Prepare to be amazed at how little you really knew about Christianity.