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Madeline McDowell Breckinridge and the Battle for a New South by Melba Porter Hay (review)

82 OHIO VALLEY HISTORY Madeline McDowell Breckinridge was a member of one of Kentucky’s most distinguished families. Descended from Henry Clay on her mother’s side and from judges and doctors on her father’s side, in the first two decades of her relatively brief life, Madge, as she was known, gave every indication that hers would be a life of privilege and parties. Yet in a carefully researched biography, Melba Porter Hay argues that Breckinridge’s ongoing struggle with tuberculosis led this young woman into a life of reform and social activism. Although she never gave up her active and expensive lifestyle, Breckinridge worked at a frenetic pace during the Progressive era on numerous reform causes. Most active in her home state, Breckinridge’s accomplishments as a progressive reformer are little known beyond Kentucky’s borders. In addition, her work is easily overshadowed by her famous sister-in-law and friend, Sophonisba Breckinridge. Hay’s study brings Madge Breckinridge out of the shadows and accords her the recognition she deserves. Hay, former division manager of the Kentucky Historical Society and co-editor of The Papers of Henry Clay, first studied Breckinridge as the subject of her dissertation over thirty years ago. Her thorough research is evidenced in the book’s extensive notes, bibliography, and photos as well as Breckinridge’s selected writings and speeches. Hay also relied on new sources from the Henry Clay Memorial Foundation papers uncovered at Melba Porter Hay. Madeline McDowell Breckinridge and the Battle for a New South. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 2009. 368 pp. ISBN: 9780813125329 (cloth), $40.00. Madeline McDowell Breckinridge and the Battle for a New South