An American Daughter - by Wendy Wasserstein (Paperback)

About the Book

From the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning "The Heidi Chronicles" and "The Sisters Rosensweig" comes a riveting look at a woman's struggles with politics and fame. 8 photos.

Book Synopsis

Lyssa Dent Hughes is the privileged, well-educated daughter of a Republican senator. She is the wife of a professor and the owner of a lovely house in Georgetown. She is also the president's nominee for Surgeon General. When the media discovers that once, long ago, she failed to respond for jury duty, this relatively minor misstep is portrayed as a serious moral lapse. A good friend uses the incident to make a point, scarcely thinking of the implications, and Lyssa must suffer the consequences. From that moment on, Lyssa Dent Hughes sits helplessly as the press investigates her family and friends, shattering her privacy, her career, and her world. Wendy Wasserstein's trenchant humor and sizzling dialogue combine with biting political commentary to produce a masterful, and topical, drama.

Review Quotes

This brave and ambitious play portrays with withering accuracy the damage wrought by the tart-tongued TV culture of Washington.-Walter Shapiro, USA Today

A daring new play-beautiful, brilliant, angry and funny. Wendy Wasserstein has not merely returned to the broader political concerns of her cherished Pulitzer Prize-winning The Heidi Chronicles, she has returned with a vengeance-electrifyingly reconnected. . . . Enormously moving.-Newsday
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