Diamonds and Deadlines

January 31, 2022
Historian Prioleau (Swoon) chronicles in this immersive biography the rags-to-riches story of publisher Miriam (Follin) Leslie (1836–1914). Raised by her debt-riddled father in New Orleans and New York City, Miriam was “illegitimate and probably biracial,” according to Prioleau, who suggests that her birth mother was “most likely” one of the women enslaved by her father. “A streetwise survivor armed with brains, cunning, nerve, and Napoleonic drive and hubris,” Miriam was married to anthropologist Ephraim G. Squier when she began an affair with Frank Leslie, owner of Frank Leslie’s Illustrated Newspaper and other publications. They married in 1873, and when Leslie died in 1880, he left his entire estate, including the faltering publishing company, to her. Prioleau recounts Miriam’s editorial breakthroughs, such as the publication of the first “pictorial record” of President Garfield’s assassination in 1881, as well as her colorful personal life, including her disastrous marriage to Oscar Wilde’s older brother, Willie, and her affair with the poet Joaquin Miller. In her will, Miriam left the bulk of her fortune to suffragist Carrie Chapman Catt, who used the money to help secure passage of the 19th Amendment. Prioleau skillfully untangles the mysteries of Miriam’s early life and vividly evokes the era. This entertaining biography restores a remarkable woman to her rightful place in American history.