When Emily Bingham chose to become an author and historian she set one rule for herself: she would never write anything about her own family. The legendary Louisville media moguls had already been in the headlines far too much for stories about their family politics and lawsuits.
But once Emily started to learn more about her great-aunt Henrietta, she couldn’t hold herself back. She spent years sorting through hundreds of artifacts, including handwritten letters, medical records, and a trunk full of colorful belongings. She found remnants of Henrietta’s many love affairs with prominent women and men ranging from world-famous tennis star Helen Hull Jacobs to artists in the Bloomsbury group.
Host Frank Stasio talks to Emily Bingham about her new book “Irrepressible: The Jazz Age Life of Henrietta Bingham” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux/2015) and the lasting legacy of her great-aunt today.
