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A review by colin_cox
The Queen: The Forgotten Life Behind an American Myth by Josh Levin
4.0
Linda Taylor is an easy figure to vilify. For large swaths of her adult life, Taylor was a pathological criminal. Her criminal reputation reached its zenith in 1976 when presidential candidate Ronald Reagan made this "woman from Chicago with 80 names," a significant piece of his stump speeches. While Reagan both inflated and mischaracterized Taylor's crimes, once he claimed "There's a woman in Chicago [who] received welfare benefit[s] under 127 different names," these quasi-truths about Taylor complement Levin's overarching thesis (278). Taylor was and remains an enigma, more character than person, and the sort of person, in fact, that craven political figures like Reagan used because "the only thing that mattered to him was that she was a specific type of criminal, one whos criminality was politically useful" (285).
Levin does not, however, exonerate Taylor. He dispassionately describes her many scandals, violations, and arrests. But he goes to great lengths to contextualize her behavior (and reactions to her behavior) on racial grounds. Her mixed-race heritage, quite literally a crime in many southern states in the early 20th century, encouraged her to see the truth as dangerous; therefore, Taylor existed in that nebulous space between reality and fantasy. While Taylor rarely, if ever, embraced the truth about who she was, neither did she embody the fantasy she and political figures like Reagan attempted to construct. She sat in that lonely, ambiguous space, ever defined by what she was not.
Levin does not, however, exonerate Taylor. He dispassionately describes her many scandals, violations, and arrests. But he goes to great lengths to contextualize her behavior (and reactions to her behavior) on racial grounds. Her mixed-race heritage, quite literally a crime in many southern states in the early 20th century, encouraged her to see the truth as dangerous; therefore, Taylor existed in that nebulous space between reality and fantasy. While Taylor rarely, if ever, embraced the truth about who she was, neither did she embody the fantasy she and political figures like Reagan attempted to construct. She sat in that lonely, ambiguous space, ever defined by what she was not.