First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Laura Bush

by Betty Boyd Caroli

First Ladies tells the story of one of our nation's most curious institutions, watching the role as it has evolved from ceremonial backdrop to its current place as substantive world figure. This expanded and updated edition brings us up to the present, examining the lives and roles of our most
recent First Ladies: Hillary Rodham Clinton and Laura Bush. Reaching back to our first, Martha Washington, Betty Boyd Caroli explores the background, marriage, accomplishments and failures in office of every woman who has served as First Lady--which in some cases included the daughters,
daughters-in-law, and sisters of presidents.
In new and expanded entries, Caroli focuses her keen critical eye on investigate the acts, advocacies, successes, shortcomings, and legacies of Hillary Clinton and Laura Bush. Following all of her trials and triumphs, from unwelcome White House upstart to praiseworthy U.S. Senator, Caroli
captures the essence of Hillary Clinton. She awards Clinton due credit for the influence she added to the position of First Lady, explores with an unflinching eye the suffering Clinton endured, and praises her as stalwart role model to women around the globe. In an entirely new entry, Caroli
introduces Laura Bush as a woman of independent thought and action, a former teacher who earned a master's of library science. She shows that Bush is one who eschews political action but is nonetheless passionately committed to enriching education and boosting literacy through reading programs and
literacy campaigns.
Depicting how each of the remarkable women who have served alongside our presidents have employed the "magic wand" given to them, Caroli reveals not only how each First Lady changed the role, but also how the role changed in response to American culture. In publicizing their accounts and
stories, Caroli grants an insider's view on their lives, and also on the history of American women at large.

Genres: Biography, Nonfiction

512 pages, Paperback

First published September 4, 2003

Reviews

[Nina · Rating 4 out of 5]

i like how the book is like little short stories about each person. I don't know if I'll ever get the presidents (& their wives) straight or in order, but it was a good read. a different take on history to learn about the other half. the differences, the similarities, the interesting facts.

[Ghost of the Library · Rating 3 out of 5]

Now this was a struggle to read!..usually it does not take me this long to finish a book but this one, even with such an interesting topic, just took ages to get my attention long enough for me to finish it.
Mostly i think its due to the way that the author chose to arrange her subjects - rather then chapters for each First Lady - she chose to try and weave one narrative with all of them, the only divisions being years of office and what the author perceives as shifts in the role of First Lady.
although i can understand this division, it does make for an especially hard to read because one moment its one lady and next page an election was won and the subject of the authors attention is her replacement.
These women are all, in their own right, fascinating to read about and that of course helps to keep you on your struggle to reach the end of the book, but frankly the division here should have been better, more explicit and less confusing, the jumps are constant and the book sometimes is all over the place! that combined with a style of writing that sometimes resemble that of a school textbook...hard hard read...
Also, and that is the other reason why i give it 3 stars only - the treatment of the First Lady varies greatly in depth and number of pages, mostly due to the authors personal preference for one or the other.
If she clearly likes one first lady the good stuff so to say is underlined constantly and the bad hardly ever mentioned, if on the other hand she isnt very fond of them, all the bad, the scandals, the problems come up full force and then suddenly there are the good things that happened during that First Lady´s time in the WH.
Truth be told, it does provide interesting info, but lacks style and ability to engage its reader - it did me! so i would say its a good starting point, but no more than that.

- for those interested in the topic, to start researching, i would recommend Margaret Truman´s book, altough it does not include the 2 most recent First Ladies, it is still much more engaging and easy to read than this one.

[Cindy · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a light, and at sometimes, limited overview of all the First ladies. Interesting stuff.

[Kathy · Rating 2 out of 5]

Limited history of the first ladies. Easy read.

[Norma Bush · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book has been on my bookshelf for too long - 1989 - I need to either read it or pass it on.