Presiding in the White House longer than any other first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt championed the downtrodden as she traveled the globe, yet she was a maze of contradictions--an idealist who carried on a moneymaking career that depended on her position and a conventional-appearing wife and mother who found emotional succor from intense relationships outside her family. This book cuts through those contradictions to reveal how Eleanor operated, both in and out of public view, to advance the causes in which she believed by participating in the political process. Although previous books have...
Presiding in the White House longer than any other first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt championed the downtrodden as she traveled the globe, yet she was a m...
In this fascinating study, Lewis L. Gould has brought a shadowy first lady into the light and restored her to a rightful place as a patron of music. Helen Herron Taft came to the White House intent on establishing Washington, D.C., as the nation's cultural capital. A stroke in May 1909 made her a semi-invalid, impaired her speech, and disrupted her agenda. Historians have written her off as a shrewish figure who pushed her portly husband into the presidency. Gould challenges this outdated narrative with new information on Helen Taft's campaign to bring the best of classical music to the...
In this fascinating study, Lewis L. Gould has brought a shadowy first lady into the light and restored her to a rightful place as a patron of music. H...
The wives of Woodrow Wilson were strikingly different from each other. Ellen Axson Wilson, quiet and intellectual, died after just a year and a half in the White House and is thought to have had little impact on history. Edith Bolling Wilson was flamboyant and confident but left a legacy of controversy. Yet, as Kristie Miller shows, each played a significant role in the White House. Miller presents a rich and complex portrait of Wilson's wives, one that compels us to reconsider our understanding of both women. Ellen comes into clear focus as an artist and intellectual who dedicated her...
The wives of Woodrow Wilson were strikingly different from each other. Ellen Axson Wilson, quiet and intellectual, died after just a year and a half i...
Thrust into the world of Washington politics and power, Bess Wallace Truman steadfastly remained what she wanted to be: a representative of middle-American values and virtues. She ran the White House as she ran her own home, attending personally to details that many first ladies had left to the staff. She answered mail in longhand, took charge of bookkeeping, and carefully watched expenses. President Harry S. Truman fondly called his wife "The Boss." The product of a small town aristocracy with nineteenth-century manners and morals, Bess Truman was repelled by personal publicity, even...
Thrust into the world of Washington politics and power, Bess Wallace Truman steadfastly remained what she wanted to be: a representative of middle-Ame...
Pat Nixon may be the least understood of modern first ladies. Although public opinion polls rated her one of our nation's most admired women, few Americans really knew much about her. This first scholarly biography of Thelma Ryan Nixon--the first biography in thirty-five years and the first to access her papers--goes further than any other book to show readers the real Pat Nixon. Lester David's The Lonely Lady of San Clemente painted her as a tragic figure while Julie Nixon Eisenhower's adoring Pat Nixon: The Untold Story fell short of offering an objective portrait. Now Mary Brennan...
Pat Nixon may be the least understood of modern first ladies. Although public opinion polls rated her one of our nation's most admired women, few Amer...
The wives of Woodrow Wilson were strikingly different from each other. Ellen Axson Wilson, quiet and intellectual, died after just a year and a half in the White House and is thought to have had little impact on history. Edith Bolling Wilson was flamboyant and confident but left a legacy of controversy. Yet, as Kristie Miller shows, each played a significant role in the White House. Miller presents a rich and complex portrait of Wilson's wives, one that compels us to reconsider our understanding of both women. Ellen comes into clear focus as an artist and intellectual who dedicated her...
The wives of Woodrow Wilson were strikingly different from each other. Ellen Axson Wilson, quiet and intellectual, died after just a year and a half i...
Although overshadowed by her higher-profile successors, Lou Henry Hoover was in many ways the nation's first truly modern First Lady. She was the first to speak on the radio and give regular interviews. She was the first to be a public political persona in her own right. And, although the White House press corps saw in her "old-fashioned wifehood," she very much foreshadowed the "new woman" of the era. Nancy Beck Young presents the first thoroughly documented study of Lou Henry Hoover's White House years, 1929-1933, showing that, far from a passive prelude to Eleanor Roosevelt, she was a...
Although overshadowed by her higher-profile successors, Lou Henry Hoover was in many ways the nation's first truly modern First Lady. She was the firs...
In her clear, engaging study, Perry argues that Jackie exerted an impressive, enduring cultural influence on Washington and the White House, an influence unsurpassed by other first ladies.
In her clear, engaging study, Perry argues that Jackie exerted an impressive, enduring cultural influence on Washington and the White House, an influe...
Few first ladies have enjoyed a better reputation among historians than Edith Kermit Roosevelt. Her admirers say that she never slipped in carrying out her duties as hostess, mother, and adviser to her husband. Lewis Gould's path-breaking study, however, presents a more complex and interesting figure than the somewhat secularized saint Edith Roosevelt has become.
Few first ladies have enjoyed a better reputation among historians than Edith Kermit Roosevelt. Her admirers say that she never slipped in carrying ou...