Heart and Soul of the Nation - Hardcover

Heckler-Feltz, Cheryl

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0385485190 ISBN 13: 9780385485197

Publisher: Doubleday, 1997

Synopsis

An illustrated survey explores the religious convictions of the nation's forty-five first ladies, showing how their spirituality helped them survive the public scrutiny of their position and led them to champion charitable causes.

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Reviews

Heckler-Feltz has written an engaging account of the personal and spiritual natures of America's First Ladies. In her introduction, she suggests that many First Ladies were ordinary women who used their extraordinary position to become the nation's conscience. Feeling that Jesus' Beatitudes perfectly embody the collective actions of the First Ladies, Heckler-Feltz uses the Beatitudes as the framework for her book. For example, in "Blessed are the Poor in Spirit, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven," the author discusses how Betty Ford overcame her dependence on alcohol and founded the Betty Ford Center. In "Blessed are Those Who Hunger and Thirst for Righteousness, for They Will Be Filled," Heckler-Feltz examines the First Ladies as social reformers: Hillary Clinton's advocacy of children; Barbara Bush's push for literacy; and Rosalyn Carter's battles on the behalf of the mentally ill and the mentally retarded. Each chapter ends with biblical examples of the Beatitude under consideration as well as with quotations from the First Ladies. This is a fascinating and appealing book, filled with telling anecdotes, poignant stories and accounts of courageous actions.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

A romanticized, often frivolous view of a potentially rewarding subject. By analyzing First Ladies as mourners, peacemakers, and persecuted matriarchs, Heckler-Feltz, a syndicated religion reporter, breaks new ground, and her anecdotes are well chosen and well told. However, a veneer of romanticization is obvious from the outset, when the author claims that in American history ``no group of individuals offers a better example of Christ's Beatitudes than our First Ladies'' (the Beatitudes become the lens through which she focuses on such subjects as Jacqueline Kennedy, who offered an exemplary demonstration of how to mourn in a dignified way). But this is a startling overstatement, if not a blatant distortion of the facts--as some of the author's own vignettes show, several First Ladies (Ida McKinley and Mary Todd Lincoln come to mind) have deservedly gone down in history as selfish, sniveling women. The author's determination to idealize the First Ladies forces her to ignore some of the larger, more provocative questions lurking beneath the surface, such as how religion might have simultaneously played a role in bolstering these women's ``ladylike'' restrictions and in enlarging their sphere of influence. For example, several First Ladies in the 19th century became deeply (and visibly) involved in missionary work after their husbands left office. Other completely untapped questions are how the role of the First Lady has changed over time, and how the public's expectations of the First Lady's spiritual life have been transformed by pluralism and secularization. (There is considerable attention paid to Jackie Kennedy as a widow but virtually none to her role as the only Roman Catholic First Lady.) Heckler-Feltz seems uninformed about denominational differences, as when she claims that Presbyterians and Moravians were ``religious cousins.'' Some of the book's tales are memorable, but the author's bias prevents this work from reaching its potential. (b&w photos, not seen) -- Copyright ©1997, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Journalist Heckler-Feltz treats readers to tidbits of faith gathered from biographies of the 45 women who have been First Lady of the United States, as well as from their husbands' memoirs and other materials. The book is filled with fun if inane facts, e.g., that Lucretia Garfield believed that suffrage was atheistic, or that Hillary Clinton "chatted" with Eleanor Roosevelt, or that many First Ladies taught Sunday school (e.g., Betty Ford, Rosalyn Carter). Heckler-Feltz places the ladies in various categories as peace makers, merciful, persecuted, and so forth. Mary Lincoln is poor in spirit because of her madness; Lady Bird Johnson is meek because she endured a sermon critical of her husband. The author stretches her point appallingly when she compares the persecution of the First Ladies (e.g., Hillary Clinton's legal ordeals) to the Holocaust. Similar to Tim LaHaye's Faith of Our Founding Fathers (Master Bks., 1996) and John McCollister's So Help Me God (LJ 3/92), this work is neither a reference tool nor a serious treatment of faith, though it is entertaining. For comprehensive collections only.?Mark Y. Herring, Oklahoma Baptist Univ. Libs., Shawnee
Copyright 1997 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: Doubleday
• Publication date: 1997
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0385485190
• ISBN 13: 9780385485197
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 256