First Ladies - Hardcover

Truman, Margaret

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0679434399 ISBN 13: 9780679434399

Publisher: Random House, 1995

Synopsis

This well-informed, intimate look at 29 women whose lives were intertwined with those who lead and have led this country presents forthright interviews with Lady Bird Johnson, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Reagan, and others, while warmly recalling Pat Nixon and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Ms. Truman's legendary frankness is present but so, too, is a generosity of spirit. Photos throughout.

About this title

About the Author

Margaret Truman won faithful readers with her works of biography and fiction, particularly her ongoing series of Capital Crimes mysteries. Her novels let us into the corridors of power and privilege, and poverty and pageantry, in the nation’s capital. She was the author of many nonfiction books, including The President’s House, in which she shares some of the secrets and history of the White House where she once resided. Truman lived in Manhattan and passed away in 2008.

From Booklist

Readers who like chatty, anecdotal history will relish this entertaining, thoughtful survey of 29 of the women who have held the "world's second toughest job." Former White House resident Truman--author of biographies of both her parents and a dozen Capitol crime mysteries--is well positioned to cover this subject, and her long marriage to former New York Times editor Clifton Daniel adds depth to her perspective on the role of the media in complicating the efforts of presidential wives to fulfill their position's multiple roles. Truman blends historical research with the fruits of her family's direct contacts with every First Lady since Grace Coolidge; she acknowledges special assistance from Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, and Barbara Bush. Truman offers some interesting opinions: she defends the much-criticized Mary Todd Lincoln, viewing Florence Harding as a better candidate for "worst First Lady" ; Lady Bird Johnson, by contrast, was the "almost perfect First Lady." Truman is hardly a feminist, but her analysis does, on occasion, recognize issues feminist scholars have raised about the singularly anomalous position of the nation's presidential spouses. Lively popular history; expect requests. Mary Carroll

About this edition

• Publisher: Random House
• Publication date: 1995
• ISBN 10: 0679434399
• ISBN 13: 9780679434399
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 368