The Perfect Wife: The Life and Choices of Laura Bush - Hardcover

Ann Gerhart

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0786264772 ISBN 13: 9780786264773

Publisher: Thorndike Press, 2004

Synopsis

A New York Times Bestseller
A Selection of the Doubleday Book Club, the Literary Guild, and the Book of the Month Club

Ann Gerhart has covered Laura Bush - arguably the most popular figure in the Bush White House - for The Washington Post since 2001. Through this unparalleled access, Gerhart now brings us the complete story of a complex and fascinating woman, from her Texas upbringing to her whirlwind courtship by George W. Bush to her role as a mother, wife, and public figure.

About this title

Review

The title of this carefully measured biography of First Lady Laura Bush can have an ironic double-meaning depending on which side of the political/sexual liberation divide one finds themselves. Compared with the driven Nancy Reagan and Hillary Clinton (predecessors whose level of public acceptance often seemed to vary in inverse proportion to their ambitions for themselves and their husbands), the former Laura Welch of Midland, Texas can often seem like a cipher. But the causes (education and literacy) she has quietly espoused from her White House pulpit have indeed been the driving passions of her life since her days as an SMU coed. Given the hyper-polarizing presidency of George W. Bush, veteran Washington Post Style writer Ann Gerhard is careful to walk a fine line between fact and wildly divergent public opinion--a task made even more challenging by her subject's natural reticence and aversion to overweening self-analysis. But neither does Gerhard shy away from personal tragedies (the death of a high school classmate caused by Laura running a stop sign) or her husband's snowballing controversies (alcohol, Harken, Air National Guard duty gap, economic and social policies, 9/11, Iraq) and the public foibles of their twin daughters. Gerhard portrays Laura as a woman of typical West Texas manners and reserve, yet one steely enough not to sacrifice her longstanding social concerns or sense of self amidst a modern political dynasty. In that sense she may well be her husband's better half. --Jerry McCulley

About the Author

Ann Gerhart, a veteran reporter for the Style section of The Washington Post, covered the 2004 Presidential campaign. She has interviewed Laura Bush extensively since 2001 and has appeared on CNN, MSNBC, CBS News, C-Span, Fox News, A&E, and VH1 to discuss the First Lady. She lives with her husband and three children in Bethesda, Maryland.

About this edition

• Publisher: Thorndike Press
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 0786264772
• ISBN 13: 9780786264773
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 349