First Ladies Vol I

In this previously untold story of a unique role and its evolving definitions, Carl Sferrazza Anthony has produced "an entirely new take on the first ladyship" and "an awesome work of scholarship" (Library Journal).

Opening with a historic trip made in 1789 by Martha Washington from Mount Vernon to New York, then the capital city, First Ladies brings these women alive as never before in a saga of intertwining lives, friends, rivals, and allies. Among the women profiled in this first of a definitive two-volume history: Dolley Madison, Julia Tyler, Mary Lincoln, Julia Grant, Nellie Taft, Edith Wilson, Grace Coolidge, Eleanor Roosevelt, and Mamie Eisenhower. From the Federalist to the Antebellum periods, through the Gilded and Jazz ages, from the Great Depression to the Fabulous Fifties, thirty-four women confronted the towering events of American history. They also helped establish its course. We also glimpse the early years of the living First Ladies, from Jacqueline Kennedy to Barbara Bush.

Carl Sferrazza Anthony is the author ofFirst Ladies, First Ladies, Volume JJ, andAs We Remember Her: Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis in the Words of Her Friends and Family. His work has appeared inGeorge, American Heritage, Smithsonian, Vanity Fair andTown & County among many other publications. He is a popular lec-turer and media commentator on First Ladies. He lives in the Washington, D.C., area.