First Ladies

February 23, 2015
Stories of Martha Washington knitting socks at the front, Elizabeth Monroe saving Lafayette’s wife from the guillotine, and Grace Coolidge’s soap-throwing raccoon offer an unusual perspective on the women who helped strengthen the country through social and diplomatic networking, personal projects, and other forms of support. Taken from a 2013–14 C-Span series, this chronological account engages pairs of historians—including the exceptional Carl Sferrazza Anthony—in discussing the personality, marriage, passions, and legacy of each first lady, resulting in a fluid, conversational style. These changing voices add depth and expertise, though they also have the occasional habit of refuting elements of previous chapters, especially in instances regarding symbolic “firsts,” a term often shown to be subjective. While the public only paid attention to cyclical White House restoration projects and glamorous social events, the first ladies’ sisterhood frequently included mourning deceased children and mentoring or otherwise supporting one another. This accessible account replaces stodgy depictions of stuffy, untouchable first ladies with the relatable, often tragic stories of the determined women who made it up as they went along, to the benefit of their husbands and country.

February 1, 2015
Selections from the popular yearlong C-SPAN series exploring the lives of the first ladies, each offering conversational, somewhat truncated viewpoints by various historians.C-SPAN history consultant and author Richard Norton Smith and moderator and senior manager Swain paired up to create the TV endeavor; this book is the severely edited version. Each first lady appears in an official picture circa her husband's presidential era, and two historians take turns delineating her biography, not necessarily chronologically. A final word from each briefly discusses the lady's "legacy." Due to the need to preserve verbatim the historians' remarks, the editing makes for clunky, disjointed reading, with the effect-more or less intentional-of a conversation rather than a history text. However, each historian offers a depth to his or her subject that helps flesh out these fairly mythical figures who inhabited the White House and give a sense of where she came from and what was truly important to her. These ladies were thrust into a national role, and how they used it to grow is fascinating: Abigail Adams was a prolific and significant writer of letters that provide enormous insight into the Revolution and early national period; savvy entertainer Dolley Madison had to "pinch-hit" as hostess in widower Thomas Jefferson's administration, laying the important connections she would need for her husband's subsequent presidency; Sarah Polk was unusually well-educated in her mid-1800s era and served as her husband's "genuine political partner" (the couple was also the first to be photographed); Lucretia Garfield was the first to keep a diary of her White House days and not to destroy her papers. Several were second wives, most had children, and many lost children, while all were "helpmates" in some fashion. Among the contributing historians are Edith Gelles, Gail Sheehy and David Maraniss. Though presented in a stilted fashion, all the portraits are rendered with sympathy and detail.

COPYRIGHT(2015) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.

March 15, 2015
Extrapolated from C-SPAN's special yearlong history series, First Ladies: Influence & Image, these minibiographies each feature an official portrait and contributions from two noted historians. Because more than 50 historians were featured throughout the series, the tone and the perspective of individual entries and excerpts vary from First Lady to First Lady. Though the book contains a wealth of interesting facts and anecdotes, readers searching for more comprehensive coverage of each subject will be disappointed. Casual browsers who can move beyond the distracting, clunky transcript-like format will appreciate this attempt to highlight the unique contributions of presidential wives to their husband's life, politics, and administration. This collective biography provides a digestible introduction to the 45 women who labored behind and beside the American presidents.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2015, American Library Association.)