First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies

by Kate Andersen Brower

2016

Publication

HarperCollins, 2016.

Library's rating

Status

Available

Description

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of the groundbreaking backstairs look at the White House, The Residence, comes an intimate, news-making look at the true modern power brokers at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: the First Ladies, from Jackie Kennedy to Michelle Obama. One of the most underestimated - and challenging - positions in the world, the First Lady of the United States must be many things: an inspiring leader with a forward-thinking agenda of her own; a savvy politician, skilled at navigating the treacherous rapids of Washington; a wife and mother operating under constant scrutiny; and an able CEO responsible for the smooth operation of countless services and special events at the White House. Now, as she did in her smash #1 bestseller The Residence, former White House correspondent Kate Andersen Brower draws on a wide array of untapped, candid sources - from residence staff and social secretaries to friends and political advisers - to tell the stories of the ten remarkable women who have defined that role since 1960. Brower offers new insights into this privileged group of remarkable women, including Jacqueline Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Patricia Nixon, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama. The stories she shares range from the heartwarming to the shocking and tragic, exploring everything from the first ladies' political crusades to their rivalries with Washington figures; from their friendships with other first ladies to their public and private relationships with their husbands. She also offers a detailed and insightful new portrait of one of the most-watched first ladies of all time, Hillary Clinton, asking what her tumultuous years in the White House may tell us about her own historic presidential run...and what life could be like with the nation's first First Husband. Candid and illuminating, this first group biography of the modern first ladies provides a revealing look at life upstairs and downstairs at the world's most powerful address.… (more)

User reviews

LibraryThing member bookwormteri

A really fascinating look at what it means to be the first lady to the president of the United States. The relationships between these women is very interesting. It was a sneak peek into who they really were (or are) as people. I could not put this down. It is very well written.

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LibraryThing member MarthaJeanne

I'm not finishing this. I'm well over the '50 pages', and I'm fed up with the bad grammar and the lack of any perceptible organization of the matter. Plus, I find I'm just not really interested. Maybe if the author had concentrated on one woman at a time, but it feels like random gossip columns.

LibraryThing member cubsfan3410

I was interested from the start and stayed engrossed the whole book. This was a surprisingly quick read.

LibraryThing member ecmross

This book provided such a great look into the lives of some of the modern first ladies. I found it extremely entertaining and informative. I do have to point out that since there's little access to Michelle Obama that some of the anonymous informants could be a little biased perhaps since most of

the information gathered on her seems like it was more negative than anything else. Overall I enjoyed the read.

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LibraryThing member susandennis

This book covers the 10 first ladies before Trump. As it happens, I am old enough to remember each in her time in the White House. I learned lots of interesting stuff about each of them.

LibraryThing member sunshine608

Great read and so interesting. I did have a hard time because it was linear and followed topics ( motherhood ect it was linear within each topic though) so it felt like a lot of back and forth and there so much historical information, but I found the stories and the women fascinating.

LibraryThing member smorton11

I poured through First Women with an obsessive attitude. I devoured all of the information about the first ladies from Jackie to Michelle (I read the hardcover and therefore did not read the afterward about Melania). First Ladies includes glimpses into the lives of the following ladies: Jackie

Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Pat Nixon, Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Rosalind Carter, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush & Michelle Obama with a few illusions to Mamie Eisenhower and the first truly modern first lady, Eleanor Roosevelt.

I’ve always had my personal favorites, Jackie, Nancy, Hillary & Michelle, and the others I really didn’t know much about. My favorite line emphasizes the regal aspect of the Kennedys, when Grace Kelly’s daughter, and real life princess, Princess Caroline, refers to Caroline Kennedy as Princess Caroline Kennedy. I’ve always been fascinated by Jackie and so learning more about her thrilled me. Learning more about Rosalind, Pat & Barbara, who just recently pasted away, was also enlightening and enlivening.

Each chapter is divided by topic, not by first lady as I anticipated. This was mostly helpful, though occasionally confusing. Brower has a penchant to use lots of pronouns, which means I would often lose track of which first lady she would be referring to. Additionally, her primary source in regards to Michelle Obama was clearly her hair dresser and every time Michelle enters the narrative, Brower feels the need to emphasize, repeatedly, that Michelle did not want to be first lady. Over and over again – we get it, she didn’t want to be there. It seemed like the life of Michelle was shunted aside in favor of Lady Bird and Nancy particularly.

Because of this, what I feel was an, extreme oversight of the value of the first lady beloved by the country, I did not have the most favorable opinion of the book, and yet, I couldn’t stop reading.

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