Product Description
Based on personal papers and original documents
From Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barbara Bush to Martha Washington, here are biographical sketches of all the women who have served as First Lady. Based on personal papers and original documents, and written by leading historians and political scientists, these well-researched essays offer the latest insights about presidential wives. Each entry is a balanced, objective assesment of the historical contributions that each First Lady made to history and to the role, and how she responded to changes in the nation's highest office itself and in the evolving social demands on women.

The subjects of popular attention and controversy
These essays reveal the degree to which First Ladies since Martha Washington have been the subject of popular attention and controversy andexamine how they coped with the demands of fame. Moreover, the essays assess each woman's place in defining and developing the institution of First Lady. They provide a selection of the First Lady's own writings, contemporary articles by family and friends, biographical studies of both her general surveys. An obituary is included for deceased First Ladies. Bibliographies indicuate where personal papers and other manuscript sources can be found. The book also cites the location of primary sources, identifies the best biographies, and offers topics for further research. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Fascinating Portraits
I found this book to be fascinating. It provides a close look at First Ladies, something one often doesn't find as historical books tend to focus on the presidents. Not only do you get a review of their lives as First Ladies, but details on their lives before and after their time in the White House. The only distractions are some editing errors and an often clear subjective positive view of the First Lady in question...thus the book is not entirely written from a neutral historical point of view.

if you like to read fact based stories about movie stars
The book Dorothy Dandrige is a very deep and interesting story about a young woman who stugggles all through movie her career. The book is very well written and is real in depth about her life. I think that the author realy did a good job writting this book, althogh i wish he would have go more indepth about her life before she was a movie star. I recommed this book to anyone who knows what it is like to struggle in life and did what it takes to over come the struggle. ... Read more

Product Description
Introduces the life of Abigail Adams, the wife of President John Adams, who was much more independent than many women of her time, running a farm in her husband's absence and speaking and writing about women's rights. ... Read more

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Inventing a Voice is a comprehensive work on the lives and communication of twentieth-century first ladies. Using a rhetorical framework, the contributors look at the speaking, writing, media coverage and interactions, and visual rhetoric of American first ladies from Ida Saxton McKinley to Laura Bush. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Inventing a Voice
This is an excellent book on the influence and agency of first ladies.Found it in a library and was impressed enough to want a copy of my own.Really good resource. ... Read more

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When Abigail Adams was born, women were expected to be just wives and mothers. But Abigail turned out to be so much more. Read all about the fascinating life of our nation's second First Lady -- a woman who helped shape the early history of the United States. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Abigail Adams
I bought this to use in my 6th grade reading classroom. It is excellent to use to teach reading skills such as main idea, author's purpose, or summarizing. I put it in a center and students have 10 minutes to use the book for an assignment. Since it is at a lower reading level, students have success in building skills to use in higher level texts.

This book is a good addition to the grade 1-6 classroom library. ... Read more

Product Description
This biographical dictionary covers all who have held this esteemed "office," including current First Lady Laura Bush. An in-depth introductory essay traces the history of the first lady, including changes in the conception of what a president's wife should do and be, and how these perceptions have been affected by changes in society overall. The book also offers intriguing vital statistics, such as presidents who had no wives during their presidencies, wives who devoted themselves to purely domestic duties, and wives who died during their husbands' terms in office.

Arranged chronologically by term of presidency, each biographical entry includes a detailed biography with an emphasis on life during the presidency, a chronology, and suggestions for further reading about that first lady. ... Read more

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The second volume in the CREATORS OF THE AMERICAN MIND series, this collection of primary sources demonstrates the power which individuals of talent, will, and opportunity can exert over the American public. Brief enough to serve as a supplementary reader for courses in American History and Women's History, ELEANOR ROOSEVELT: FIRST LADY offers students a collection of documents (with informative introductions) that are grouped logically, making it easy for them to research and write on Eleanor Roosevelt. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Read for History Course
This book is well written, excellently cited, and easy to follow even if you aren't interested in history. It was required for my husband's class but I read it out of curiousity. The real issue lies within the author's need to cite almost entire pages of other articles, books, etc. I really don't feel it made a difference in the overall presence.

Took a while to get it. ... Read more

Product Description
Traces the life of the wife of the first president of the United States, from her childhood in Virginia through her marriage to George Washington to her role in the American Revolution and the early years of the new country's history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

Martha Washington The First Lady
I read Martha Washington by Jean Brown Wagoner.I liked the book a lot.I liked it because Martha said what she felt, and she was always curious.It reminded me of my grandmother, she says what she feels and she is very curious.
The book was mostly about Martha's childhood background and then "jumped" up to where she was older, there was nothing about her teenaged years.Her nickname was Patsy.Patsy had some siblings and many cousins.She got a pony and was the fastest racer that anyone knew.
When she got older one of her "head" butlers, Mammy Tuck thought she was so pretty and that was true.She had met a guy named Mr. Custis, married him, they had four children together and two died along with Mr. Custis.Patsy was so miserable for a while but she kept the farm going.
A while later she met Mr. George Washington, they got married.George had to go to war and Patsy went with him to his camp so she could help men, she did many things, knitted things for them for warmth, she made them food so they could have energy, and she bandaged them up.She lost her two other children in the war.
The war ended and the 13 colonies became the whole United States.They voted to elect George Washington to be President.Patsy and Washington lived happily ever after.

A Good Book on Martha Washington for young readers
Martha Washington was a loving mother and a caring person.She supported her husband, George Washington, and spent the winters with him at ValleyForge helping the soldiers in need.This book presents Martha Washington as a caring and supportive human being.The text is simple and straight forward.The book also includes interesting photographs and side highlights of things that happened during the revolution and that time period.Martha is depicted as real life character, who had to come up with a dinner for guests after the dog ran away with the ham, and as a teenager, once rode her horse up the front steps of a relatives home.The book makes the historical person come alive. ... Read more

Product Description
Mayling Soong came to America at the age of 10. Her father, Charlie Soong, a practicing Christian who had spent time in America, was convinced that China's youth would need progressive, Western educations before returning to their homeland to take their places as leaders in the fields of government, education and engineering. The youngest of three daughters, Mayling followed her older siblings to the United States in search of a Western education, eventually entering Wellesley in 1913 at age 16. Here she made numerous friends including classmate Emma DeLong Mills. This lifelong friendship lasted through Mayling's 1927 marriage to General Chiang Kai-shek and his subsequent rise to power. After the undeclared Sino-Japanese war broke out Emma began a series of letters detailing the political climate in the isolationist United States, providing Mayling with invaluable insight into American attitudes regarding China and her Asian neighbors.

Beginning with the early days of their friendship in America, the volume describes the identity struggle both women faced following their 1917 graduation from Wellesley. Following Emma's visit to China (and somewhat unwilling return to New York), the friendship continued through their correspondence. Emma's role in the newly organized American Bureau of Medical Aid to China is discussed as are Madame Chiang Kai-shek's international fund-raising efforts on behalf of Chinese war relief. While military and political history is not the focus of the work, it is portrayed as it impacts the friendship, which is the subject of this book. ... Read more

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Ladies First, is a Black History calendar featuring African American Female Firsts.Michele Obama, the 1st black first lady, and Dr. Mae Jamison, the 1st black Female Astronaut are just a few who will be featured in the calendar. ... Read more

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A biography of the wife of James Madison, focusing on her role as this country's fourth First Lady. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

An enjoyable and accurate biography of this fascinating lady
I was fortunate to be one of the readers for this book before it was published. I found it to be very good and accurate. Maybe as the review above states every detail of Dolley's complex life is not examined but thenagain this is a book geared for young adults and not meant to be acomprehensive biography.

Kenneth M. Clark
Historian
The JamesMadison Museum ... Read more

Product Description
Written from a Marxist/feminist perspective, this study examines issues surrounding Latin American women, men and the "nation". It looks at development, education and history as well as the speeches of Eva Peron to offer insight into the roles and stereotypes of Argentinian women. ... Read more