First Ladies [Unabridged, Audiobook] [Audio Cassette]

Margaret Truman (Author), Barbara Caruso (Narrator)

Book Description

Publication Date: 1996

Unabridged Audiotapes read by Barbara Caruso

Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Recorded Books; Unabridged edition (1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0788706144
• ISBN-13: 978-0788706141
• Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (13 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,689,350 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Charming look at our First Ladies, June 6, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: First Ladies: An Intimate Group Portrait of White House Wives (Paperback)

I LOVED THIS BOOK! Margaret Truman uses her own unique perspective as the daughter of a First Lady to share a charming look at First Ladies throughout our history.

This is a very interesting, easy-to-read book with a variety of antecdotes illustrating the different roles First Ladies have taken on.

13 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good book to read in this '96 election year., November 4, 1996

By A Customer

This review is from: First Ladies: An Intimate Group Portrait of White House Wives (Paperback)

An interesting author in her own right with "first-hand" knowledge of living in the 'Big House'. Tastefully done review of little-before heard of facts and information about America's first ladies. Dolly Madison and Lou Henry Hoover were amazing women. The special qualities, strengths, and human frailities of our country's leading ladies is told in an honest, compassionate, and fascinating manner

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Political Partners, November 7, 2003

By 

James Gallen (St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.A.) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: First Ladies: An Intimate Group Portrait of White House Wives (Paperback)

From her unique perspective and personal contacts with many Twentieth Century First Ladies, Margaret Truman has told their stories in a most interesting way. The brief biographies primarily cover the years each of these Ladies resided in the White House, although their roles in getting there are not overlooked.

The concept of President and First Lady as political partners is central to the book. How and to what extent each First Lady fits into this mold is carefully examined. The influence that each First Lady has had on her husband and his administration brings some surprises.

We know of the public partners, such as Rosalynn Carter and Hillary Clinton, as well as those such as Lady Bird Johnson, who would do anything to advance Lyndon's career, and Eleanor Roosevelt, the eyes and ears of Franklin, but there were others. Who would have thought of Julia Tyler, the young second wife of John Tyler who, in her year in the White House, orchestrated a whirlwind entertainment campaign to achieve the annexation of Texas. Another second wife, Edith Wilson, virtually ran the country during her husband's two year illness after his stroke. There were those, such as Julia Grant and Helen Taft, who wanted the White House worse than their husbands.

Margaret Truman does an excellent job at categorizing the First Ladies topically. Among the tragic topics are those who may have been killed by newsprint, Rachel Jackson and Lou Hoover. Maligned First Ladies, such as Mary Lincoln, and those who lived with domineering husbands, such as Grace Coolidge, get sympathetic reviews. No sympathies are wasted on the undeserving, prominently Florence Harding.

In this book Margaret Truman gives us a splendid introduction to one of the most crucial jobs in our country. I am glad that I read it. You will be too.