First Ladies

Rating:
Summary: A concise cultural history of our First Ladies
Review: Betty Boyd Caroli has written a concise cultural history of our First Ladies. But her observations on how each era shaped the next was only mildly insigthful if not predictable hindsight.

I was disappointed there was less information about our early first ladies than there was on our more recent ones. Either some of our first ladies did not leave complete records or Coroli simply felt the more recent ones deserved more attention.

Overall, First Ladies is 80% hard research and 20% gossip of the day which will keep you turning the pages. And if you like, chapters can be read as separate essays. I found this a good book to leave out in guestroom or bathroom!