Secret Lives of the First Ladies

Well, that was fun.

My f-t-f book club is reading the lives of First Ladies, each participant picking one and reading about her, but, of course, I couldn't do that, so instead I decided to read about all of them (up to 2005, anyway, the book's copyright date).

I found I especially liked Mary Todd Lincoln (who doesn't?), Lou Henry Hoover (a geologist), Lady Bird Johnson (with such a bossy husband), Laura Bush (who knew she smoked until the 1990s?), as well as Abigail Fillmore (started a library at the White House) and Florence Harding (wife of the most corrupt president...though this title could be questioned today, perhaps).

What did the best of these First Ladies have in common? Ambitious for their husbands. Very bright. Right hand man of the president. Able to overlook flaws of the presidents and focus on their strengths. Multi-taskers. A strong sense of what was right.

A fun read. I may look for more of this series from Quirk Books.