First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama (Fourth Edition)
Betty Caroli
From the press release:
Dr. Betty Boyd Caroli, historian and biographer of first ladies in the United States, will speak at Manhattan College on Saturday, March 28 at 1:00 p.m. in the Capalbo Room of De La Salle Hall. The event, part of Manhattan’s celebration of Women’s History Month, is free and open to the public.
Caroli is the author of numerous books, including First Ladies: From Martha Washington to Laura Bush, The Roosevelt Women and Inside the White House: America’s Most Famous Home. She was among a select group of historians invited to meet with former first lady Laura Bush in 2008, and frequently appears on national television and the BBC to discuss the role of presidents’ wives in American politics. Caroli has been a guest on the Today Show, The O’Reilly Factor, PBS’s NewsHour and C-SPAN’s Booknotes.
I thumbed through it and will hopefully provide an in-depth review later. Lots of candidates for the most important First Ladies (not a part of the Author’s objective as far as I could tell), but for my money it would be Abigail Adams. When I show a few of the episodes of the John Adams mini-series my students are stunned at her importance and influence on Adams. I have read their letters (John and Abigail) and she was indeed his equal intellectually. She was the first influential First Lady in terms of her influence on the President.
Caroli has written numerous times about First Ladies and another book I have read and highly recommend:
