Modern First Ladies
Series editor: Lewis L. Gould
This series of biographical volumes on the twentieth-century first ladies builds upon the University Press of Kansas’s substantial presidential studies list. Written for a general audience, each compact volume focuses on the years the first lady spent in the White House, assesses her impact on American history and the institution, and places her public career in the context of the history of first ladies, the presidency, and American women.
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Pat Nixon
Embattled First Lady
Price: $26.95
Pub Date: August 4, 2023
Format: Paperback
248 Pages
The first biography of Pat Nixon in 25 years. Moves beyond the over-simplified appraisals of this oft-misunderstood first lady. Offers a far more complex interpretation than the standard “Plastic Pat” caricature and depicts a complicated, conflicted, but ultimately effective first lady who balanced public responsibilities and private pain.
Jacqueline Kennedy
First Lady of the New Frontier
Price: $29.95
Pub Date: March 31, 2018
Format: Paperback
288 Pages
Edith Kermit Roosevelt
Creating the Modern First Lady
Price: $27.95
Pub Date: February 9, 2018
Format: Paperback
182 Pages
This biography of Theodore Roosevelt’s wife presents a more complex and interesting figure than the somewhat secularized saint Edith Roosevelt has become in the literature on first ladies.
Lou Henry Hoover
Activist First Lady
Price: $27.95
Pub Date: February 19, 2016
Format: Paperback
252 Pages
This first thoroughly researched appraisal of Hoover’s tenure as first lady (1929-1933) argues that she was the first modern presidential wife because of her use of radio, adoption of social causes, and public activism outside Whit House traditions.
Ellen and Edith
Woodrow Wilson's First Ladies
Price: $27.95
Pub Date: June 12, 2015
Format: Paperback
360 Pages
An authoritative dual biography of the two wives of Woodrow Wilson. Presents a rich and complex portrait of Wilson's marriages, first to the demure Ellen Axon Wilson and then to the controversial Edith Bolling Wilson, as well as his relationship with a “dearest friend,” Mary Allen Hulbert Peck.
First Lady Florence Harding
Behind the Tragedy and Controversy
Price: $54.95
Pub Date: April 28, 2009
Format: Hardcover
380 Pages
A long-overdue study that restores humanity to one of the most scorned first ladies in American history. Reveals her innovative contributions to the White House during her brief stay there, and avoids the stereotypes that had cast her as a supporting actress in a drama of scandalous dealings, booze, and womanizing.
Barbara Bush
Presidential Matriarch
Price: $49.95
Pub Date: June 16, 2008
Format: Hardcover
240 Pages
A lively account of the outspoken first lady during her White House years, showing how the "Silver Fox" used her rich experience in politics to master the public relations side of first ladyship with as much skill as any White House spouse.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Polarizing First Lady
Price: $24.95
Pub Date: October 4, 2006
Format: Paperback
278 Pages
A prominent historian’s lively examination of what HRC did and didn’t do in the White House that seeks to understand and assess rather than to indict or exonerate. Breaks new ground by delving into her speeches and writings to uncover a more moderate—at times conservative—worldview underlying her centrist positions, and portrays many of her First Lady dilemmas as those of modern women in the feminist age.
Nancy Reagan
On the White House Stage
Price: $44.95
Pub Date: October 11, 2005
Format: Hardcover
232 Pages
Betty Ford
Candor and Courage in the White House
Price: $49.95
Pub Date: December 14, 2004
Format: Hardcover
184 Pages
Pat Nixon
Embattled First Lady
Price: $26.95
Pub Date: August 4, 2023
Format: Paperback
248 Pages
The first biography of Pat Nixon in 25 years. Moves beyond the over-simplified appraisals of this oft-misunderstood first lady. Offers a far more complex interpretation than the standard “Plastic Pat” caricature and depicts a complicated, conflicted, but ultimately effective first lady who balanced public responsibilities and private pain.
Jacqueline Kennedy
First Lady of the New Frontier
Price: $29.95
Pub Date: March 31, 2018
Format: Paperback
288 Pages
Edith Kermit Roosevelt
Creating the Modern First Lady
Price: $27.95
Pub Date: February 9, 2018
Format: Paperback
182 Pages
This biography of Theodore Roosevelt’s wife presents a more complex and interesting figure than the somewhat secularized saint Edith Roosevelt has become in the literature on first ladies.
Lou Henry Hoover
Activist First Lady
Price: $27.95
Pub Date: February 19, 2016
Format: Paperback
252 Pages
This first thoroughly researched appraisal of Hoover’s tenure as first lady (1929-1933) argues that she was the first modern presidential wife because of her use of radio, adoption of social causes, and public activism outside Whit House traditions.
Ellen and Edith
Woodrow Wilson's First Ladies
Price: $27.95
Pub Date: June 12, 2015
Format: Paperback
360 Pages
An authoritative dual biography of the two wives of Woodrow Wilson. Presents a rich and complex portrait of Wilson's marriages, first to the demure Ellen Axon Wilson and then to the controversial Edith Bolling Wilson, as well as his relationship with a “dearest friend,” Mary Allen Hulbert Peck.
First Lady Florence Harding
Behind the Tragedy and Controversy
Price: $54.95
Pub Date: April 28, 2009
Format: Hardcover
380 Pages
A long-overdue study that restores humanity to one of the most scorned first ladies in American history. Reveals her innovative contributions to the White House during her brief stay there, and avoids the stereotypes that had cast her as a supporting actress in a drama of scandalous dealings, booze, and womanizing.
Barbara Bush
Presidential Matriarch
Price: $49.95
Pub Date: June 16, 2008
Format: Hardcover
240 Pages
A lively account of the outspoken first lady during her White House years, showing how the "Silver Fox" used her rich experience in politics to master the public relations side of first ladyship with as much skill as any White House spouse.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Polarizing First Lady
Price: $24.95
Pub Date: October 4, 2006
Format: Paperback
278 Pages
A prominent historian’s lively examination of what HRC did and didn’t do in the White House that seeks to understand and assess rather than to indict or exonerate. Breaks new ground by delving into her speeches and writings to uncover a more moderate—at times conservative—worldview underlying her centrist positions, and portrays many of her First Lady dilemmas as those of modern women in the feminist age.
Nancy Reagan
On the White House Stage
Price: $44.95
Pub Date: October 11, 2005
Format: Hardcover
232 Pages
Betty Ford
Candor and Courage in the White House
Price: $49.95
Pub Date: December 14, 2004
Format: Hardcover
184 Pages