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Rich with excerpts from her incomparable letters and alive with the ferment of a new nation, "Dearest Friend" is the first full biography of Abigail Adams, the unschooled minister's daughter who became the most influential woman in Revolutionary America. of photos. ...More

In an era when Americans are desperately seeking heroes and mentors, here is the story of how a pretty young woman from Denver meets her match in handsome Ike Eisenhower, a farm boy fresh out of West Point, and becomes the Army wife par excellence. They were two very passionate and private people whose 53-year marriage, much of it lived in the public eye, survived great tragedies, misunderstandings, and adventures -- and led to glowing triumphs in World War II and the White House. Mrs. Ike is not only a biography of a beloved American but a superb account of a complex marriage. Susan Eisenhower helps readers see her grandmother as her husband did -- a heroic and irresistible figure in her own right. ...More

First Lady Betty Ford will long be remembered for her active support of the Equal Rights Amendment, her struggles with breast cancer and substance abuse, and her later involvement with the addiction treatment center that bears her name. But perhaps more than these, Betty Ford will stand as a paragon of candor and courage, an outspoken woman whose public positions did not always conform with those of her husband. An independent, free spirit who regularly ranks among the most-admired First Ladies, Betty Ford is considered by many to be the most outspoken since Eleanor Roosevelt: she spoke her mind publicly and frequently, sometimes sending the president's political advisors running for cover. This is the first book to address the successes and failures of her advocacy, the effect of her candor, and the overall impact of her brief tenure as ...More

The author presents a detailed, three-dimensional portrait of the complicated woman he persuasively claims was the first truly modern First Lady: an equal partner in--indeed, the undisputed manager of- -her husband's career, and a trusted advisor whose opinions were always consulted. ...More

A revealing biography of Claudia "Lady Bird" Johnson that features startling new insights into her marriage to LBJ and her unexpectedly strong impact on his presidency. of photos. ...More

"Rich with superb insights and wonderful anecdotes about 19th-century family and domestic life, it is a complex and moving character study of a woman tragically out of step with her time and place".--Chicago Tribune. Photos. ...More

The post-Revolutionary era comes to life in this vivid, incisive portrait of the early American republic--and its master political architect. ...More

Fresh from her well-received life of Queen Elizabeth II, the English historian and biographer Sarah Bradford turns her hand to America's own answer to royalty, Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Painstakingly detailed, impressively fair, the result is the most definitive account yet of a woman who captured the imagination of the American public like no First Lady before or after her. ...More

Jacqueline Kennedy entered the White House at the age of 31, seven years into a troubled marriage, and left at 34, the widow of an assassinated President. Acclaimed biographer Leaming has written the first full account of Kennedy's life during the dramatic thousand days of John F. Kennedy's presidency. photos. ...More

THE BIOGRAPHY OF AMERICA'S MOST COMPELLING, CHARISMATIC, AND VISIONARY FIRST LADY

Feminists, historians, politicians, and critics everywhere have praised Blanche Wiesen Cook's Eleanor Roosevelt as the definitive portrait of the towering female figure of the twentieth century. In her long-awaited second volume, Cook delves into the monumental era of the Great Depression, the New Deal, and the gathering storms of World War II -- the years of the Roosevelts' greatest challenges and achievements. Cook gives us the complete Eleanor Roosevelt -- a visionary policy-maker and social activist, a loyal wife, a devoted mother, and a woman who courted romance and adventure. She wrote, she published, she traveled, she lobbied, she joined grassroots organizations and radical communities with a zeal that sparked controversy everywhere.

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In her superb new biography, Brady draws on a vast array of primary sources to reconstruct the daily texture of the Washingtons' marriage as well as the nuances of Martha's character. ...More