Sally Kilpatrick's Reviews > Secret Lives of the First Ladies: What Your Teachers Never Told You About the Women of The White House

Well, I've finished this book finally.

O'Brien was doing well up until the modern ladies. The chapter on Michelle Obama was. . . not good, but then again the edition that I have was published in 2009 so I'm not sure that he had much to work with. Best I can tell anyone with a partisan leaning--and this is the age of Trump, so almost everyone has a partisan leaning--thinks this book leans to the side they don't support. We were doing just fine and pretty much down the middle until we hit Rosalyn Carter. For heaven's sake, why would you illustrate ANY first lady next to John Wayne Gacy? Especially not Rosalyn. Talk about her photo with the bastard sure, but THAT's your illustration? That's how you want to represent a woman who still volunteers with Habitat for Humanity?

Then there was the part where the author said Barbara Bush advanced the national dialogue on racism. Um, I have no recollection of that, senator--and feel free to give me some quotes if I missed it. Or his ending sentence on B. Bush: "Looks like leaving college to raise a family wasn't such a bad idea after all." Dude just got done telling me that Barbara suffered from depression and feelings of inadequacy when George Senior went to work with all of these women who were college educated! I mean, I was concerned about her mental health. Bad enough that she refused therapy, but now you're going to say that?!

Anyhoo, Mr. Man clearly prefers the Bushes over the Clintons and the Obamas and must not have much respect for the Carters, either. (See above) The whole "Whiteygate" nonscandal didn't even merit mention under Michelle Obama's section for sure--I was alive for that one, too. (I'm not touching the Hillary Clinton section. I would have to study her for 10 years to separate myth from fact at this point, and I don't have that kind of time. She definitely suffers from foot in mouth disease.)

The best part of the book includes sections from Frank Cleveland through Mamie Eisenhower. Those are the first ladies we don't know that much about. I mean, Mrs. Taft went surfing. Who knew?

And, up until modern times, O'Brien manages to keep it pretty even. Lots of adulterers and more than a few power-hungry first ladies. I guess one has to be full of oneself to want the job, am I right? If you're looking for a book of quick anecdotes, then I suppose you might as well go ahead. Understand that you're going to learn--if you didn't already know--that John Q. Adams was a total prick as was LBJ and Calvin Coolidge at the very least.

I'll freely admit that I tend toward the liberal side, so keep that in mind. Oh, and if you can't stand things like "Martha Washington was left with two brats" then skip it. A few of the reviews indicate that some folks can't handle a flippant tone. This was not a problem with me in and of itself.