Summary and Analysis of First Women: The Grace and Power of America's Modern First Ladies: Based on the Book by Kate Andersen Brower

By Worth Books

So much to read, so little time? This brief overview of First Women:The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies tells you what you need to know—before or after you read Kate Andersen Brower’s book.
 
Crafted and edited with care, Worth Books set the standard for quality and give you the tools you need to be a well-informed reader.
 
This short summary and analysis of First Women includes:

• Historical context
• Chapter-by-chapter overviews
• Profiles of the main characters
• Detailed timeline of key events
• Important quotes
• Fascinating trivia
• Glossary of terms
• Supporting material to enhance your understanding of the original work

About First Women by Kate Andersen Brower:
 
The wife of the president of the United States is inevitably in the spotlight, her every move scrutinized—especially in the modern age of mass media. All eyes are on the First Lady. But how well do we really know these women—their passions, their priorities, their personalities, and the power they wield in public and in private?
 
Political journalist Kate Andersen Brower presents nuanced and enlightening portraits of ten modern First Ladies, from Jacqueline Kennedy to Melania Trump.
 
Learn about their tenure in the White House, motherhood and diplomacy in Washington, and their complex relationships—with their husbands, with one another, and with their staffers.
 
The summary and analysis in this ebook are intended to complement your reading experience and bring you closer to a great work of nonfiction.
 

• Language: English
• Publisher: Open Road Integrated Media
• Release date: Apr 25, 2017
• ISBN: 9781504018890

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Book preview

Contents

Context

Overview

Summary

Timeline

Cast of Characters

Direct Quotes and Analysis

Trivia

What’s That Word?

Critical Response

About Kate Anderson Brower

For Your Information

Bibliography

Copyright

Context

It’s rare that cultural circumstances change dramatically between the releases of the hardcover and paperback editions of a book, but that is what has happened with First Women. When the book was first published in April 2016, the presidential election was in full swing, and the country was anticipating the likelihood of not only its first female president, but also the first president who was also once a First Lady: Hillary Clinton.

In the afterword written for the paperback edition—published in January 2017, just days before Donald Trump’s inauguration—Kate Andersen Brower remarks that it has been an incredible year to be studying the influence and impact of the president’s spouse. And she speculates how Melania Trump will inhabit the role of First Lady.

Andersen Brower acknowledges that it would have been interesting to observe Bill Clinton as the first so-called First Man and to see how he would step in to that role once the tables had turned—which would have served as a fitting cap-off to her First Women narrative. During the 2016 campaign, speculation surrounded the topic of what role the ex-president might play in his wife’s administration; yet, since one of Andersen Brower’s central themes is that the First Ladies have no true blueprint for their roles, she might have argued that the former president was in the same boat as his predecessors, regardless of gender.

The Trump administration may raise even more existential questions about what it means to be a First Woman. As a commentator during the campaign, Andersen Brower anticipated the former model being a very traditional First Lady, but she later remarked on Melania’s break with precedent by not touring Washington with the Japanese prime minister’s wife during a state visit. Furthermore, Melania Trump’s announcement that she would not immediately relocate from New York to the White House, in order to maintain stability for her son, Barron, during the school year, was met with a wide range of reactions—Andersen Brower called her gutsy in the New York Times.

Written on the cusp of an unprecedented transformation of presidential protocol, First Women captures the triumphs and tribulations of a diverse group of