Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Creating the Modern First Lady (Modern First Ladies)
Gould’s slim biography of Edith Kermit Roosevelt sheds new light on this often overlooked and misrepresented First Lady. Although greatly overshadowed by the long historical shadow cast by niece-in-law Eleanor Roosevelt, Edith’s legacy included modernizing and expanding the role of the presidential spouse. Although never a political junkie, she held vigorous—not necessarily just—opinions and was able to exert considerable influence over an adoring husband. Because her marriage to Theodore Roosevelt was rock solid, and her children were plentiful, she was often depicted by the press as an ideal helpmate and mother. In reality, according to the letters and journal entries Gould mines, she could be a bit of a tartar. By examining the good alongside the bad, he provides a robust portrait of a complex private individual thrust into a very public role. --Margaret Flanagan