FLARE Selected Bibliography
The bibliography that follows contains a selected list of books about first ladies as individuals and in general. The sources give a reader general background. FLARE does not endorse books or support a particular point of view; rather, the list is a resource that serves as a starting point for research and education. If you have published a book and would like to be considered for inclusion in this bibliography, please contact FLARE with appropriate information at flare@kocmemberservices.com.
Martha Dandrige Custis Washington
Brady, Patricia. (2005). Martha Washington: An American Life. New York: Viking.
Fields, Joseph E. (Ed.). (1994). Worthy Partner: The Papers of Martha Washington. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Abigail Smith Adams
Abrams, Jeanne. (2021). A View From Abroad: The Story of John and Abigail Adams in Europe. New York: NYU Press.
Ellis, Joseph J. (2010). First Family: Abigail and John Adams. New York: Knopf.
Holton, Woody. (2009). Abigail Adams. New York: Free Press.
Jacobs, Diane. (2014). Dear Abigail: The Intimate Lives and Revolutionary Ideas of Abigail Adams and Her Two Remarkable Sisters. New York: Ballantine.
Withey, Lynne. (2002). Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams. New York: Touchstone.
Dorothea “Dolley” Payne Todd Madison
Allgor, Catherine. (2006). A Perfect Union: Dolley Madison and the Creation of the American Nation. New York: Henry Holt & Co., LLC.
Shulman, Holly Cowen, & Mattern, David B. (Eds.). (2003). The Selected Letters of Dolley Payne Madison. Charlottesville, VA: University of Virginia Press.
Elizabeth Kortright Monroe
Wooten, James W. (1987). Elizabeth Kortright Monroe, 1768-1830. Charlottesville, VA: Ashlawn-Highland, and Fredericksberg, VA, James Monroe Museum.
Louisa Catherine Johnson Adams
Graham, Judith, S., Luey, Beth, Hogan, Margaret, & Taylor, C. James. (Eds.). (2013). Diary and Autobiographical Writings of Louisa Catherine Adams (Vols. 1 & 2). Cambridge, MA: Belknap Press of Harvard University Press.
Thomas, Louisa. (2016). The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams. New York: Penguin.
Rachel Donelson Jackson
Rachel died between President Jackson’s election and inauguration.
Brady, Patricia. (2011). A Being So Gentle: The Frontier Love Story of Rachel and Andrew Jackson. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
Angelica Van Buren
Angelica was the daughter-in-law of President Martin Van Buren whose wife, Hannah, died eighteen years prior to the presidency. Angelica assumed first lady duties as a stand-in for Hannah given that Martin Van Buren never remarried. See Chapter 8 in Katherine Sibley (Ed.), A Companion to First Ladies.
Anna Tuthill Symmes Harrison
Anna Harrison was first lady for William Henry Harrison’s presidency that lasted only one month, and she never entered the White House.
Letitia Christian Tyler
Letitia Tyler died one year into the Tyler presidency. John Tyler subsequently married Julia Gardiner.
Julia Gardiner Tyler
Seager, Robert. (1963). And Tyler Too: A Biography of John and Julia Tyler. New York: McGraw Hill.
Sarah Childress Polk
Bumgarner, John R. (1997). Sara Childress Polk: A Biography of the Remarkable First Lady. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.
Greenberg, Amy S. (2019). Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk. New York: Vintage Books.
Peterson, Barbara Bennett. (2002). Sarah Childress Polk, First Lady of Tennessee and Washington. Huntington, NY: Nova History Publications.
Margaret “Peggy” Mackall Smith Taylor
See Chapter 11 in Katherine Sibley (Ed.), A Companion to First Ladies.
Abigail Powers Fillmore
Snyder, C.M. (1975). The Lady and the President: The Letters of Dorothea Dix and Millard Fillmore. Lexington: The University Press of Kentucky.
Jane Means Appleton Pierce
Covell, Ann. (2013). Jane Means Appleton Pierce, US First Lady (1853-1857): Her Family, Life, and Times. Lanham, MD: Hamilton Books.
Harriet Lane
Harriet Lane served the role of first lady for her bachelor uncle, President James Buchanan.
Stern, Milton R. (2004). America’s Bachelor President and the First Lady. PublishAmerica.
Stern, Milton R. (2005). Harriet Lane, America’s First Lady. Morrisville, NC: Lulu.com.
Mary Todd Lincoln
Baker, Jean Harvey. (1987). Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. New York: Norton.
Clinton, Catherine. (2009). Mrs. Lincoln: A Life. New York: Harper.
Ellison, Betty Boles. (2014). The True Mary Todd Lincoln: A Biography. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Co.
Keckley, Elizabeth. (2011). Behind the Scenes, or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Press. (Original work published 1868 by G.W. Carleton) [eBook version from Documenting the American South Project].
Eliza McCardle Johnson
Choate, Jean. (2004). Eliza Johnson: Unknown First Lady. Huntington, NY: Nova History Pub.
Julia Dent Grant
Grant, Julia Dent. (1975). The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant (John Y. Simon, Ed.). New York: Putnam’s.
Hooper, Candice Shy. (2016). Lincoln’s Generals’ Wives: Four Women Who Influenced the Civil War—for Better and for Worse. Ashland, OH: Kent State University Press.
Lucy Ware Webb Hayes
Geer, Emily Apt. (1984). First Lady: The Life of Lucy Webb Hayes. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press.
Lucretia Rudolph Garfield
Shaw, John. (Ed.). (1994). Crete and James: Personal Letters of Lucretia and James Garfield. East Lansing: Michigan State University Press.
Shaw, John. (2004). Lucretia. New York: Nova History.
Frances Folsom Cleveland
Dunlap, Annette B. (2010). Frank: The Story of Frances Folsom Cleveland, America’s Youngest First Lady. New York: Excelsior Editions.
Note: Rose Elizabeth Cleveland, younger sister of Grover, served as first lady during President Clevaland’s first term in office.
Salenius, Sirpa. (2014). Rose Elizabeth Cleveland: First Lady and Literary Scholar. New York: Palgrave Pivot.
Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrsion
Moore, Anne Chieko. (2009). Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison. New York: Nova History.
Ida Saxton McKinley
Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. (2013). Ida McKinley: The-Turn-of-the-Century First Lady Through War, Assassination, and Secret Disability. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press. (In cooperation with the National First Ladies’ Library)
Edith Kermit Carow Roosevelt
Gould, Lewis L. (2013). Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Creating the Modern First Lady. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Morris, Sylvia Jukes. (2001). Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady. New York: The Modern Library.
Helen Herron Taft
Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. (2005). Nellie Taft: The Unconventional First Lady of the Ragtime Era. New York: Wm. Morrow.
Gould, Lewis L. (2010). Helen Taft: Our musical first lady. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Ellen Louise Axson Wilson
Dubovoy, Sina. (2004). Ellen A. Wilson: The Woman Who Made a President. Huntington, NY: Nova History Publications.
Miller, Kristie. (2010). Ellen and Edith: Woodrow Wilson’s First Ladies. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Saunders, Francis Wright. (1985). First Lady Between Two Worlds: Ellen Axson Wilson. Chapel Hill, NC: University of North Carolina Press.
Edith Bolling Galt Wilson
Roberts, Rebecca Boggs. (2023). Untold Power: The Fascinating Rise and Complex Legacy of First Lady Edith Wilson. New York, NY: Viking.
Hazelgrove, William. (2016). Madam President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson. Washington, DC: Regnery.
Levin, Phyllis Lee. (2001). Edith and Woodrow: The Wilson White House. New York, NY: Scribner’s.
Miller, Kristie. (2010). Ellen and Edith: Woodrow Wilson’s first ladies. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Wilson, Edith Bolling. (1938/1980). My Memoir. New York, NY: Arno Press.
Florence Kling Harding
Anthony, Carl Anthony. (1998). Florence Harding: The First Lady, the Jazz Age, and the Death of America’s Most Scandalous President. New York: William Morrow.
Sibley, Katherine A.S. (2009). First Lady Florence Harding: Behind the Tragedy and Controversy. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Grace Anna Goodhue Coolidge
Ferrell, Robert H. (2008). Grace Coolidge: The People’s Lady in Silent Cal’s White House. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Wikander, Lawrence E., & Ferrell, Robert H. (Eds.). (1992). Grace Coolidge: An Autobiography. Worland, WY: High Plains Publishing Co.
Lou Henry Hoover
Mayer, Dale C. (1994). Lou Henry Hoover: Essays on a Busy Life. Worland, WY: High Plains.
Young, Nancy Beck. (2005). Lou Henry Hoover: Activist First Lady. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Anna Eleanor Roosevelt
Beasley, Maurine. (2010). Eleanor Roosevelt: Transformative First Lady. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Cook, Blanche Wiesen. (1993). Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 1: The Early Years, 1884-1933. New York: Viking.
Cook, Blanche Wiesen. (2000). Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 2: The Defining Years, 1933-1938. New York: Viking.
Cook, Blanche Wiesen. (2016). Eleanor Roosevelt, Volume 3: The war years and after, 1939-1962. New York: Viking.
Goodwin, Doris Kearns. (2013). No Ordinary Time: Franklin & Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Michaelis, David. (2020). Eleanor. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Roosevelt, Eleanor. (2014). The Autobiography of Eleanor Roosevelt. New York: Harper Perennial. (originally published 1961)
Black, Allida. (Ed.). (2007). The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers: The Human Rights Years, 1945-1948 (Vol. 1). Detroit: Thomson Gale.
Black, Allida. (Ed.). (2012). The Eleanor Roosevelt Papers: The Human Rights Years, 1949-1952 (Vol. 2). Detroit: Thomson Gale.
Elizabeth “Bess” Virginia Wallace Truman
Sale, Sara L. (2010). Bess Wallace Truman: Harry’s White House “Boss.” Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Truman, Margaret. (1986). Bess W. Truman. New York: MacMillan.
Mamie Geneva Doud Eisenhower
Eisenhower, Susan. (2011). Mrs. Ike: Mamie Eishenhower. New York: Farrar, Straus & Giroux.
(Originally published 1996 as Mrs. Ike: Memories and Reflections on the Life of Mamie Eisenhower)
Holt, Marilyn Irvin. (2007). Mamie Doud Eisenhower: The General’s First Lady. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Jacqueline Lee Bouvier Kennedy Onassis
Abbott, James Archer, & Bachmann, Elaine Rice. (2021). Designing Camelot: The Kennedy White House Restoration and Its Legacy. Washington, DC: White House Historical Association.
Bowles, Hamish. (2001). Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years. Boston: Bulfinch Press/Little, Brown. (Issued in Conjunction with The Metropolitan Museum of Art)
Kennedy, Jacqueline. (2011). Historic Conversations on Life with John F. Kennedy: Interviews with Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., 1964. New York: Hyperion.
Leaming, Barbara. (2001). Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years. New York: Touchstone/Simon & Schuster.
Natalle, Elizabeth J. (2018). Jacqueline Kennedy and the Architecture of First Lady Diplomacy. New York: Peter Lang.
Perry, Barbara A. (2004). Jacqueline Kennedy: First Lady of the New Frontier. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Thayer, Mary Van Rensselaer. (1971). Jacqueline Kennedy: The White House Years. Boston: Little, Brown.
Claudia Alta “Lady Bird” Taylor Johnson
Caroli, Betty Boyd. (2015). Lady Bird and Lyndon: The Hidden Story of a Marriage That Made a President. New York, NY: Simon & Schuster.
Carpenter, Liz. (1970). Ruffles and Flourishes. New York, NY: Doubelday.
Gillette, Michael L. (2012). Lady Bird Johnson: An Oral History. New York: Oxford University Press.
Gould, Lewis L. (1999). Lady Bird Johnson: Our Environmental First Lady. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Johnson, Lady Bird. (1970). Lady Bird Johnson: A White House Diary. New York, NY: Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
Russell, Jan Jarboe. (1999). Lady Bird: A Biography of Mrs. Johnson. New York: Scribner.
Sweig, Julia. (2021). Lady Bird Johnson: Hiding in Plain Sight. New York: Random House.
Patricia "Pat" Ryan Nixon
Brennan, Mary C. (2011). Pat Nixon: Embattled First Lady. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Eisenhower, Julie Nixon. (1986). Pat Nixon: The Untold Story. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Swift, Will. (2014). Pat and Dick: The Nixons, An Intimate Portrait of a Marriage. New York: Threshold.
Elizabeth “Betty” Bloomer Ford
Ford, Betty, with Chase, Chris. (1978). The Times of My Life. New York: Harper and Row.
Greene, John Robert. (2004). Betty Ford: Candor and Courage in the White House. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
McCubbin, Lisa. (2018). Betty Ford: First Lady, Women’s Advocate, Survivor, Trailblazer. New York: Gallery Books.
Weidenfeld, Sheila R. (1979). First Lady’s Lady: With the Fords at the White House. New York: G.P. Putnam’s Sons.
Eleanor Rosalynn Smith Carter
Carter, Rosalynn. (1984). First Lady from Plains. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Hoyt, Mary Finch. (2001). East Wing Politics, the Press, and a First Lady: A Memoir. Philadelphia: Xlibris.
Kaufman, Scott. (2007). Rosalynn Carter: Equal Partner in the White House. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Nancy (Robbins) Davis Reagan
Benz, James G., Jr. (2005). Nancy Reagan: On the White House Stage. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Deaver, Michael. (2004). Nancy: A Portrait of My Years with Nancy Reagan. New York: William Morrow.
Reagan, Nancy, with Novak, William. (1989). My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan. New York: Random House.
Reagan, Nancy. (2000). I Love You, Ronnie: The Letters of Ronald Reagan to Nancy Reagan. New York: Random House.
Tate, Sheila. (2018). Lady in Red: An Intimate Portrait of Nancy Reagan. New York: Crown Forum.
Tumulty, Karen. (2021). The Triumph of Nancy Reagan. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Barbara Pierce Bush
Bush, Barbara. (1994). A Memoir. New York: Scribner’s.
Bush, Barbara. (2003). Reflections: Life After the White House. New York: Scribner’s.
Bush, Barbara. (2020). Pearls of Wisdom: Little Pieces of Advice (That Go a Long Way). New York: Twelve/Hachette Book Group.
Grimes, Ann. (1990). Running Mates: The Making of a First Lady. New York: William Morrow.
Gutin, Myra G. (2008). Barbara Bush: Presidential Matriarch. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Kilian, Pamela. (2002). Barbara Bush: Matriarch of a Dynasty. New York: Thomas Dunne Books.
Page, Susan. (2019). The Matriarch: Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty. New York: Hachette.
Hillary Rodham Clinton
Bernstein, Carl, & Rodstein, Dick. (2007). A Woman in Charge: The Life of Hillary Rodham Clinton. New York: Vintage.
Clinton, Hillary Rodham. (2003). Living History. New York, NY: Simon and Schuster.
Perry-Giles, Shawn. (2014). Hillary Clinton in the News: Gender and Authenticity in American Politics. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Smith, Sally Bedell. (2007). For Love of Politics: Bill and Hillary Clinton: The White House Years. New York: Random House.
Troy, Gil. (2006). Hillary Rodham Clinton: Polarizing First Lady. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Laura Welch Bush
Bush, Laura. (2010). Spoken From the Heart. New York: Scribner’s.
Gerhart, Ann. (2004). The Perfect Wife: The Life and Choices of Laura Bush. New York: Simon and Schuster.
Kessler, Ronald. (2006). Laura Bush: An Intimate Portrait of the First Lady. New York: Doubleday.
Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama
Duster, Michelle, Seniors, Paula Marie, & Thevenin, Rose C. (Eds.). (2018). Michelle Obama’s Impact on African American Women and Girls. Cham, Switzerland: Palgrave/Macmillan.
Harris, Heather E., & Moffitt, Kimberly R. (2020). Michelle Obama and the FLOTUS Effect: Platform, Presence, and Agency. Lanham, MD: Lexington.
Kantor, Jodi. (2012). The Obamas. New York: Back Bay Books.
Lucidon, Amanda. (2017). Chasing Light: Michelle Obama Through the Lens of a White House Photographer. New York: Ten Speed Press/Crown Publishing.
Natalle, Elizabeth J., & Simon, J.M. (Eds.). (2015). Michelle Obama: First Lady, American Rhetor. Lanham, MD: Lexington.
Obama, Michelle. (2012). American Grown: The Story of the White House Kitchen Garden and Gardens Across America. New York: Crown Publishers.
Obama, Michelle. (2018). Becoming. New York: Crown.
Slevin, Peter. (2015). Michelle Obama: A Life. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Melania Knavs Trump
Hicks, L.D. (2019). Melania Trump: Elegance in the White House. Post Hill Press.
Jordan, Mary. (2020). The Art of Her Deal: The Untold Story of Melania Trump. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Vigil, Tammy. (2019). Melania & Michelle: First Ladies in a New Era. Bloomington, IN: Red Lightning Books.
Jill Jacobs Biden
Pace, Julie, & Superville, Darlene. (2022). Jill: A Biography of the First Lady. Boston: Little, Brown and Company.
Biden, Jill. (2019). Where the Light Enters: Building a Family, Discovering Myself. New York: Flatiron Books.
Helen Taft
Gould, Lewis L., Ed. (2011). My Dearest Nellie: The Letters of William Howard Taft to Helen Herron Taft, 1909-1912. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press.
First Ladies as a General Topic
Abrams, Jeanne E. (2018). First Ladies of the Republic: Martha Washington, Abigail Adams, Dolley Madison, and the Creation of an Iconic American Role. New York: NYU Press.
Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. (1990). First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents’ Wives and Their Power 1789-1961. (Vol. 1). New York: Quill/William Morrow.
Anthony, Carl Sferrazza. (1991). First Ladies: The Saga of the Presidents’ Wives and Their Power 1961-1990. (Vol. 2). New York: Quill/William Morrow.
Baldrige, Letitia. (1968). Of Diamonds & Diplomats. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company.
Beasley, Maurine H. (2005). First Ladies and the Press: The Unfinished Partnership of the Media Age. Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Black, Allida M. (2019). The First Ladies of the United States of America (15th ed.). Washington, DC: White House Historical Association.
Boller, Paul F., Jr. (1998). Presidential Wives: An Anecdotal History (2nd ed.). New York: Oxford University Press.
Borrelli, MaryAnne. (2011). The Politics of the President’s Wife: On the Changing Political Role of the First Lady from Lou Hoover to Michelle Obama. College Station, TX: Texas A&M University Press.
Brower, Kate Andersen. (2015). The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Brower, Kate Andersen (2016). First Women: The Grace and Power of America’s Modern First Ladies. New York, NY: HarperCollins.
Burns, Lisa M. (2008). First Ladies and the Fourth Estate: Press Framing of Presidential Wives. DeKalb: Northern Illinois University Press.
Burns, Lisa M. (Ed.). (2020). Media Relations and the Modern First Lady: From Jacqueline Kennedy to Melania Trump. Lanham, MD: Lexington.
Caroli, Betty Boyd. (2019). First Ladies: The Ever Changing Role, from Martha Washington to Melania Trump (5thed.). New York: Oxford Univ. Press.
Deppisch, Ludwig M. (2015). The Health of the First Ladies: Medical Histories From Martha Washington to Michelle Obama. Jefferson, NC: McFarland and Co.
Gonnella-Platts, Natalie, & Fritz, Katherine. (2017). A Role Without a Rulebook. Dallas, TX: George W. Bush Institute.
Gould, Lewis L. (2001). American First Ladies: Their Lives and Their Legacy (2nd ed.). New York: Routledge.
Graddy, Lisa Kathleen, & Pastan, Amy. (2014). The Smithsonian First Ladies Collection. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.
Gutgold, Nichola D. (2017). Still Paving the Way for Madam President (Rev. ed.). Lanham, MD: Lexington.
Gutin, Myra G. (1989). The President’s Partner: The First Lady in the Twentieth Century. Westport, CT: Greenwood Press.
Hendricks, Nancy. (2015). America’s First Ladies: A Historical Encyclopedia and Primary Document Collection of the Remarkable Women of the White House. Santa Barbara, CA: ABC-CLIO.
Hummer, Jill Abraham. (2017). First Ladies and American Women: In Politics and at Home. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Kirk, Elise. (1986). Music at the White House: A History of the American Spirit. Urbana: University of Illinois Press.
Marton, Kati. (2001). Hidden power: Presidential Marriages that Shaped our Recent History. New York, NY: Pantheon Books.
Means, Marianne. (1963). The Woman in the White House: The Lives, Times and Influences of Twelve Notable First Ladies. New York: Random House.
National Portrait Gallery, & Shaw, Gwendolyn DuBois. (2019). First Ladies of the United States. Washington, DC: Smithsonian Books.
Pine, Joslyn T. (2014). Wit and Wisdom of America’s First Ladies: A Book of Quotations. Mineola, NY: Dover.
Roberts, Cokie. (2005). Founding Mothers: The Women Who Raised Our Nation. New York: HarperCollins.
Roberts, Cokie. (2008). Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation. New York: William Morrow.
Schwartz, Marie Jenkins. (2017). Ties that Bound: Founding First Ladies and Slaves. Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Sibley, Katherine A.S. (Ed.), (2016). A Companion to First Ladies. Hoboken, NJ: Wiley-Blackwell.
Sibley, Katherine A.S. (Ed.). (2021). Southern First Ladies: Culture and Place in White House History. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Smith, Nancy Kegan, & Ryan, Mary C. (1990). Modern First Ladies: Their Documentary Legacy. Washington, DC: National Archives and Records Administration.
Smith, Richard Norton. (1990). Mrs. President: Biographical Sketches from Martha to Barbara.Herbert Hoover Presidential Library.
Swain, Susan. (2015). First Ladies: Presidential Historians on the Lives of 45 Iconic American Women. New York: Public Affairs.
Troy, Gil. (1997). Affairs of State: The Rise and Rejection of the Presidential Couple Since World War II. New York: Free Press.
Troy, Gil. (2000). Mr. and Mrs. President: An Intimate Group Portrait of White House Wives (2nd ed.). Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas.
Truman, Margaret. (1995). First Ladies. New York, NY: Random House.
Vigil, Tammy. (2019). Moms in Chief: The Rhetoric of Republican Motherhood and the Spouses of Presidential Nominees, 1992-2016. Lawrence, KS: Univ. Press of Kansas.
Watson, Robert P. (2001). First Ladies of the United States: A Biographical Dictionary. Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Watson, Robert P. (2012). Life in the White House: A Social History of the First Family and the President’s House. Albany, NY: SUNY Press.
Watson, Robert P. (2014). The Presidents’ Wives: The Office of the First Lady in US Politics (2nd ed). Boulder, CO: Lynne Rienner Publishers.
Watson, Robert P. (2015). American First Ladies (3rd ed.). Ipswich, MA: Salem Press.
Watson, Robert P., & Eksterowicz, A.J. (Eds.) (2006). The Presidential Companion: Readings on the First Ladies. (2nd ed.). Columbia: The University of South Carolina Press.
Wertheimer, M.M. (Ed.). (2004). Inventing a Voice: The Rhetoric of American First Ladies of the Twentieth Century. Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield. [Note: The 2005 abridged, paperback version is entitled Leading Ladies of the White House: Communication Strategies of Notable Twentieth-Century First Ladies.]
West, J. B., with Kotz, Mary Lynn (2016). Upstairs at the White House: My Life With the First Ladies. New York: Open Road Media. (Originally published 1973 with Coward, McCann, & Geoghegan)
Wright, Lauren A. (2016). On Behalf of the President: Presidential Spouses and White House Communications Strategy Today. Santa Barbara, CA: Praeger.
