Jill Abraham Hummer is associate professor of political science at Wilson College, Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. Her work has appeared in the Journal of Political Science Education, White House Studies, Encyclopedia of the Supreme Court, The Hill newspaper, and other publications.
"Hummer skillfully illustrates how first lady advocacy has
paralleled both national and personal interest, as well as the
particular needs of an administration. Those interested in the
first lady, women's activism, or the the influences on modern
American womanhood will find this account informative and rich with
historical detail."--Political Science Quarterly"Hummer's research
yields a detailed accounting of first ladies' public activities and
the ways in which their choices and experiences reflected changing
expectations for US women in general."--H-Net Reviews"New heroines
emerge in Hummer's narrative."--Choice
"First Ladies and American Women looks at the various public
activities of the First Ladies--the breadth of which may surprise
the reader--within the construct of the post-suffrage Women's
Movement. Placing the stories of the First Ladies within the
context of Second and Third Wave Feminism is a unique approach to
East Wing Studies; an approach that is way overdue. Abraham Hummer
augments this structure with clear, crisp writing, and with an eye
for the perfect anecdote. A welcome addition to the growing
scholarship on the impact of our First Ladies, as well as a
fascinating read."--John Robert Greene, author of Betty Ford:
Candor and Courage in the White House"First Ladies and American
Women: In Politics and At Home provides a well-written, thoughtful,
and engaging examination of the modern first ladies as political
actors in the public and the private spheres. Richly contextualized
and relying almost exclusively on documents drawn from the
presidential archives, this volume reveals the political
calculations and personal judgments that have shaped first ladies'
actions as members of presidential administrations, as wives of the
presidents, and as representatives of American women. First Ladies
and American Women presents strong and sometimes controversial
arguments that are certain to inform and challenge the
reader."--MaryAnne Borrelli, author of The Politics of the
President's Wife "A well-researched and provocative study of the
interaction between first ladies and their political cultures from
Lou Henry Hoover to Michelle Obama. A must for libraries that want
to be current about presidential spouses."--Lewis L. Gould, author
of The First Modern Clash over Federal Power: Wilson versus Hughes
in the Presidential Election of 1916
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