Lady First, Amy S. Greenberg
Lady First, Amy S. Greenberg
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Lady First
The World of First Lady Sarah Polk

Author: Amy S. Greenberg

Narrator: Suzanne Toren

Unabridged: 14 hr 48 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Recorded Books

Published: 02/08/2019

Synopsis

The acclaimed author of A Wicked War now gives us the little known story of Sarah Polk: remarkably influential First Lady, and brilliant master of the art of high politics--a crucial but unrecognized figure in the history of American feminism. At the same time as the Woman's Rights convention was taking place at Seneca Falls in 1848, First Lady Sarah Childress Polk was wielding influence unprecedented for a woman. Yet, while history remembers the women of the convention, it has all but forgotten Sarah Polk. Now, Amy Greenberg brings her story into vivid focus. We see her father raising her on the frontier to discuss politics and business as an equal with men. We see her use savvy and charm to help her brilliant but unlikeable husband ascend to the White House. And we see her exercising truly extraordinary power as First Lady: quietly manipulating elected officials, shaping foreign policy, directing a campaign in support of America's expansionist war against Mexico. Greenberg makes clear that though the Polk marriage was a partnership of equals, Sarah firmly opposed the feminist movement's demands for then-far-reaching equality. A riveting biography--and a revelation of Sarah Polk's complicated but essential part in American feminism.

Reviews

Goodreads review by Bill on September 24, 2021

The best biographies of First Ladies help you learn more about their husbands as presidents and people, while also considering them as individuals apart from their husbands’ identities. They place their subjects within the context of their times, without letting the story of “the times” overwhelm th......more

Goodreads review by David on April 01, 2019

This is a biography of Sarah Childress Polk, the wife of the 11th POTUS -- and something of an historical marvel or an annoyance, depending upon one's point of view. The marvel is the author's mastery of her material; the possible annoyance is how much she spins from such slender records. There are......more

Goodreads review by Tom on June 23, 2020

Greenberg digs into the life of Sarah Polk. She finds the good and the bad and lays it all out there. An interesting look at elite Southern attitudes toward slavery.......more

Goodreads review by Susan O on February 11, 2019

"Although Sarah Childress Polk rose to political power by crossing boundaries, skillfully manipulating both men and women, and analyzing politics with a focus nearly as intense as that of the husband who worked himself to death, in public memory Mrs. James K. Polk was celebrated as something quite d......more

Goodreads review by Joanie on June 04, 2024

As a native Tennessean (who actually stayed at the James K Polk Motel when I was 12 years old) I should probably know a whole lot more about James and Sarah Polk that I do. I love to read and learn about U.S. Presidents and their families, and reading this biography of Sarah Childress Polk was inter......more

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