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Title details for The Matriarch by Susan Page - Wait list

The Matriarch

Barbara Bush and the Making of an American Dynasty

by Susan Page
Kate Levy
Audiobook (Includes supplementary content)
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INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER
"[The] rare biography of a public figure that's not only beautifully written, but also shockingly revelatory." — The Atlantic
A vivid biography of former First Lady Barbara Bush, one of the most influential and under-appreciated women in American political history.
Barbara Pierce Bush was one of the country's most popular and powerful figures, yet her full story has never been told.
THE MATRIARCH tells the riveting tale of a woman who helped define two American presidencies and an entire political era. Written by USA TODAY's Washington Bureau chief Susan Page, this biography is informed by more than one hundred interviews with Bush friends and family members, hours of conversation with Mrs. Bush herself in the final six months of her life, and access to her diaries that spanned decades. THE MATRIARCH examines not only her public persona but also less well-known aspects of her remarkable life.
As a girl in Rye, New York, Barbara Bush weathered criticism of her weight from her mother, barbs that left lifelong scars. As a young wife, she coped with the death of her three-year-old daughter from leukemia, a loss that changed her forever. In middle age, she grappled with depression so serious that she contemplated suicide. And as first the wife and then the mother of American presidents, she made history as the only woman to see — and advise — both her husband and son in the Oval Office.
As with many women of her era, Barbara Bush was routinely underestimated, her contributions often neither recognized nor acknowledged. But she became an astute and trusted political campaign strategist and a beloved First Lady. She invested herself deeply in expanding literacy programs in America, played a critical role in the end of the Cold War, and led the way in demonstrating love and compassion to those with HIV/AIDS. With her cooperation, this book offers Barbara Bush's last words for history — on the evolution of her party, on the role of women, on Donald Trump, and on her family's legacy.
Barbara Bush's accomplishments, struggles, and contributions are many. Now, Susan Page explores them all in THE MATRIARCH, a groundbreaking book certain to cement Barbara Bush as one of the most unique and influential women in American history.

  • Creators

  • Publisher

  • Release date

    April 2, 2019

  • Formats

    • OverDrive Listen audiobook

      • ISBN: 9781549170027
      • File size: 368178 KB
      • Duration: 12:47:02

  • Languages

    • English

  • Reviews

    • Publisher's Weekly

      April 1, 2019
      The recently deceased wife of President George H. W. Bush and mother of President George W. Bush exemplifies an old-school style of feminine strength and influence in this warmhearted biography. USA Today Washington bureau chief Page paints Bush (1925-2018), possibly the last First Lady to have had no career, as a sometimes controversial icon of postwar wifely devotion, gamely uprooting herself from her affluent New England home to a chancy new life in Texas and being a full-time (and occasionally depressed) mom to six children—her daughter’s death from leukemia is a moving centerpiece of the narrative—to accommodate her husband’s ambitions. But she was also a canny political animal, Page contends. She persuaded her vacillating husband to go negative with racially tinged campaign ads against Michael Dukakis in the 1988 presidential election, and asked her son pointed questions about the invasion of Iraq; in her own right, she forcefully advocated for literacy programs and opposed discrimination against AIDS patients. There’s little drama in Bush’s story apart from tension between her and Nancy Reagan, and the author’s assessment of her as indispensable to her husband’s political rise feels overstated. But Bush admirers will enjoy Page’s vivid depiction of her as an appealing, down-to-earth, sharp-tongued figure who held her own in a man’s world.

    • AudioFile Magazine
      Kate Levy scores a triumph with her first audiobook narration, masterfully delivering this exhaustively researched biography of First Lady Barbara Bush. Even listeners with only the most casual interest in Mrs. Bush will find themselves transfixed by complex and fascinating insights that are short on sentiment and long on family dynamics. Levy's narration is appealing, straightforward, and highly adaptable to the narrative. As USA TODAY's Washington bureau chief, she enjoyed interviews with Bush family members, associates, and friends both before and immediately after the deaths of both Barbara and George H.W. Bush. While Mrs. Bush was dismissive of admiration for her so-called dynasty, she did love her family and returned the appreciation of vast numbers of the American people. W.A.G. Winner of AudioFile Earphones Award © AudioFile 2019, Portland, Maine
    • Library Journal

      Starred review from May 1, 2019

      Page, Washington correspondent for USA Today, tackles the life of former first lady Barbara Bush (1925-2018) in this new biography. While the work is not officially authorized, Page interviewed Bush many times before her death in 2018 and had access to her voluminous diaries that no other historian has seen. Page's coverage includes key moments, such as her marriage to George Bush, the death of her daughter Robin, her struggles with depression, the development of her own political consciousness, and her contentious relationship with Nancy Reagan. While the Bushes' marriage is often held up as an ideal one, Page concludes that the long-rumored affair that George Bush had with aide Jennifer Fitzgerald was likely true, even though both always denied it. The author spends considerable time analyzing Barbara Bush's personality, including her quick wit, bluntness, self-deprecation, loyalty to her husband, and strict methods for raising her children and grandchildren; all traits that captivated the public. VERDICT An engaging read full of rich behind-the-scenes details of a fascinating matriarch and public leader, including her struggles and triumphs.--Kate Stewart, Arizona Historical Soc., Tuscon

      Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

    • Kirkus

      A deeply admiring biography of the former first lady. Veteran journalist Page, who is currently the Washington Bureau chief of USA Today and has covered six presidential administrations, had the good fortune to conduct five interviews with Barbara Bush (1925-2018) in her final months, and, as the author notes, "her mind was sharp to the end." Also sharp was Bush's tongue--so much so that even her own sons had to ask her to tone it down. Page begins with Bush's memorial service in Houston and then moves to her most wrenching experience--the loss of her daughter, 3, to leukemia in 1953--before settling into a steady chronology of her revered subject. The author notes that Barbara Pierce (not yet Bush) had a difficult relationship with her own mother, who demeaned her for her appearance. She met her future husband at a country club party shortly after Pearl Harbor, and they married a few years later. Then they moved to Texas to start their lives--and successfully so. Page takes us through their campaigns, victories, losses, and disappointments. As the author notes, Bush assumed a traditional wife/homemaker/mother role while her husband made many of the decisions for the family. This choice did not endear her to feminists of the time. She would not criticize her husband (or, later, her sons) in public, though during the 1980 presidential campaign (her husband was running to be Reagan's vice president), she fell silent about her support for abortion rights, and, later, she was displeased with her son's entanglement in Iraq. The author also explains the Bushes' growing friendship with the Clintons. Opponents of Donald Trump have an ally in Barbara Bush, who disliked him long before he disparaged her son Jeb in the 2016 primaries. In a late interview, she also expressed unhappiness about the current course and priorities of the GOP. A mostly sweet biography with occasional small drops of none-too-bitter acid.

      COPYRIGHT(2019) Kirkus Reviews, ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. (Online Review)

Formats

  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

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  • English

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