The women who occupy the White House with their husbands are a varied, interesting, often enigmatic group. Amid constant comment and the relentless glare of the media and public, the First Lady's role has been interpreted colorfully and widely throughout our history. Hillary Rodham Clinton is not the only President's wife to inspire debate about influence, public versus private lives, allegiances, and the extraordinary demands of the First Lady's job.

Margaret Truman, whose own role as "First Daughter" is already a beloved part of American history, has known First Ladies from Frances Cleveland to Edith Wilson and Eleanor Roosevelt. For this book she has interviewed Lady Bird Johnson, Betty Ford, Nancy Reagan, Rosalynn Carter, Barbara Bush, and Mrs. Clinton. Pat Nixon and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis are warmly recalled.

From the past come familiar names - Dolley Madison, Mary Todd Lincoln, and Grace Coolidge; surprising figures - Julia Tyler (the Julia Roberts of her day); and ingenious pairings - Julia Grant with Mamie Eisenhower. The result is a remarkable group portrait of the women who have more than merely resided in the house on Pennsylvania Avenue - a generous, candid, informed, and vastly entertaining book, written with a sense of humor and fairness and illuminated by shrewd observation.