Fantastic Books About First Ladies

As of 2019, there have been 44 different men serve as President of the United States. If you’re wondering why that number seems to be off by one, remember that Grover Cleveland served twice and was the 22nd & 24th President of the United States.

But as Abigal Adams wrote to John when he was the Continental Congress, “Remember the ladies!” Heeding her words we’ve collected a list of books about first ladies.

Did you know there have been 46 different First Ladies?

Both John Tyler and Woodrow Wilson’s wives died during their term and remarried while in office.

If you prefer podcasts we dedicated a month to First Ladies and have an episode on Michelle Obama, Harriet Lane, Edith Wilson, Florence Harding, and Martha Washington.

Here is a list not only for you to read and devour but we could also use these books for the library! Donation info.

Don’t forget to use Smile.Amazon.com with Gal’s Guide as your supporting charity!

1st First Lady: Martha Washington: An American Life by Patricia Brady

2nd First Lady: Dearest Friend: A Life of Abigail Adams by Lynne Withey (Bonus Book Option) Abigail Adams: Witness to a Revolution by Natalie S. Bober

3rd First Lady: Sally of Monticello: Founding Mother by N. M. Ledgin

4th First Lady: Queen Dolley: The Life and Times of Dolley Madison by Dorothy Clarke Wilson

5th First Lady: Elizabeth Kortright Monroe Pamphlet – 1987 by James E Wootton

6th First Lady: Louisa: The Extraordinary Life of Mrs. Adams by Louisa Thomas (Bonus Book Option) Louisa Catherine: The Other Mrs. Adams by Margery M. Heffron

10th First Lady: And Tyler Too A Biography Of John And Julia Gardiner Tyler by Robert Seager

11th First Lady: Lady First: The World of First Lady Sarah Polk by Amy S. Greenberg (Bonus Book Option) Sarah Childress Polk: A Biography of the Remarkable First Lady by John R., M.D. Bumgarner

14th First Lady: Jane Means Appleton Pierce: U.S. First Lady (1853-1857): Her Family, Life and Times by Ann Covell

15th First Lady*: Harriet Lane, First Lady of the White House by Mary Virginia Shelley *James Buchanan was a bachelor when he took office so his niece, Harriet Lane acted as the 15th First Lady.

16th First Lady: Mrs. Lincoln: A Life by Catherine Clinton (Bonus Book Option) Mrs. Lincoln and Mrs. Keckly: The Remarkable Story of the Friendship Between a First Lady and a Former Slave by Jennifer Fleischner

17th First Lady: First Lady: Eliza Johnson in Perspective (The Presidential Wives Series) by Jean Choate

18th First Lady: The Personal Memoirs of Julia Dent Grant (Mrs. Ulysses S. Grant) by Julia Dent Grant

19th First Lady: First Lady: The Life of Lucy Webb Hayes by Emily Apt Geer

20th First Lady: Lucretia (Volume in the Presidential Wives Series) by John Shaw (Bonus Book Option) Crete and James: Personal Letters of Lucretia and James Garfield by John Shaw

23rd First Lady: Caroline Lavinia Scott Harrison (Presidential Wives) by Anne Chieko Moore

24th First Lady: Rose Elizabeth Cleveland: First Lady and Literary Scholar by Sirpa Salenius (Bonus Book Option) The Bride of the White House: The Wedding of Grover Cleveland & Frances Folsom by Francis Howard Williams

25th First Lady: Ida McKinley: The Turn-of-the-Century First Lady Through War, Assassination, and Secret Disability by Carl Sferrazza Anthony

26th First Lady: Edith Kermit Roosevelt: Portrait of a First Lady (Modern Library) by Sylvia Jukes Morris

27th First Lady: Nellie Taft: The Unconventional First Lady of the Ragtime Era Paperback by Carl Sferrazza Anthony

28th First Lady 1913-1914: The priceless gift: The love letters of Woodrow Wilson and Ellen Axson Wilson by Woodrow Wilson

28th First Lady 1915-1921: Madam President: The Secret Presidency of Edith Wilson by William Hazelgrove (Bonus Book Option) My Memoir by Edith Bolling Wilson

29th First Lady: Florence Harding: The First Lady, the Jazz Age, and the Death of America’s Most Scandalous President by Carl Sferrazza Anthony (Bonus Book Option) First Lady Florence Harding: Behind the Tragedy and Controversy (Modern First Ladies) by Katherine A. S. Sibley

31th First Lady: Lou Henry Hoover: Activist First Lady (Modern First Ladies) by Nancy Beck Young

32nd First Lady: The Firebrand and the First Lady: Portrait of a Friendship: Pauli Murray, Eleanor Roosevelt, and the Struggle for Social Justice by Patricia Bell-Scott (Bonus Book Option) Mother and Daughter: The Letters of Eleanor and Anna Roosevelt by Bernard Asbell

34th First Lady: Mamie Doud Eisenhower: The General’s First Lady (Modern First Ladies) by Marilyn Irvin Holt (Bonus Book Option) Mrs. Ike: Memories and Reflections on the Life of Mamie Eisenhower by Susan Eisenhower

35th First Lady: Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis: The Untold Story by Barbara Leaming (Bonus Book Option) JACKIE KENNEDY ONASSIS: A Jackie Kennedy Biography by Katy Holborn

36th First Lady: Lady Bird Johnson: Our Environmental First Lady by Lewis L. Gould

37th First Lady: First Lady from Plains: Rosalynn Carter by Rosalynn Carter

38th First Lady: Elizabeth Bloomer Ford (Encyclopedia of First Ladies) by Dan Santow

40th First Lady: My Turn: The Memoirs of Nancy Reagan by Nancy Reagan

41st First Lady: Barbara Pierce Bush (Encyclopedia of First Ladies) by Judith E. Greenberg (Bonus Book Option) Barbara Bush: A Memoir by Barbara Bush

42nd First Lady: Hard Choices: A Memoir By Hillary Rodham Clinton

43rd First Lady: Spoken from the Heart by Laura Bush