First published 2010
Laura Bush opens her life story in the oil town of Midland, Texas, where she grew up as an only child in a family marked by loss. She reveals the car accident that killed her high school friend Mike Douglas, a tragedy she carried in silence for decades. After college, she became a teacher and librarian before meeting George W. Bush at age thirty. Three months later, she married into one of America's most prominent political families. Bush chronicles her struggles with infertility, her husband's battle with alcohol, and their rise through Texas politics. When George won the presidency in 2001, she found herself in the White House during the September 11 attacks, with fighter jets overhead and the family rushing to underground shelters. She describes her evolution as First Lady, traveling to Afghanistan, advocating for women in oppressive regimes, and rebuilding schools after Hurricane Katrina. Bush pulls back the curtain on White House life, revealing everything from presidential finances to the tradition of separate bedrooms. She writes candidly about the media scrutiny, her visits with military families, and the weight of representing America on the world stage.
Genres: family-life, autobiography, biography-memoir, 21st-century
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: found-family, unreliable-narrator
Setting: Afghanistan, Midland, Texas, United States, White House
Period: 2001, September 11 Attacks
456 pages · Hardcover · Scribner
Content warnings: infertility