Spoken from the Heart

Laura Bush

May 2010 · Sold by Simon and Schuster

About this ebook

In this brave, beautiful, and deeply personal memoir, Laura Bush, one of our most beloved and private first ladies, tells her own extraordinary story.

Born in the boom-and-bust oil town of Midland, Texas, Laura Welch grew up as an only child in a family that lost three babies to miscarriage or infant death. She vividly evokes Midland's brash, rugged culture, her close relationship with her father, and the bonds of early friendships that sustain her to this day. For the first time, in heart-wrenching detail, she writes about the devastating high school car accident that left her friend Mike Douglas dead and about her decades of unspoken grief.

When Laura Welch first left West Texas in 1964, she never imagined that her journey would lead her to the world stage and the White House. After graduating from Southern Methodist University in 1968, in the thick of student rebellions across the country and at the dawn of the women's movement, she became an elementary school teacher, working in inner-city schools, then trained to be a librarian. At age thirty, she met George W. Bush, whom she had last passed in the hallway in seventh grade. Three months later, "the old maid of Midland married Midland's most eligible bachelor." With rare intimacy and candor, Laura Bush writes about her early married life as she was thrust into one of America's most prominent political families, as well as her deep longing for children and her husband's decision to give up drinking. By 1993, she found herself in the full glare of the political spotlight. But just as her husband won the Texas governorship in a stunning upset victory, her father, Harold Welch, was dying in Midland.

In 2001, after one of the closest elections in American history, Laura Bush moved into the White House. Here she captures presidential life in the harrowing days and weeks after 9/11, when fighter-jet cover echoed through the walls and security scares sent the family to an underground shelter. She writes openly about the White House during wartime, the withering and relentless media spotlight, and the transformation of her role as she began to understand the power of the first lady. One of the first U.S. officials to visit war-torn Afghanistan, she also reached out to disease-stricken African nations and tirelessly advocated for women in the Middle East and dissidents in Burma. She championed programs to get kids out of gangs and to stop urban violence. And she was a major force in rebuilding Gulf Coast schools and libraries post-Katrina. Movingly, she writes of her visits with U.S. troops and their loved ones, and of her empathy for and immense gratitude to military families.

With deft humor and a sharp eye, Laura Bush lifts the curtain on what really happens inside the White House, from presidential finances to the 175-year-old tradition of separate bedrooms for presidents and their wives to the antics of some White House guests and even a few members of Congress. She writes with honesty and eloquence about her family, her public triumphs, and her personal tribulations. Laura Bush's compassion, her sense of humor, her grace, and her uncommon willingness to bare her heart make this story revelatory, beautifully rendered, and unlike any other first lady's memoir ever written.

Ratings and reviews

Such a great read. How interesting to hear the real behind the scenes of life in the White House. Of course, I am even more interested because I live so close to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, but to get the story from a woman who is known to be private was even more interesting. I loved to hear about her interactions with Bush Sr and the few times they visited Washington, D.C. while he was in office. I couldn't believe that she had spent very little time with her in-laws until after they had been married for quite some time. What a schedule those first ladies keep? I had no idea that they traveled as much as they do. I know they had schedules to keep, but I assumed most of their events were local, if not in the United States. Mrs. Bush was traveling all over the world and made friends with a lot of "first ladies." It was so cool to hear who she connected with and what helped her create relationships with all of these foreign dignitaries' wives. Although I enjoyed this read, one of things I would have edited out were the little quips that felt as though they were included only to make George Bush look better. At the end of a long paragraph on some subject, she would state that she was glad Bush had religion to lean on in times of trouble. There were many more, I didn't think they added to the story and it even took away some of the credibility of the story. The other thing that sent me spinning every so often was the in and out of timelines. The book had a sort of flow through time, but every so often there was a flashback or an insert of a future time. I felt as though those future moments could have been held for when they would naturally occur in the story. Whether a Bush fan or not, I think this is a great read to find out what not only happens behind the White House walls. BUT what happenedwhen 9-11 and terrorism hit close to home. I relived that day in history when I was reading her account of what she was doing and how her life completely changed that morning.

This book is quite an acomplishment for Laura Bush. I without doubt recommend this book to anyone and no - mistake, not to consider it; as the best book ever sold in the past 8 years.

AAA BOSS NETWORK

About the author

Laura Bush was First Lady of the United States from 2001 to 2009. She founded both the National Book Festival and the Texas Book Festival.