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Book Review of Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography

Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography
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I secured this copy as an add on to a fulfilled with a PBS comrade sent me. As I am not interested in Mrs. Reagan, I only glanced at the book, but I am sure it will find an interested reader when I take ten books or so to the book truck in the lobby of the VA Hospital--there is very little non-fiction on offer--so all the books will vanish in a day or so. (I have read biographies of Grace Coolidge, Mrs. Lincoln, Mrs. Madison, and Abigail Adams.)
(I think Lou Hoover was the most unpopular First Lady and Mrs. Harding wasn't much loved; but they helped the work of their husbands!)
In my opinion the book is well done and it shows extensive research with a conscious effort to be fair. It is bursting with facts, such as Adolfo provided Mrs. Reagan's attire at no cost during the eight years of the Reagan presidency.
The endnotes are arranged by chapter, with citations of books, articles, interviews, and broadcasts, as well as Ms. Kelley's sharing of how she came to a given conclusion.
"As to Patti's relationship with her mother: In her autobiographical novel, Home Front, Patti had the main character's mother tell her that she ahd been stubborn from the time she was conceived, clinging to her mother's ribs and refusing to come out to be born. 'Actually, that story of birth was what was told to me,' said Patti on October 19, 1989. 'I really did take that from my life and I did come back with a biology book one time and say, this can't happen...You can't hold on to a woman's ribs in the womb, [but] my mother insisted that it was true...I don't know how anyone could come up with a story like that and say it with a straight face, but she did.'"
75 photos. Index.