Great Book

So I just two hours ago, while rocking Caroline, finished reading the book I've had my nose buried in for the past few days, whenever it's been free to be buried. It's called First Mothers (see Amazon linky thing at right) and it's all about the mothers of the American presidents from FDR to Bill Clinton, and how they influenced their famous sons. Absolutely fascinating stuff! For example, every SINGLE one of these men had a closer relationship with their mothers (who were all Daddy's Girls) than with their fathers. Most of them, except for FDR, JFK, and Bush, came from simple, small-town families who had to scrape just to keep food on the table -- and because many of their fathers were less than successful in life, their mothers leaned on them early on to help support the family and to push beyond the limitations of their childhood by immersing themselves in literature, culture, and debates over the big ideas of the time. They all absolutely adored their mothers and later in life, when that success did come to them, they all made an effort to give their mothers the privileges that had been denied them during their days of toil. There are other interesting patterns too -- the strong faith and piety of every single one of them except Virginia Clinton (and that story is an enlightening one in itself), and the tendency, in families with only two boys, for the one son to become President while the other turns out to be, well, a loser.
It's inspiring, really, and thought-provoking, and surprising in many ways. And available at the public library, where thanks to Library Elf, I'm once again a member in good standing. :-) But this book one of those I might just have to buy for my own library -- it's that much fun!