Health of the First Ladies Medical Histories from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama
Produktdetaljer
Om bidragsyterne
Ludwig M. Deppisch, M.D., is a professor emeritus of pathology, Northeast Ohio Medical University. A native of New York, he lives in Tucson, Arizona.“Deppisch has written an extensively detailed book with copious notes. He emphasizes the women’s health during their time in the White House, thus tracing the rise of modern medicine in the U.S. and common health practices from the Revolutionary War to the present...recommended”—<i>Choice</i>; “the first book to comprehensively recount details of the health of the most important person in a president’s life: his spouse”—<i>Johns Hopkins Medicine</i>.
This first comprehensive study of the medical histories of America's first ladies--from Martha Washington to Michelle Obama--discusses their illnesses, their treatments and their physicians in the context of their times. As the categories of illness afflicting Americans have changed through history so have the kinds of maladies affecting the first ladies. Infectious diseases and the consequences of poorly supervised pregnancies have been replaced by cerebrovascular accidents and malignancies.
The secrecy with which the White House has traditionally handled inquiries about the health of the president's wife is explored in detail; however, several first ladies, notably Betty Ford, have been transparent about their illnesses in order to educate the public. The effects of a first lady's responsibilities on her health is examined. This book also seeks to discern how the well-being of the first lady influences presidential performance.
Acknowledgments
Foreword by Dr. Connie Mariano
Preface
Introduction
Part I: Before the Advent of Modern Medicine
One. Martha Washington and Dolley Madison: The First First Lady and the First Mistress in the White House
Two. Malaria in the White House: Abigail Adams, Sarah Polk and Lucretia Garfield
Three. Letitia Tyler: A First Lady Dies in the White House
Four. Retiring and Sickly First Ladies in Antebellum Washington: Elizabeth Monroe, Anna Harrison, Margaret Taylor and Abigail Fillmore
Five. Depression in the White House: The Sad Stories of Jane Pierce, Louisa Johnson Adams and Mary Todd Lincoln
Six. Julia Grant and Lucy Hayes: Healthy, Supportive, Socially Successful and Minimal Political Impact
Seven. Tuberculosis: The White Plague Kills Caroline Harrison and Ravages Other First Ladies
Part II: The Twentieth Century
Eight. Ida McKinley and the Audition of the First White House Physician
Nine. Strokes, Stress and Smokes: Nellie Taft and Pat Nixon
Ten. Ellen and Edith: Woodrow Wilson’s Two Wives
Eleven. Homeopathic Physicians and the Kidney Disease of Florence Harding and Grace Coolidge
Twelve. Mamie Eisenhower and Menière’s Disease
Thirteen. Obstetrics in the White House: Jackie Kennedy, Frankie Cleveland, Edith Roosevelt and the Second Mrs. Tyler
Fourteen. Twentieth Century Stalwarts: Lou Hoover, Eleanor Roosevelt, Bess Truman and Lady Bird Johnson
PART III: MODERN TIMES AND INTO THE TWENTY–FIRST CENTURY
Fifteen. Breast Cancer and Other Maladies. Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter and Nancy Reagan
Sixteen. Modern-Day First Ladies: Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush and Michelle Obama
Seventeen. The Diseases, Burdens and Confidentiality of First Ladies
Chapter Notes
Bibliography
Index