Laura Bush and White House Trivia Are the Focus of Two New Book Releases

Jill Abraham Hummer adds to Modern First Ladies series and Stewart D. McLaurin explores White House facts and figures galore.

Laura Bush looks to President Bush during a Rose Garden announcement honoring the 2005 Preserve America Presidential Awards winners on May 2, 2005. The former first lady is the focus of a new biography by Jill Abraham Hummer that adds to the Modern First Ladies series. (White House photo by Eric Draper)

A full and nuanced study of former First Lady Laura Bush in an extensive new biography and a book that gathers all the facts, figures, firsts and more about the White House were released last month.

Laura Bush: Texas Roots, Global Impact by Jill Abraham Hummer, a leading expert on first ladies, was published by the University Press of Kansas and adds to the Modern First Ladies series.

In a description by the publisher, Hummer provides a complete and balanced assessment of Laura Bush’s work as first lady. Laura Bush’s legacy has been the source of debate. Some have portrayed her as a staid, complacent, perfect wife, lacking a will and agenda of her own. Others argue she was a brave and fie…