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.
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 fierce advocate, using her platform in unprecedented ways to champion her own priorities. In this book, Hummer explores how Laura Bush artfully fused the modern and traditional elements of the position, broadening her appeal and upending expectations of what first ladies can do.
By chronicling Bush’s activities as first lady in real time, Hummer shows how Bush grew from a reticent political wife with a limited portfolio into a global advocate in her own right. Hummer also chronicles Laura Bush’s style and innovations in social entertaining, restoring and redecorating the White House, and promoting American arts and culture, according to the publisher.
Hummer is also the author of First Ladies and American Women: In Politics and at Home, also from the University Press of Kansas.
On September 23, The White House Historical Association released The People’s House Miscellany: A Treasury of White House History, Fun Facts, and Things to Know by Stewart D. McLaurin. The trivia book explores hundreds of topics including the building and naming of the White House, facts about each room, a renovation timeline, first family weddings, State Dinners, china services, holiday traditions, gardens and grounds, presidential portraits, unusual pets, ghosts, favorite sports, and more.
“Like the miscellany books first created in the Renaissance to entertain, the book is filled with fun facts and some surprises. There is no shortage of firsts, lasts, onlys, always, mosts, and nevers in White House history,” said author Stewart D. McLaurin in a press release.
The 96-page book includes a timeline evolution of the White House, letters from first occupants John and Abigail Adams, and the answers to hundreds of questions including:
How many windows, doors, kitchens, elevators, and restrooms are in the White House? Which first lady was approached by a rat in the swimming pool? Who wore a dress made from red velvet White House curtains? And, which first lady was the first to graduate from college?
Stewart McLaurin serves as president of the White House Historical Association. The Association was founded in 1961 by First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy to share and preserve the rich history of the White House. In his eleven years as president, Stewart has expanded the Association’s cultural and educational programming through award-winning books, popular video series, and virtual and in-person events to ensure White House history is preserved for future generations.
Banned Books Awards to Feature WAMC Personality in Conversation with Author Margaret Atwood
Joe Donahue of WAMC will join bestselling author Margaret Atwood on stage at the Annual Banned Books Awards at 7 p.m. ET on Oct. 11, 2025. The event is presented by The Eleanor Roosevelt Center in partnership with Pen America. Donahue is a nationally acclaimed host and interviewer and can be heard on the nationally syndicated “Book Show” and on weekday mornings from 9 to noon as the host of “The Roundtable” on WAMC/Northeast Public Radio. Tickets are available. Read more
The Weekly Wrap
The Weekly Wrap is a collection of headlines from the past week. Some publications have paywalls.
CBS News
Head of Eisenhower Library Resigns After Sword Spat with Trump Administration
Oct. 2, 2025 — The head of a presidential library resigned this week after a tug-of-war with the Trump administration over gift selection and a sword for King Charles III, sources familiar with the matter told CBS News. Read more
Instagram
Chelsea Clinton Enters the Podcast Space with Public Health Facts
Oct. 2, 2025 — Chelsea Clinton, the daughter of former President Bill Clinton and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, wants to help people sort out fact from fiction when it comes to public health matters. On Thursday, she launched the new podcast series “That Can’t Be True with Chelsea Clinton,” where she will sit down with experts and address feeds of disinformation in an effort to elevate the truth behind science.
“How many of us have looked at the latest headlines and thought ‘that can’t be true?!’ Starting tomorrow, I hope you will join me and a series of experts on my new podcast “That Can’t Be True!” Clinton wrote on her social media.
HuffPost
Melania Trump Shares Bafflingly Strange ‘Into The Future’ Video
Oct. 2, 2025 — First Lady Melania Trump shared an unusual video on Wednesday: a seemingly AI-generated version of herself, teleporting into a high-rise―perhaps Trump Tower―with a cityscape behind her. Read more
East Wing Magazine
Clinton: ‘The Urgency Has Never Been Greater’ for Women’s Rights and Democracy
Oct. 1, 2025 — The state of women’s rights is unfinished and “under siege” in many parts of the world, including the United States. That current assessment is not exactly what Secretary Hillary Clinton hoped when she, as first lady, declared, “human rights are women’s rights” in her famous speech 30 years ago at the 1995 United Nations Fourth World Conference on Women in Beijing. Read more
The Daily Beast
Michelle Obama Warns People Who ‘Want a Marriage’ Like Hers
Oct. 1, 2025 — Michelle Obama has opened up about her marriage to former President Barack Obama being difficult. Read more
The Contrarian
What Will It Mean to Lose the East Wing?
Sept. 30, 2025 — … In order to make room for the new construction, the East Wing, which for decades has housed the offices of the First Lady, will no longer exist as we know it today. Read more
The GW Hatchet
Cherished History Professor, Eleanor Roosevelt Researcher Dies at 45
Sept. 8, 2025 — Christopher Brick, a history professor in the University Honors Program and head of the Eleanor Roosevelt Papers Project, died on Aug. 15. He was 45.
Brick went to high school in Long Island, New York, and graduated from GW in 2002 with a bachelor’s degree in history and international affairs and returned to GW a few years later to work on the project, which was established as part of the history department in 2000 in order to make the papers of Eleanor Roosevelt publicly accessible online so that more people could learn about the former first lady’s personal accomplishments. Colleagues and friends remember Brick as a kind and generous person who went out of his way to ensure students excelled both in and outside of the classroom and as a researcher who was dedicated to bringing Roosevelt’s legacy to life. Read more