Untold Power

We love a good biography, right–especially of an underexplored figure. When I found out that Rebecca Boggs Roberts was writing a biography of Edith Wilson, first lady to Woodrow Wilson, I was intrigued. She was all over NPR and the usual outlets talking about it, but I wasn’t able to make it to any of her local author events. I eventually listened to this biography on audiobook and it had a great narrator! Overall, I wanted MORE from this book, and found it imbalanced compared to what the title promised, but would definitely recommend this book to biography readers, fans of first ladies, and people looking for new people to learn about.

While alluding in the title to the infamous period of US history where Edith Wilson was making all the decisions (supposedly) while her husband, the president, recovered from a stroke, this is actually a pretty traditional biography of Edith Bolling Wilson. Following her from childhood to life after Woodrow’s death, and then ultimately her own, this biography does a great job of using letters, positioning Edith’s life against other political events, recounting their courtship, and not shying away from the racism and all around uck-ness of the Wilsons in certain areas.

Unfortunately, for me as a reader, there was not as much surprising detail or expose on the most infamous part of Edith’s life in this—her “presidency” and the role she played. Roberts covers it, and focuses on the efforts gone to hide it, but it comes off far less interesting than other parts of the story, including Edith’s courtship or whatever that was with Woodrow Wilson when she was a widow, the dynamics within her friend group/family, etc. Those were the things I didn’t know as much about, and I did learn from them, but I didn’t learn about what I came to get the dirty on: the presidential problem.

Overall, I enjoyed this book. It ebbs and flows in places, but the narrator was great, and I have already handed off my print copy to someone who is hosting the author for an event in January!