Publisher's Weekly Review
Gillette, former director of the LBJ Library's oral history program, has selected and edited these interviews, but the book belongs to Lady Bird Johnson. It captures her celebrated warmth, independence, pride in her own and her husband's achievements, and her ability to stand back and honestly assess her own and his motives, successes, and failures. The oral histories cover the first lady's life from her birth in 1912 through Johnson's presidency, thus throwing light on a more than half a century of American history. Just about every politically significant figure on the national stage turns up here, each caught (almost always generously) by Mrs. Johnson's discerning eye. Anyone interested in LBJ's election to Congress and his leadership of the Senate, Texas politics, the Johnsons's radio station, the crisis of Kennedy's assassination, and the Vietnam War will find Mrs. Johnson's reflections, from intimate knowledge, informative, delightful, and often riveting. Gillette himself deftly conducted most of the oral histories from which he draws; all have long been open to researchers and widely used (by such as LBJ biographer Robert Caro). Nevertheless, this volume, likely to be catnip to both fans and detractors of the Johnsons, makes available portions of Lady Bird's invaluable and incisive views otherwise inaccessible to the general reader. Photos. (Dec.) (c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Booklist Review
Lady Bird Johnson gained her historic place as the nation's First Lady in the wake of tragedy, the assassination of President Kennedy, and endured unflattering comparisons to Jackie Kennedy. But she left a strong legacy as a pioneer advocate for the environment and unacknowledged supporter of other crucial issues. She also left thousands of pages of diary entries and an oral history comprising 47 interviews recorded from 1977 to 1991, mostly at the LBJ Ranch but also at vacation venues. Gillette, who conducted the oral-history project, offers an intimate look at Lady Bird's life of contrasts. He organizes the material chronologically, for the most part, from a lonely childhood to a whirlwind courtship and a long marriage, and LBJ's political career, including their time in the White House. The interviews are sometimes candid and other times guarded; Lady Bird recalls the dynamics between an exhilaratingly charming husband and a shy and modest wife, political campaigns and thorny issues, and the trials of managing a marriage and raising children amid the turbulence of politics.--Bush, Vanessa Copyright 2010 Booklist
Choice Review
Gillette directed the LBJ Library's oral history program from 1976 to 1991. This book is a highly edited compilation of 47 interviews Gillette and others conducted with Lady Bird Johnson from 1976 (three years after her husband's death, when she was 64 years old) to 1994. The format is question and answer. Both interviewer and interviewee relied heavily on background materials to support their memories; these sources are footnoted. The consistent theme of the interviews is advocacy of LBJ. Lady Bird was a modest, self-effacing person, certainly not someone who would have sought the political limelight. In her own words, her life was "a mighty big time for a little girl from Karnack [Texas]." But, as Doris Kearns Goodwin, one of LBJ's biographers wrote, without Lady Bird's devotion, love, and forbearance, "the course of Lyndon Johnson's continuing ascent in the world of politics becomes inconceivable." Her devotion and forbearance means there are no revelations of scandal or gossip here. The book provides pleasant reading and serves as a reminder of the days when even very powerful southern ladies were modest, gentle, polite, and kind--at least in public. Summing Up: Recommended. All levels/libraries. S. S. Arpad emerita, California State University, Fresno
Library Journal Review
In this densely packed oral history, Gillette (former director, oral history program, Lyndon Baines Johnson Library & Museum) curates 18 years' worth of interviews that he and colleagues undertook with the first lady. She candidly discussed her life from her early years, through her husband's rise to prominence, and into the Kennedy administration and her time in the White House. This narrative provides much to illuminate readers about Lady Bird as well as her husband's inner circle and early political machinations. The chapters are arranged chronologically, and each begins with a brief introduction by Gillette, followed by the first lady's remembrances in response to brief prompts from the author or his colleagues. The resulting narrative reveals a tireless companion involved in her husband's every political ambition, if not as an actual participant in the decision-making process. With grace and aplomb, Lady Bird reflects on her family's move into the White House as "something like I had walked on stage for a role I never rehearsed." And yet she raised the bar for the role. VERDICT Readers who enjoyed the first lady's 1970 book, A White House Diary, will find this volume highly rewarding, as will memoir and biography buffs, and those interested in rounding out their collections.-Jewell Anderson, Armstrong Atlantic State Univ. Lib., Savannah, GA (c) Copyright 2012. Library Journals LLC, a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
