Review: The Gatekeepers by Chris Whipple

The Gatekeepers: How the White House Chiefs of Staff Define Every Presidency by Chris Whipple
Release date: April 4, 2017
Publisher: Crown 
Pages: 384
Reading level: Adult 
Genre: Nonfiction/Historical/Political 
Source: Gift 
Links: Author • Goodreads • Amazon

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars 

What do Dick Cheney and Rahm Emanuel have in common? Aside from polarizing personalities, both served as chief of staff to the president of the United States--as did Donald Rumsfeld, Leon Panetta, and a relative handful of others. The chiefs of staff, often referred to as "the gatekeepers," wield tremendous power in Washington and beyond; they decide who is allowed to see the president, negotiate with Congress to push POTUS's agenda, and--most crucially--enjoy unparalleled access to the leader of the free world. Each chief can make or break an administration, and each president reveals himself by the chief he picks.
Through extensive, intimate interviews with all seventeen living chiefs and two former presidents, award-winning journalist and producer Chris Whipple pulls back the curtain on this unique fraternity. In doing so, he revises our understanding of presidential history, showing us how James Baker's expert managing of the White House, the press, and Capitol Hill paved the way for the Reagan Revolution--and, conversely, how Watergate, the Iraq War, and even the bungled Obamacare rollout might have been prevented by a more effective chief.

Review:

I was incredibly excited to receive this book for Christmas, as it had caught my eye the first time I had seen it at the bookstore. Chris Whipple's in-depth look at the roles of chiefs of staff and the impact they have had on our own history is a must read. Incredibly well-researched, with first hand accounts from the surviving chiefs, THE GATEKEEPERS, at almost 400 pages, was a quick and engaging read. 

THE GATEKEEPERS was packed full of interesting facts and information that is still relevant to this day. The title of "chief of staff" is a relatively new position and each chief of staff has made a tremendous impact on the president they were serving. I found it fascinating to see where key political figures like Dick Cheney got their start and to see what role each chief of staff had in shaping the president they were serving. Certain presidents understood exactly what kind of person was needed to fill the role of chief of staff, while others (like Jimmy Carter) believed they were able to serve without a chief of staff. The biggest takeaway for me was the fact that each president often makes the same mistakes when selecting (or not selecting) the right person for the role. A chief of staff shouldn't necessarily be the person you're closest to or have grown up with. The position needs to be filled by the individual who understands the president's strengths and weaknesses and can assist them in making the administration the strongest and most organized it can be. 

Even if you think you know all there is to know about the various administrations, THE GATEKEEPERS provides a unique perspective on the president's and the men (so far only men have served as chiefs of staff) that have both failed them and lifted them up. Whipple's newest book was extremely well written and engaging and provided first hand accounts from the chiefs themselves. We have already seen the difficulty our current president has had in finding the right chief of staff, so it will be interesting to see what kind of impact John Kelly ends up having as time goes on. I highly, highly recommend taking the time to read this book. Even if you are frustrated with government or not interested in political history, this book is interesting enough that I think any reader would enjoy it and learn something in the process. 

Review: America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray & Laura Kamoie

America's First Daughter by Stephanie Dray and Laura Kamoie
Release date: March 1, 2016
Publisher: William Morrow
Pages: 606
Reading level: Adult
Genre: Historical fiction
Source: Purchased
Links: Authors • Goodreads • Amazon

Overall: 4.5 out of 5 stars 

From her earliest days, Patsy Jefferson knows that though her father loves his family dearly, his devotion to his country runs deeper still. As Thomas Jefferson’s oldest daughter, she becomes his helpmate, protector, and constant companion in the wake of her mother’s death, traveling with him when he becomes American minister to France.
It is in Paris, at the glittering court and among the first tumultuous days of revolution, that fifteen-year-old Patsy learns about her father’s troubling liaison with Sally Hemings, a slave girl her own age. Meanwhile, Patsy has fallen in love—with her father’s protégé William Short, a staunch abolitionist and ambitious diplomat. Torn between love, principles, and the bonds of family, Patsy questions whether she can choose a life as William’s wife and still be a devoted daughter.
Her choice will follow her in the years to come, to Virginia farmland, Monticello, and even the White House. And as scandal, tragedy, and poverty threaten her family, Patsy must decide how much she will sacrifice to protect her father's reputation, in the process defining not just his political legacy, but that of the nation he founded.

Review: 

I loved this! Historical fiction has always been one of my favorite genres particularly when it's about someone/something I don't know too much about. What most impressed me was how much detail went into AMERICA'S FIRST DAUGHTER. This book followed Thomas Jefferson's daughter, Patsy, for her entire life. Of course even in 600 pages that isn't enough to cover every important moment, but I still felt I learned a lot about both Patsy and her father. Thomas Jefferson has always been a fascinating figure to me and I liked getting to see this more intimate side of him. Patsy and her father had an incredible relationship and she was present for some of the most important moments in history.

Patsy was born in Virginia and eventually followed her father from Monticello to Paris to the White House. After her mother died, Patsy became the one her father confided in and relied on. It truly makes you wonder what exactly her impact was on our nation's history. The author's utilized letters and journals to provide as much accuracy as they could to this story of Patsy Jefferson. They were fairly liberal with their creation of her relationship with William Short and relied quite heavily on the fact that Thomas Jefferson may have had a serious relationship with Sally Hemmings. Still, these are rumors that many feel have substance and it was interesting to see how these situations affected Patsy and shaped her life. I can only imagine how difficult it must have been for Patsy to maintain her strength and composure when her father was such a public figure. She did her best to protect him and seemed to be one of his only confidants.

Thomas Jefferson is one of our most well-known presidents and shapers of our nation. While we do get to see a more personal side of this legendary man, what I most liked about this book was learning about Patsy's life and how her father's actions shaped her own life. What a life it was. Patsy had some incredible adventures and experiences early in life, but unfortunately married a man who struggled with drinking and bad temper. It was awful to see how much Patsy and her father struggled at the end.

AMERICA'S FIRST DAUGHTER is a lengthy read and packed full of information. The authors do discuss what liberties they took at the end and I also did some of my own research on Patsy and her family after I finished reading. There are so many "hidden figures" in our nation's history and I am excited to read Dray and Kamoie's next book on Alexander Hamilton's wife, Eliza. In the early days of the United States women are often left in the background, yet they often made such a significant impact. I highly recommend this book to anyone interested in historical fiction.

Review: The Radium Girls by Kate Moore

The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America's Shining Women by Kate Moore
Release date: May 2, 2017
Publisher: Sourcebooks 
Pages: 480
Genre: Historical Nonfiction 
Source: Purchased 
Links: Author • Goodreads • Amazon 

Overall: 5 out of 5 stars 

The Curies' newly discovered element of radium makes gleaming headlines across the nation as the fresh face of beauty, and wonder drug of the medical community. From body lotion to tonic water, the popular new element shines bright in the otherwise dark years of the First World War.
Meanwhile, hundreds of girls toil amidst the glowing dust of the radium-dial factories. The glittering chemical covers their bodies from head to toe; they light up the night like industrious fireflies. With such a coveted job, these "shining girls" are the luckiest alive — until they begin to fall mysteriously ill.
But the factories that once offered golden opportunities are now ignoring all claims of the gruesome side effects, and the women's cries of corruption. And as the fatal poison of the radium takes hold, the brave shining girls find themselves embroiled in one of the biggest scandals of America's early 20th century, and in a groundbreaking battle for workers' rights that will echo for centuries to come.

Review:

This was a challenging read. Wow. I had no idea this had happened and was continuously shocked by the awful experiences these "radium girls" had. During World War I, factories across the United States worked with radium to produce a multitude of products. One example is painting the dials on watches with radium so they will glow in the dark. This process is performed by young girls for hours every day. While they are at first excited by this new opportunity, the lack of knowledge on radium and then eventual undisclosed knowledge on the dangers of radium, leads to horrendous health problems and even death for many of these workers. 

RADIUM GIRLS follows several different, real, women who worked in these radium factories in New Jersey, Illinois, and Connecticut. Kate Moore did an incredible job of bringing these girls to life and I can't even begin to imagine what they went through. At first, many of the girls were excited to be working with this mysterious new element. They had a nice job, were earning money, and made fast friends with their coworkers during the long hours of sitting at the factory. 

Let me just say that when things got bad, they got bad. The girls were not simply in the room, working withe radium, they were putting it in their mouths. They were taught to wet the paintbrush, that they were using on the watch faces, in their mouths because it was supposedly faster and more efficient. Even when the factory owner and senior employees started to wonder if that was safe and offered cups of water instead, no one enforced it or told the girls to seriously stop putting the radium covered brushes in their mouths. You can only imagine, with what we know now, how horrible this was. 

The girls started to get sick one after the other. They were losing teeth, their jaw bones were falling apart, they couldn't walk, death was imminent for many of the radium girls. But yet, doctors were not connecting these symptoms with the radium work their patients did. So, many of the ill girls kept working with the radium and the rest of the girls at the factories continued with the "lip painting" without knowing they could or would be next. Just writing this review is making me emotional! These poor young women were dying off and no one understood it. 

I don't want to get too much into how the story progressed, even though it is history so you can research this on your own. THE RADIUM GIRLS was incredible at putting a face to this dark time in history and I would highly, highly recommend it. It is horrifying to me that these women were allowed to work in these dangerous conditions and then did not have any support. It took a long time before anyone was on their side and by then, for many of them, it was too late. A truly heartbreaking story and one I was completely unfamiliar with. At times gruesome, this is an important story for everyone to read. These girls deserve to have their stories heard and I am thankful Kate Moore has done that.