Sex with Presidents: The Ins and Outs of Love and Lust in the White House
Sex with Presidents tells the stirring stories of the women who became famous—and notorious—for bedding the incumbents of Washington’s White House. Since numerous North American political leaders kept lovers, Eleanor Herman examines the question of why the United States, unlike France, lacks the institution of the “mistress.” A mix of gossip and revelatory account, social and cultural history, Sex with Presidents is at times very moving, as when it relates the destinies of enslaved concubines and other women who were forced into entering a sexual liaison with a head of state; deprived of the freedom of choice, they were later denied the possibility to secure an independent existence at the conclusion of an affair. Meticulously researched and compellingly written, Sex with Presidents does not shy away from tackling the problematic aspects of publicly sanctioned promiscuity, as well as the challenges it posed for women who embarked on an extramarital relationship with a partner who had the power to determine their fate and even to destroy them. A thrilling read.
