The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House by Kate Andersen BrowerMy rating: 3 of 5 stars
This was a nice follow-up for me to Upstairs at the White House: My Life with the First Ladies as this basically overlaps that story with the Kennedy administration and then takes it up to the Obama White House. This is fairly revelatory with tidbits about the sexual shenanigans in the Kennedy tenure as well as the dark day of the assassination. Several staffers noted then the renewed closeness between the Kennedys after the infant death of their son, Patrick. This was deemed as the reason she followed him to Dallas, which was otherwise unusual. Of course, the Johnson's follow with LBJ's toilet talks and this book's version of his shower crisis, told in more skin-reddening detail than J.B. West's recollection. For pulling the curtain back, much is done with the Clinton era including Lewinski sightings (I had forgotten that relationship went on for months) as well as the screaming and Hillary clocking Bill with a gash-causing blow from a book. (Stitches!) There is a lot of food preferences and details of how each family viewed and treated the staff - both really based on their prior lifestyles. 9/11 seemed rather remarkable for the way the staff, left to clear picnic tables post-evac, were really left to fend for themselves. At least they could eventually leave - some Secret Service staff were not allowed to quit the premises.
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