Smithsonian Book of the First Ladies

With a foreword by Hillary Rodham Clinton, The Smithsonian Book of the First Ladies: Their Lives, Times, and Issues, edited by Edith P. Mayo, presents highlights from the lives of all 43 First Ladies, including the strict Sarah Polk, who allowed no dancing in the White House, to Lucy Hays, who held firm in her belief that even Presidential wives should not try to influence their husbands' politics. This handsome, well-researched volume includes 127 photographs and paintings, as well as 11 entries on such related subjects as ""Where Does the Term `First Lady' Come From?"" and ""How Have First Ladies Contributed to Campaigning?"" (Holt, $24.95 ISBN 0-8050-1751-8, Mar.)