“Why They Stay” explores the possible reasoning and motivation behind why political wives stay with their husbands after the husbands cheat. Hillary Clinton couldn’t have known in 1998 how her husband’s high-profile philandering would play out. Would he be rehabilitated in the public eye? She couldn’t be sure, but she took the gamble. Had she left the marriage, today she might be the spurned wife … wife of a retired politician instead of the first American woman to run for president on a major party ticket.Looking back on the path chosen by the nine political wives profiled in this book, we have the evidence to see a pattern–as old as the dynastic maneuverings of England’s medieval queens. The women married to the “royalty” of our times–politicians–make similar cold calculations in order to hold onto their “thrones” and their family’s history-making potential.After covering politicians for decades, acclaimed columnist Anne Michaud switched her gaze to the women behind the cheating men. Drawing from multiple sources that span the Roosevelts’ marriage to the more recent scandal involving Hillary Clinton’s closest aide Huma Abedin (wife of “sexter,” Anthony Weiner), “Why They Stay: Sex Scandals, Deals, and Hidden Agendas of Nine Political Wives” argues that when it comes to the “power behind the throne,” women in the limelight weigh the risks and rewards. They remain loyal to their men, because of complex, often unconscious forces.From mapping a path to power to laudable notions of holding the family together, Michaud examines the uniquely challenging Faustian bargains that political wives grapple with, even as the public spotlight illuminates their every move.
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Anne Michaud has spent a lot of time covering politics through journalism, and it’s very clear that experience translated well into a book format. Michaud has a strong name and handle on candidly discussing her views on many women’s related issues, and this book is no different.
This is far from a regular political story, as the focus is shifted toward the women and their motives for staying in toxic (particularly cheating) relationships with their spouses. The range here goes from true love to political prowess to power, and each person examined is analyzed thoroughly to discuss the possible motives and likely reasons why they’ve chosen to stay (as the title suggests).
This piece is a very neat work on an issue often talked about at the water cooler, but not often thoroughly analyzed and pieced together. I really like what Michaud has done here, and her passion for discussing issues that aren’t always comfortable for many really shines here. What I really love is that we see these things play out on TV, in newspapers, and tabloids, but we don’t often get a deep dive. A great piece of work!
So I’ve gone outside my comfort zone to read this one, I felt intrigued about the tittle, we hear every once in a while sex scandals in politics, there’s always some news to follow, but what about the people living those scandals? We sometimes see this news, and think so much from their decisions as powerful men or women. But we need to understand that’s there’s so much more than meets the eye.
This is what Anne Michaud is sharing with us; the lives of nine women, and how they choose to stay to their partners even when they are betrayed, when their life as a family or as couples is exposed for everyone to see and to judge.
The way the author describes every story is amazing, all of these women share some similarities, form their childhood, to how they cope with the scandal once became public.
They want status, security and privilege and they come from traditional families, where infidelity is not something to break a family, so they choose either to forgive or to have separate lives in private but in public they’re the perfect political marriage. Anne Michaud analyzes every part of their lives and is able to find some similarities between them, she calls it White Queen Syndrome, and rates every one of them regarding of their motives to stay in the marriage.
Its quite interesting to see that every one of them feel that they have this duty towards the country as the perfect wife or to appear to be the perfect family and sustain their Children mental health; even though there’s no prof that to appear the perfect marriage is beneficial for the lives of the children.
Its amazing how the author manages to interwine the past of this women and the reasons why they are currently living the way they keep doing. Some of them have this submitins to tradition, they’re longing for security, have this personal sense of patriotism, they feel responsible for the family and some of them maybe only the most recent, hace some ambition to build a lecagy for themselves.
So I´ve gone outside my comfort zone to read this one, I felt intrigued about the tittle, we hear every once in a while sex scandals in politics, there´s always some news to follow, but what about the people living those scandals? We sometimes see this news, and think so much from their decisions as powerful men or women. But we need to understand that´s there´s so much more than meets the eye.
This is what Anne Michaud is sharing with us; the lives of nine women, and how they choose to stay to their partners even when they are betrayed, when their life as a family or as couples is exposed for everyone to see and to judge.
The way the author describes every story is amazing, all of these women share some similarities, form their childhood, to how they cope with the scandal once became public.
They want status, security and privilege and they come from traditional families, where infidelity is not something to break a family, so they choose either to forgive or to have separate lives in private but in public they´re the perfect political marriage. Anne Michaud analyzes every part of their lives and is able to find some similarities between them, she calls it White Queen Syndrome, and rates every one of them regarding of their motives to stay in the marriage.
Its quite interesting to see that every one of them feel that they have this duty towards the country as the perfect wife or to appear to be the perfect family and sustain their Children mental health; even though there´s no prof that to appear the perfect marriage is beneficial for the lives of the children.
Its amazing how the author manages to interwine the past of this women and the reasons why they are currently living the way they keep doing. Some of them have this submitins to tradition, they´re longing for security, have this personal sense of patriotism, they feel responsible for the family and some of them maybe only the most recent, hace some ambition to build a lecagy for themselves.
This was a very good read that captured my interest from the very beginning and kept my interest until the turn of the very last page!
Anne Michaud is a reporter for the Wall Street Journal, with a long and enormously successful career in political journalism and women’s issues. She tells a story in ‘Why They Stay,’ based around well-researched facts, which are documented in detail with footnotes as evidence. This is a political non-fiction book with a difference, as Michaud weaves her chosen political wives together, commenting on traits they all had in common, which she believes are the basis for their decision making.
This is a book that reveals plenty of previously unknown information about the political figures it centers around and will appeal to anyone who is interested in politics, women’s issues, as well as people who enjoy reading gossip magazines. This is an informative read, skillfully written, witty, and entertaining. The real stories contained in the book are presented without bias and are full of intrigue, history, and analytical psychology.
I rarely read books with a political background, but Why They Stay was a fun and entertaining read. I imagine the research for this book was addictive, because gathering information and insight as to who these women really were and the reasons for their choices would be compelling.
I almost hate to use the word entertaining when discussing my reasons for enjoying this book, but it fits my feelings. I always held assumptions as to why a woman would remain married to these men who became political jokes with their scandalous behaviors. We all like to think we know what we would do in their situation. But do we really?
I feel that the author chose incredible women to write about and did a great job in keeping this book from reading like a gossip column. I found it to be informative, humorous, satisfying, and intelligent. Definitely recommend this book!
I really enjoyed reading this book because it truly made me think and reflect how or why any woman would or could stay with a cheating husband. This story looks into the way these women were raised from childhood and offers alternative reasoning that could lie behind their future decisions. The author has obviously done thorough research on these women and their lives which made it a very informative read for me. I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who has even a passing curiosity into the psychology behind the complex lives of these iconic women, and I have already recommended it to my friends.
Why They Stay by Anne Michaud is a really interesting read that explores the possible reasons why political wives stay with their philandering politician husbands after a cheating scandal has broken. If you have ever wondered why Hilary stayed with Bill after the ‘Cigar Incident’ then this is the book to read. It demonstrates the motivations behind the decision to stay and the hidden agendas of the scorned women.
I was particularly interested in reading about the Profumo Scandal as there is a really good drama about his Profumo’s affair with Christine Keeler currently on the TV. There were many cheating politicians in the book that I hadn’t heard about and the case studies into them were so fascinating. A great read!
Why They Stay: Sex Scandals, Deals, and Hidden Agendas of Nine Political Wives by Anne Michaud is a documented account of women in history who have stayed with their political husband when they could have had a happier marriage elsewhere. The author compares the qualities of the Medieval England Queen Elizabeth Woodville to nine women. She highlights five specific traits that many of the featured political wives exhibit. These modern day White Queens face unbelievable pressure and publicity that doesn’t allow them to sort through infidelity in a private manner.
It impressed me with the research and unbiased writing Anne Michaud displays in Why They Stay. She discusses the effect these women had on their family and country by the decisions they made. I was surprised by how many of these were related by extended relations or marriage. My favorite of the nine women would have to be Jackie Kennedy. I have always viewed her as a beautiful and classy lady and I was glad the author did not smear her name. I found I learned a lot about past presidents and their families that is not common knowledge. I think political enthusiasts and anyone who draw inspiration from strong women will find this an outstanding read.
This isn’t my usual book genre, however it was recommended to me by a friend so I thought I would give it a go and I was not disappointed. The book is about the reasoning why some women (politicians wives) choose to stay with their cheating husbands and I have to say after reading this book I do have a new perspective, the book is well researched and really does offer alternative reasoning behind the decisions that some of these women make. Im really glad I read this book as I feel I got to find out much more about the people the author has written about and in turn has changed my opinion a few things. Anne Michaud has obviously done her research and presented fact based approach to this subject. Well done! I would recommend this book. 4 stars.
Why They Stay is a fascinating book, which gives an in-depth look at the possible reasons why some women in the public eye stand by their man. Looking into the way these people were raised from early childhood allows for a better understanding of why someone may choose to stay with a cheating husband. Michaud outlines five traits thatches women share that attribute to the reasons why they stayed.
A well researched and well written book that I would highly recommend.
Author Anne Michaud earned her degree in Journalism from Columbia University Graduate School and serves as an award-winning writer for The Wall Street Journal. She has also written for The Los Angeles Times, The Boston Globe, Newsday, Newsweek, and Cincinnati Magazine among others. Her position in the US realm of journalism is impressive, and now she has published her first book – WHY THEY STAY – that has been honored in the arena of Women’s Issues and Current Events.
Research and reportage can be informative, but Anne Michaud makes it involving and engrossing in the style and manner in which she writes. Focusing on facts, enhanced by her probing examination of data and her resultant insights, brings a fresh sense of immediacy to the ‘scandals’ she has studied. Her focus is on the women of the political pairings and she addresses these women as White Queens.
As she states in her Prologue, “Our modern White Queens were prepared from early life to accept the limits and burdens of marrying men with great political ambitions. Marriage as a goal in itself – and especially marriage to an important wealthy man – is an ambition for which women have trained for centuries, and it’s what I refer to as a patriarchal mindset. In White Queen days, there was a literal patriarchy: Men ruled. Today, a remnant of this power hierarchy exists in our minds – and to some degree, in the political and corporate worlds – especially among people of privilege and social rank. Politics reinforces this mindset because it’s a tradition-bound world…Couples who enter the political world are at least comfortable with its underlying culture and assumptions, and that comfort deepens over the years they remain in politics…’
After presenting her case for the traits of the wives whose lives and standings she addresses, this impressively written book examines the full facts about the marriages of Jackie and John F. Kennedy, Eleanor and Franklin D. Roosevelt, Hilary and Bill Clinton, Silda Wall and Eliot Spitzer, Wendy and David Vitter, Huma Abedin and Anthony Weiner, and UK couples Valerie Hobson and Jack Profumo, Marion Stein and Jeremy Thorpe, and Israeli couple Gila and Moshe Katsav. The facts are related as history: the insights and thoughts result in psychobiographies!
This is information to grasp, to digest, and to appreciate the stature of the women behind the thrones in a manner few authors can equal. The book deserves the awards earned and further honors Anne Michaud’s high standing in the spectrum of journalism!
Great Political Gossip
On first blush, this seemed to be just glorified political gossip disguised as psychology. Much of what she writes about I had no prior knowledge. The author does a wonderful just documenting her sources as everything is footnoted. She does not disguise her admiration for most of these women, especially those on the left side of the political isle, including definitions of Liberalism/Conservatism that are opinion and not fact.. While I may not accept her ‘White Queen’ theory, it does bear a closer look. It reads a little better than a textbook, but not as smooth as a novel. It is definitely an interesting book, if only for the gossip value.