#9: Historical Fiction

The Bush Administration was a powerhouse of American Fiction, and pushed the genre deep into new forms, including memos, news briefings, and speeches.  Today, I would like to single out a book which, though it was not written during the administration, proved to be a singular example of the power of the President to control the literary experience of millions of Americans.

I refer, of course, to the work of Lynne Cheney.  

The White House is, of course, justifiably proud of the literary achievements of Mrs. Cheney, listing them in great detail on the website:

Mrs. Cheney has written five bestselling books about American history for children and their families, and well over a million copies of these books are in print. The first, America: A Patriotic Primer... The second, A Is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women... The third, When Washington Crossed the Delaware: A Wintertime Story for Young Patriots... The fourth, A Time for Freedom: What Happened When in America...The fifth, Our 50 States: A Family Adventure Across America...Her most recent book, We the People: The Story of Our Constitution (2008), chronicles the events of the summer of 1787 and the remarkable process by which America’s Founding Fathers framed the Constitution - a document that, in Mrs. Cheney’s words, “created our nation and offered a vision of ordered liberty to all the world.”

How peculiar that nowhere on the site is the one book which propelled the writing talents of Mrs. Cheney into the forefront of American conciousness!  A work of historical fiction so much in demand that trade paperback version commands from $67 to $295 at this writing on Amazon. An autographed version sold for $1500 on eBay.  And yet, no mention on the Whitehouse site. Sadly, this jewel that redefined the bosum-ripper is no longer in print, no publisher willing to challenge Mrs. Cheney's assertion that this was not her best work.

I quote a few examples of the raw, human energy in the novel.  If you hunger for more of this rapacious prose, I direct you to the full text of the book, generously made available at no charge by that OTHER White House site:  Full text of Sisters from Whitehouse.org.

...She tried to steel herself, control her revulsion. All her instincts demanded that she fight him, that she kick, bite, anything to push him away, to get his hands off her. But her mind was moving rapidly. What would happen if she did? It wouldn't change the outcome, merely delay it and bring her more pain and injury. She tried drawing within herself to a place he couldn't touch, to a place from which she could watch him and hate him with a pure and unalloyed hatred.

..."The sampler you have began with Mrs. Barbauld's hymn--know it will be a gift I shall treasure always. How well her words describe our love--or the way it would be if we could remove all impediments, leave this place, and join together as the Ladies of Llangollen did. Then our union would be complete. Our lives would flow together, twin streams merging into a single river."

...“Julia wasn’t Joe’s child, she was Emile’s. And you were Emile’s child too. That’s why you couldn’t marry. You were half-brother and half-sister. That’s why you couldn’t marry. You were half-brother and half-sister, you and my mother.”

Mrs. Chaney denies that this work depicts lesbian sex or rape -- an excellent illustration of the Administration's knack for historical fiction.

Our count down continues tomorrow with #8 - Film.