Spoken from the Heart

By: Laura Bush

Narrated by: Laura Bush

Length: 9 hrs and 2 mins

Publisher's summary

In this brave, beautiful, and deeply personal memoir, Laura Bush, one of our most beloved and private first ladies, tells her own extraordinary story.

Born in the boom-and-bust oil town of Midland, Texas, Laura Welch grew up as an only child. She vividly evokes Midland's brash, rugged culture, her close relationship with her father, and the bonds of early friendships that sustain her to this day. For the first time, she writes about the devastating high-school car accident that left her friend Mike Douglas dead and about her decades of unspoken grief.

When Laura Welch first left West Texas in 1964, she never imagined that her journey would lead her to the world stage and the White House. After graduating from Southern Methodist University in 1968, she became an elementary school teacher, working in inner-city schools, then trained to be a librarian. At age 30, she met George W. Bush, whom she had last passed in the hallway in seventh grade. Three months later, "the old maid of Midland married Midland's most eligible bachelor." With rare intimacy and candor, Laura Bush writes about her early married life as she was thrust into one of America's most prominent political families, as well as her deep longing for children and her husband's decision to give up drinking. By 1993, she found herself in the full glare of the political spotlight. But just as her husband won the Texas governorship, her father, Harold Welch, was dying in Midland.

In 2001, after one of the closest elections in American history, Laura Bush moved into the White House. Here she captures presidential life in the harrowing days and weeks after 9/11, when fighter-jet cover echoed through the walls and security scares sent the family to an underground shelter. She writes openly about the White House during wartime, the withering and relentless media spotlight, and the transformation of her role as she began to understand the power of the first lady.

©2010 Laura Bush (P)2010 Simon & Schuster

Beautiful

It was a classy perspective given by a classy lady. I love the fun and serious stories of a lifetime. Whether you think you know her life or don’t know it at all, it is worth a listen as it truly is an interesting tale.

Spoken from the Heart

Thank you, Mrs. Bush! I have laughed and cried. God Bess you and President Bush.

She is the American Princess Di

From the tainted media picture, Laura is portrayed as the wall flower, cookie baking librarian. Yet this book sheds light on the amazing accomplishments she did international for women's rights, UN, and put her life in danger multiple times. In addtion, to the multiple trips to Africa for AIDs. Plus, her account gives a human perspective of the White House experience. She is a great lady and we were blessed to have her and W in the White House. Eventhough, W did not control congressional spending. Compared to the Obamas, wow we did not know how good we had it.

book of Mrs Bush

very very good. awesome awesome :) thank very much for writing this book. :) .

Your sweet voice and sharing your family history.

Laura- I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your audio book. My husband has cancer in his brain. He was a geologist for Exxon, and we got to live In Andrews and also visited Midland. Then we lived in England as he traveled for Esso. Your wonderful voice is so warm and comforting to me at this time. Your words bring back memories of our life in West Texas. When we lived in Houston we went to see you before the election. You are a wonderful person, and I am so grateful to hear your beautiful stories. Thank you again, Joanne Clark

great story

Loved this story of Laura Bush's life from humble beginnings. She remains humble. great lady

Three sides to every story

It’s amazing to compare her story in her own hers to the way the media portrayed her when I was growing up. Glad I got her perspective to form my own opinion. I loved how down to earth Laura is and as a twin myself enjoyed the stories of her twin daughters. A refreshingly new take on the Bush years.

Lakelady68

Awesome book. She is a lady like no other & I totally enjoy'd her story, even better with her reading it. Thank you Mrs. Bush

Wonderful!

I enjoyed this book immensly. I believe that it was very heatfelt as told by Laura Bush. Listening to her read the book added to my pleasure.

So happy with this

I've been wanting to read Laura Bush's autobiography since I read the novel, "American Wife," which was based quite a bit on Laura Bush's life. I wished I had downloaded this book a month earlier than when I did because my husband and I were on a road trip in West Texas. Ms. Bush has a wonderful way of writing and expressing the landscape and the realities of the land that she loves and that would have made our trip even better. Her love of West Texas comes out in her writing. That was my favorite part of the book--when she describes her home life, her upbringing, her family. When she gets into the political years it feels like it's a mix of detachment and wonderment (fascination of Who's Who as visitors arrive to the White House events), as she's thrust into a lifestyle that is so far removed with how she was raised and what is at the core of her, yet when she speaks passionately about the causes she championed, her writing picks up and you can tell it delights her. I imagine that when you have a life in the White House you do become a bit detached and there is not a lot to comment on--or that can be commented on without getting political, though I have to confess I rather enjoyed her voicing her frustration with some of the politics and those who you can tell she probably would never invite over for dinner. I was happy to finally get to the last chapters where she talked about post-White House life. Her syntax and beautiful descriptive writing returned back to what it was in the beginning and with that you can tell what really moves her--it's not what happened in the White House.

I too, didn't realize until much later in the book that this was abridged. OH NO! TOO BAD! I would have loved to have heard more. So, I bought the hard back for my mother for Mother's Day so I could page through and pick up parts I missed AND to see photos--I have to admit that's the part I wish Audible would do is provide a link to the photos that are in the book. That's my favorite part of biographies.

By the way, I totally recommend this book and have gushed about it to some of my friends.