A Lifelong Affair
Aug. 27th, 2008 05:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stoutfellowI'm only about halfway through Bethine Church's A Lifelong Affair, but I'm already prepared to recommend it.
Bethine Church is the widow of Idaho Senator Frank Church. She came from a political family herself - her father and uncle each served a term as Governor of Idaho - and played a major role in her husband's career. (He used to joke that Idaho had three Senators, Bethine being the third.) A Lifelong Affair is her autobiography, and she comes across as feisty and funny - quite a bit like Molly Ivins, in the gusto with which she lived and writes. She drove like a maniac - her father once advised her never to lose momentum, and she took it to heart, in driving and in life - and wasn't shy about defending her family, verbally or physically. (On one occasion, when journalist Rowland Evans spoke dismissively of Frank Church's role in passing a civil rights bill, she says she had to fight hard against the temptation to push him into the pool. Instead, she verbally lambasted him, earning his enmity for the rest of her husband's career. She shows no particular regret for this.)
If you're interested in the politics of the Senate between 1956 and 1980 or in the reminiscences of a shrewd and vibrant Idahoan woman, or if you just want something to partly fill the gap Molly Ivins' death left, I think you'll like this book.
Bethine Church is the widow of Idaho Senator Frank Church. She came from a political family herself - her father and uncle each served a term as Governor of Idaho - and played a major role in her husband's career. (He used to joke that Idaho had three Senators, Bethine being the third.) A Lifelong Affair is her autobiography, and she comes across as feisty and funny - quite a bit like Molly Ivins, in the gusto with which she lived and writes. She drove like a maniac - her father once advised her never to lose momentum, and she took it to heart, in driving and in life - and wasn't shy about defending her family, verbally or physically. (On one occasion, when journalist Rowland Evans spoke dismissively of Frank Church's role in passing a civil rights bill, she says she had to fight hard against the temptation to push him into the pool. Instead, she verbally lambasted him, earning his enmity for the rest of her husband's career. She shows no particular regret for this.)
If you're interested in the politics of the Senate between 1956 and 1980 or in the reminiscences of a shrewd and vibrant Idahoan woman, or if you just want something to partly fill the gap Molly Ivins' death left, I think you'll like this book.
