Lynne Cheney
Lynne V. Cheney, wife of Vice President Richard B. Cheney, has loved history for as long as she can remember, and she has spent much of her professional life writing and speaking about the importance of knowing history and teaching it well.
As chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities from 1986 to 1993, she published American Memory, a report that warned about the failure of schools to transmit knowledge of the past to upcoming generations. "A system of education that fails to nurture memory of the past denies its students a great deal," Mrs. Cheney wrote: "the satisfactions of mature thought, an attachment to abiding concerns, a perspective on human existence." Today, as a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute, she particularly emphasizes the value of knowing our nation's history. "One of the important lessons we can learn is that freedom isn't inevitable," she says. "This realization should make the liberty we enjoy all the more important to us, all the more worth defending."
Mrs. Cheney has written articles about history for numerous publications on topics ranging from woman suffrage in the West and the way Americans celebrated the country's centennial to more tongue-in-cheek assessments, such as the impact of technological advances like air-conditioning and the Xerox machine on life in Washington, D.C. She was a member of the Commission on the Bicentennial of the Constitution and, more recently, served on former Texas Governor George W. Bush's education team. She was part of a group that revised Texas standards for the study of history.
She is author or coauthor of five books for adults, including Kings of the Hill (second edition, 1996), a book about figures from Henry Clay to Sam Rayburn who played powerful roles in the House of Representatives. She wrote this book with her husband, who was a congressman from Wyoming from 1979 to 1989. Telling the Truth (Simon & Schuster, paperback, 1996) analyzed the effect of postmodernism on study in the humanities.
Mrs. Cheney's first book for children, America: A Patriotic Primer, is an alphabet book intended for elementary school children and their families. Published in 2002 and a national bestseller, America celebrates the ideas and ideals that are the foundations of our country. Her second children's book, A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women, was published in 2003 and is also a national bestseller. Mrs. Cheney's third book for children, When Washington Crossed the Delaware: A Wintertime Story for Young Patriots, is a straightforward yet elegant retelling of the dramatic military campaign that began on Christmas night, 1776. Published in 2004, it is also a national bestseller.
A Time for Freedom: What Happened When in America, a book for families, was published in 2005 and was a New York Times bestseller.
Using a portion of the proceeds from her children's books, Mrs. Cheney created the James Madison Book Award, a $10,000 annual prize for the best American history book for children or young people. Given each July, the award recognizes the importance of teaching children American history and encourages authors and illustrators to take up that task.
Mrs. Cheney earned her bachelor of arts degree with highest honors from Colorado College, her master of arts from the University of Colorado, and her Ph.D. with a specialization in nineteenth-century British literature from the University of Wisconsin. She is the recipient of awards and honorary degrees from numerous colleges and universities.
Vice President and Mrs. Cheney were married in 1964. They have two grown daughters, Mary and Elizabeth, and five grandchildren, Kate, Elizabeth, Grace, Philip, and Richard.
Contributor: Simon and Schuster
To view a Q & A feature about her book A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women, click here.
To view a Q & A feature about her book Our 50 States: A Family Adventure Across America?, click here.
To view a Q & A feature about her book America: A Patriotic Primer, click here.
Reviews
When Washington Crossed the Delaware: A Wintertime Story for Young Patriots
Lynne Cheney
Illustrations by Peter M. Fiore
Washington's famed crossing of the Delaware is a treasured part of American history that gets a beautifully packaged presentation here. It's undeniably cheering in a dark and discouraging world to read of Washington's bold and daring maneuver to surprise the enemy and save the hopes of his struggling young country. Cheney's account, meticulously documented, is a bit flat in its narration. While each page includes a stirring quotation from a historical source, it would have been stronger to have integrated these directly into the text. Better to hear Martha Washington's grandson recounting that a watching officer, "horror-struck at the danger of his beloved commander, . . . drew his hat over his face that he might not see [Washington] die," than to hear Cheney's pedestrian report: "Once the two sides started firing, it seemed impossible that [Washington] would survive." The book in the end belongs to Fiore, whose large, dramatically composed paintings dominate each double-page spread with their own vivid retelling of this crucial turning point in American history. Reviewer: Claudia Mills
ISBN: 0-689-87043-4
A is for Abigail: An Almanac of Amazing American Women
Lynne Cheney
Illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser
Remember the Ladies" Abigail Adams told her husband in 1776 in a letter. In fact, she went so far as to warn him that ""if particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice or representation." Unfortunately, it was not until the 1900s that women were able to vote. Still, women found many ways to make their mark, to have their say, and to get their way. Presented in the form of an alphabet book, this is a remarkable collection of stories about women who have made a difference in the history of the United States; indeed, many also made a contribution to the world. Each beautifully illustrated, often annotated, page is packed with information and quotes. We meet women who we have heard of before and others who are new to us. We are shown how women have been able to make a difference in every aspect of life, despite opposition. They have been fliers, artists, business people and inventors, and have done just about everything you can think of. Robin Preiss Glasser finds the most extraordinary ways to present the information; for example, the letter F is for "First Ladies." Each of the ladies has her portrait shown on a teacup, milk jug, sugar bowl, coffee pot, or teapot. The ladies who made their mark in the press are shown on the front of a newspaper. Those who were performers of some kind are shown on a stage. By the time we close this extraordinary book we feel empowered, knowing that women have achieved so much in a world that has not always been hospitable to their successes. We can feel proud, and we can also feel gratitude to this author and illustrator team for creating such a lovely and meaningful book. At the back of the book the author has provided notes on the text that give further information about the women pictured in the book. 2003, Simon and Schuster, $16.96. Ages 8 to 10. Reviewer: Marya Jansen-Gruber (Children's Literature)
ISBN: 0-689-85819-1
America: A Patriotic Primer
Lynne Cheney
Illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser
Using the ABCs as a jump-start, Cheney and Glasser review with pride and enthusiasm what makes America unique among nations. The book opens with A for America and B for Birthday of the nation in a double-page spread celebration. Letters stand for ideas such as Equality, Freedom, Ideals, Patriotism, and Suffrage; artifacts such as the Constitution; people such as Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King Jr, James Madison, Native Americans, and George Washington; and others such as X, which marks various key locations of historical events; and Q commemorating America's quest for "the new, the far, and the very best." In a wonderful and hopeful accolade to youth, Y is for You, "and all you will be in this greatest of countries, the land of the free" and is illustrated by trading-card-like images of children who are future art critics or test pilots and in various occupations-to-be. Cheney and Glasser work in a tremendous amount of information by decorative borders of names or quotes, multiple sidebars lavishly captioned, and a centered short paragraph balancing the letter. Each letter incorporates a modern American family, for instance, reading in bed on J for Jefferson's page, with Jefferson's well-known quote underlining the picture, "I cannot live without books." Thus readers are treated to numerous facts about Jefferson plus several quotes, a formula echoed on the facing page of K for King. The letter-vignette pictures a white child lifting up a younger brown child to have a drink at the fountain and the quote is "Let justice roll down like waters." Ronald Reagan is the only president of recent history to earn a spot in the text, with a quote. (Readers may want to check out Alice Provensen's well-designed The Buck Stops Here, published in 1990 to review presidents through Reagan). This carefully designed book invites readers of all ages to consider, in Cheney's words, "how blessed we are...to be part of a nation whose citizens enjoy liberty and opportunity such as have never been known before." There's a lot to learn here and Glasser's cheerful, cartoonish, black-line, colored pencil, and watercolor illustrations wear their research lightly but accurately. Endnotes on the text are extensive and include information about patriots, heroes, and aspects to further each letter's presentation. 2002, Simon & Schuster, $16.95. Ages 6 to 12. Reviewer: Susan Hepler, Ph.D. (Children's Literature)
ISBN: 0-689-85192-8
Our 50 States: A Family Adventure Across America
Lynne Cheney
Illustrated by Robin Preiss Glasser
The premise is that a family of five and their dog head out for a year to visit all 50 states-they set out in by car, but it is not clear how they get to Alaska or Hawaii since you cannot drive to Hawaii and it is quite a trek to drive to Alaska. Each page is quite busy and some get a single page and others a spread. Sometimes designs run around creating a border and often text runs around the page. There is an outline of the state with major cities and points of interest and the state capitol marked with a star. The date it became a state, motto, state bird and flower are mention along with a dozen facts about famous people, events or places. There is a lot of information to absorb and kids will need to read and reread the book if they want to absorb it all. So for those planning a vacation to one or more of these states, take the book along and use it as a guide to get started looking at and learning some interesting facts. 2006, Simon & Schuster, Ages 6 up, $17.95. Reviewer: Marilyn Courtot (Children's Literature).
ISBN: 978-0-689-86717-0
ISBN: 0-689-86717-4
Updated 12/27/06
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