Product Description
A New York Times Notable Book of the YearElizabeth Tyler MacMann, the ambitious First Lady of the United States (and known in the tabloids as “Lady Bethmac”), is on trial for the death of her philandering husband, and the only man who can save her is the boyfriend she jilted in law school—now the most shameless defense attorney in America. Published to rave reviews, No Way to Treat a First Lady is a hilariously warped love story for our time set in the funniest place in America: Washington, D.C.

Amazon.com Review
Christopher Buckley is not so much a novelist as a free-ranging satirist looking for targets. In Thank You for Smoking it was big tobacco and earnest reformers; in God Is My Broker it was business and religion; and in No Way to Treat a First Lady, it's the entire legal profession, not to mention the Washington establishment. The novel opens with the President of the United States returning to the conjugal bed after an illicit Lincoln Bedroom romp with the Streisandesque Babette Van Anka. His wife, the long-suffering Beth McMann, promptly clocks him with a Paul Revere spittoon. Several hours later he dies. "Lady Bethmac," as the First Lady is immediately dubbed by the media, is put on trial, and the resulting media circus gives Buckley lots of opportunity for nicely observed skewerings of legal culture. "Judge Dutch creaked forward in his chair. This is the source of the aura of judges: they have bigger chairs than anyone else. That and the fact that they can sentence people to sit in electrified ones. It's all about chairs." He gets in some neat neologisms--a lawyer performs a "credibilobotomy" on a witness--and sends up the pretensions of law TV: at a roundtable discussion, the guest from Harvard Law is invited "to provide gravitas and to shift uneasily in his seat when the other guests said something provocative." Buckley's Trial of the Millennium is so far-fetched that it seems entirely possible. --Claire Dederer

CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 4.0 based on 57 reviews)

Solid by Joseph DeSantis (Washington, DC)

3 Stars
September 19, 2009
This novel is a parody of our media culture when it comes to high profile trials. In No Way To Treat a First Lady, the protagonist, the profoundly immoral defense attorney Bruce Baylor, defends the first lady of the US against charges that she killed her husband, the President. But his true motives for taking the case are in question, as they happened to be a couple back in law school. The cast also includes an airhead Marilyn Monroe type mega star named Babbette with whom it turns out the President was having an affair. Nick Naylor from Thank You For Smoking also makes a few cameo appearances. Many prominent media personalities also make appearances throughout the work, with thinly veiled name changes (i.e. Greta van Botox). Even when Buckley is not at his best, he is still a fun read.

Very Enjoyable by P. White (California)

5 Stars
August 01, 2009
This is a laugh-out-loud novel and I highly recommend it for anyone that sees the human in the follies of Washington D.C.

But A Great Way To Treat A Reader by Franklin the Mouse (Gorham, ME USA)

4 Stars
April 14, 2009
Mr. Buckley's book is an exercise in political absurdity. The author has a knack for taking urban myths and stepping them up to the next level of ridiculousness. As usual, Washington D.C. is the setting and morally challenged characters are sprinkled throughout. The reader knows almost from page one that the likeable protagonists will probably go scot-free, but how Mr. Buckley resolves this issue is the major reason I like reading his work. There were enough twists and turns to keep me guessing until the end. A mixture of brainy satire and street-smart shenanigans makes it a comical and satisfying read. This is not Shakespeare, but simply great fun.

Great satire, good reading by S. L. Hill-Tanquist (U.S.A.)

4 Stars
November 14, 2008
Christopher Buckley's No Way to Treat a First Lady is both a legal mystery and a satire on several institutions that have abused the trust of the American people: lawyers, leaders of our country who have engaged in sexual misconduct/the people who enable their misconduct, and the national security organizations with their questionable loyalties. There are laugh-out-loud moments, the characters are well-done, and the trial is out of this world. I didn't quite fall in love with the book, but definitely enjoyed the read.

Buckley is king of political satire for a reason... by Candace Beauchamp (Austin, TX)

4 Stars
October 22, 2008
Given the current political crap going on, this was really nice... sometimes you hear that fact is funnier than fiction, but I dunno, this was very very funny. Buckley is probably the best political satire fiction writer I've ever had the pleasure of reading. The sad part? I can totally see some of these things happening for real - *laugh*

SIMILAR PRODUCTS

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