As US journalist Azadeh Moaveni was writing her latest book, ‘The East Wing’, a history of America's first ladies and their staff, President Donald Trump’s demolition of that very part of the White House was underway. 

Moaveni presents her book as a “parallel women’s history,” tracing how the wives of US presidents, including Melania Trump, who traditionally had offices in the now-vanished annex, helped shape alliances at home and abroad.