The White House: An Illustrated Tour

Rating:
Summary: Great book at a very good price
Review: I don't often find a coffee-table worthy book [at this price]. This book has more content (including great historical coverage) than I expected, and I am happily suprised. Great product!

Rating:
Summary: Tour-age and the White House
Review: Like Alice walking into Wonderland, many residents visit the public areas of the White House through its many tours. A few documentaries have been made over the years, but few which track the "life" of the White House itself. Since it plays its own panoramic role in the life of every President who lives there, it deserves its own category in American History as more than simply the home of Presidents. More within the realm of "if these walls could talk" scenes, there is the architectural significance of the changes made there, but there is also the social history of the "home" that becomes a part of each Presidential term. Every President should be publishing his own "view" of the White House, his impressions, his concerns, the significance of living there, changes that might be made, etc., all in an effort to identify the "true" nature of the White House because they are in the best position to evalutate its strengths, weaknesses, and significance, which likely changes relative to the personality of each President who inhabits it, or tries to accommodate his family there. This is something that should be separate from any autobiography he or a First Lady might write because it is its own unique topic, and deserves the attention that any ultra-historical building might require as a result of its potential influence upon those persons. Each President who lives and works there is likely to enter, some with anticipation, but most without a sense of the spectacular wonderland atmosphere that accompanies that journey through time, identified by their own performance, and is possible to be viewed best, from their personal experience of living there. From such personal perspective of America's house, it is possible for ordinary Americans to appreciate what that might be like, what value the home is to the nation, and possibly, how its support (and condition) is essential to American history. It also makes great flavor-fare in respect of historical preservation, while giving a running history of the place from such unique perspectives. It is the most common denominator of each President and from these views, a pattern over time may develop to identify unique perspectives of historical significance, and perhaps something about the Presidential experience as well as the personal attributes and contemplative possibilities of each President. There have been observations previously by several Presidents about the White House, and accumulated and taken together, they offer great insight into the unique experience of being a President, always a valuable exercise from the perspective of the public who must choose one each four years to live there. Because the experience of a President is as much about each person as it is about what each President does during his term, this is a very family-friendly method of reaching those interesting perspectives through which America may relate to its Presidents and their families, and the experience they go through in being President. It is Presidential family entertainment at its best and helps to give character and dimension to each President and the terms in which they serve, and perhaps something of their disappointments, and dreams from such an awe-inspiring place. It's also a wonderful way for Presidents to share their experience with the public, apart from the complications of the nature of the office that are the focus of most historical documentaries.

Rating:
Summary: Tour-age and the White House
Review: Like Alice walking into Wonderland, many residents visit the public areas of the White House through its many tours. A few documentaries have been made over the years, but few which track the "life" of the White House itself. Since it plays its own panoramic role in the life of every President who lives there, it deserves its own category in American History as more than simply the home of Presidents. More within the realm of "if these walls could talk" scenes, there is the architectural significance of the changes made there, but there is also the social history of the "home" that becomes a part of each Presidential term. Every President should be publishing his own "view" of the White House, his impressions, his concerns, the significance of living there, changes that might be made, etc., all in an effort to identify the "true" nature of the White House because they are in the best position to evalutate its strengths, weaknesses, and significance, which likely changes relative to the personality of each President who inhabits it, or tries to accommodate his family there. This is something that should be separate from any autobiography he or a First Lady might write because it is its own unique topic, and deserves the attention that any ultra-historical building might require as a result of its potential influence upon those persons. Each President who lives and works there is likely to enter, some with anticipation, but most without a sense of the spectacular wonderland atmosphere that accompanies that journey through time, identified by their own performance, and is possible to be viewed best, from their personal experience of living there. From such personal perspective of America's house, it is possible for ordinary Americans to appreciate what that might be like, what value the home is to the nation, and possibly, how its support (and condition) is essential to American history. It also makes great flavor-fare in respect of historical preservation, while giving a running history of the place from such unique perspectives. It is the most common denominator of each President and from these views, a pattern over time may develop to identify unique perspectives of historical significance, and perhaps something about the Presidential experience as well as the personal attributes and contemplative possibilities of each President. There have been observations previously by several Presidents about the White House, and accumulated and taken together, they offer great insight into the unique experience of being a President, always a valuable exercise from the perspective of the public who must choose one each four years to live there. Because the experience of a President is as much about each person as it is about what each President does during his term, this is a very family-friendly method of reaching those interesting perspectives through which America may relate to its Presidents and their families, and the experience they go through in being President. It is Presidential family entertainment at its best and helps to give character and dimension to each President and the terms in which they serve, and perhaps something of their disappointments, and dreams from such an awe-inspiring place. It's also a wonderful way for Presidents to share their experience with the public, apart from the complications of the nature of the office that are the focus of most historical documentaries.

Rating:
Summary: looking in from the outside
Review: Living in the UK and never visiting the USA I find the White House very interesting indeed, and this book is very helpful to me as its right up to date, explains the various changes to the building, from Thomas Jeffersons north & south porticos to George W Bush's new Oval office carpet. its vert well illustrated ,very well written and very educational ( to a White House novice like me at least) the only hiccup i think is that its not long enough, i read it in no time and it left me hungry for more information on this wonderful building, but for [this price]who can argue?

Rating:
Summary: Disappointng imagery and captions
Review: The front matter dealing with historical evolution of the early White House is accurate and highly interesting. Bill Harris receives points for the accessibility of this book, and I know it is not meant to be the definitive White House tour book. Unfortunately this is the extent of anything positive I can find to say about this book.

Harris' book suffers in two surprising ways. First the reproduction quality of photographs, even current Bush administration photographs, is disappointing. Photographs appear either milky with little contrast or too dark with low light areas appearing as dark brown to black. Most disappointing, and highly surprising are the blatant disconnects between his captions and the photographs they are supposed to describe. It made me wonder if he had benefit of an editor or fact checker at Courage Books. As example, caption descriptions of the Red Room, and State Dining Room each describe the rooms as they presently exist, yet the photographs are 50 and 45 years out of date respectively. Example: the Red Room is described as having been restored in 2000 retaining the American Empire period established in the Kennedy administration, and yet the photograph we are shown is that of the pre-Kennedy, Truman administration renovation produced by B. Altman showing the room furnished in bad reproductions. A similar disconnect between caption and photograph exists for the State Dining Room where, once again the Truman era renovation photograph is shown. The Blue Room is presented in its Kennedy era decoration as though that was how the room currently appears even though it has been redecorated during both the Nixon and Clinton administrations. The book's last page, a list of phot credits titled "Acknowledgments" reveals the reason we find such dated imagery. Much of the credit goes to the stock image libraries of Corbis and Bettman. Harris and ultimately his readers would have been better served by his simply contacting White House Curator Betty Monkman for public domain and current images of the White House.