The American President

Rating:
Summary: Hype not History
Review: I was encouraged to purchase this book because of the way in which the content was organized. I returned the book for a refund after reading the chapter on Clinton. If one does a page count devoted to each of the presidents, one must assume that the authors feel, as Al Gore does, that Clinton will be considered one of our greatest presidents. It is mysterious to me how anyone, looking back on the Clinton years, could contrive an opinion, as the authors do, that Clinton's problems were concocted by a hostile congress. This is political hype not history.

Rating:
Summary: Audio CD- Great Book and Good Reader make a Great Listen
Review: It seems increasingly rare that you get all three desirable elements within an unabridged audio CD; a good story, a good reader and a presentation that is easy to understand. This Audio CD succeeds on all three accounts.

The author's material lends itself to a book that is easily listened to. The three Mr. Kunhardts have analyzed all of the country's presidents by grouping them into ten categories, Heroic Posture, Compromise Choices, Professional Politicians, Independent Casts of Mind, Family Ties, Happenstance, The American Way, the World Stage, Expanding Power and Balance of Power. You'll be surprised to see where the authors have placed various presidents. I especially enjoyed the pieces about Hoover, McKinley, Polk and Taft. This quick and easy breakdown allows the authors to spend about 8 - 12 minutes of reading time per president, making it easy to digest as you listen to. They focus on the major highlights of their presidencies, and by comparing them to others within their respective category, make some enlightening points about American history. This is one of the first audio CDs I've listened where purchasing the text is an appealing proposition. The reader does a very good job of seriously reading the parts without overdoing it. They use a second reader for various direct quotes of the presidents.

This is a very good Audio CD. I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Audio CD- Great Book and Good Reader make a Great Listen
Review: It seems increasingly rare that you get all three desirable elements within an unabridged audio CD; a good story, a good reader and a presentation that is easy to understand. This Audio CD succeeds on all three accounts.

The author's material lends itself to a book that is easily listened to. The three Mr. Kunhardts have analyzed all of the country's presidents by grouping them into ten categories, Heroic Posture, Compromise Choices, Professional Politicians, Independent Casts of Mind, Family Ties, Happenstance, The American Way, the World Stage, Expanding Power and Balance of Power. You'll be surprised to see where the authors have placed various presidents. I especially enjoyed the pieces about Hoover, McKinley, Polk and Taft. This quick and easy breakdown allows the authors to spend about 8 - 12 minutes of reading time per president, making it easy to digest as you listen to. They focus on the major highlights of their presidencies, and by comparing them to others within their respective category, make some enlightening points about American history. This is one of the first audio CDs I've listened where purchasing the text is an appealing proposition. The reader does a very good job of seriously reading the parts without overdoing it. They use a second reader for various direct quotes of the presidents.

This is a very good Audio CD. I recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: The perfect overview of US Presidents
Review: My parents just bought me this book for Christmas, and I can't put it down. I'm 10 years old, and my class has to remember the names of the presidents (in order!) by President's day.

Every one of the stories I've read so far are really interesting - like William Henry Harrison getting sick giving his first speech and dying in a month! The pictures are great, and I'm already explaining things to my parents.

We looked at a kid's book about the presidents first. It had about a page per president, and wasn't that interesting. This is the PERFECT BOOK for a kid who has any interest in American history.

Rating:
Summary: The American President
Review: Probrably one of the best books I have encountered that centers on U.S. Presidents. The way the book groups the chief executives worked well and made for better reading compared to the way most books list them in order. The photographs were many I had never encountered before in my readings and definitely added to the content. I am a history graduate from college and this was a definite plus for my reading collection.

Rating:
Summary: Great Book
Review: The American President is the best book I've ever picked up. The insights it offers are superb!

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Summary: THE LAST GASP OF NEW DEAL HISTORIANS?
Review: The best that can be said about The American President is that the photographs are reproduced with wonderful clarity. The caption writers, however, often seem ignorant of the accompanying text. Of those presidents of whom I knew a little or next to nothing I learned a few things of interest. Of the men with whom I had slight familiarity -- I gained nothing new. When it came to administrations I've studied, I found the three Kundharts to be often in error as they recycle discredited scholarship from the middle of the last century. This is especially true of Calvin Coolidge.

The Kunhardt's parcel out history on a "need to know" basis. If it doesn't fit their agenda: You don't need to know it. They assure us that Calvin Coolidge was the minion of Big Business, of the status quo, of "haves" over the "have nots." Consequently, we would never guess that, in 1916, Massachusetts' Senate President Calvin Coolidge cast the tie-breaking vote in support of William Monroe Trotter's efforts to suppress a Boston showing of the racist film "Birth of a Nation." We are never reminded of Coolidge's early support for the vote for women or higher wages for teachers. We don't learn that the GOP in 1920 had the only National Platform denouncing the "hideous crime of lynching." Or, that the Coolidge administration's relief efforts in the wake of the Mississippi Flood in 1927 was the largest Federal Relief project up until FDR's New Deal.

The text writers cut and paste from old college notes to give us this young Cal Coolidge: "As he saw it, reading for pleasure, anything musical, dancing, playing a sport, indulging in a hobby, having a sweetheart all squandered precious time and energy."

This simply is not true. The most superficial reading of Coolidge's Autobiography would refute nearly all of the above. In it, a far different picture of the young man is revealed. OK. Cal didn't dance! But he was a voracious reader of history, fiction and poetry, he acted in amateur plays, was an "endman" in the minstrel show, where -- granted, it's not p.c. or musical -- but he played the bones. In winter, he attended informal neighborhood "singing schools." Baseball? His autobiography reveals, "I had some skill with the bat." Once, every summer he and sister Abby were roused before dawn by their "taciturn, puritanical" father -- To do chores! Right? No. To go to the circus. Letters home from Black River Academy, St. Johnsbury Academy and Amherst College list lectures, musical recitals, games, plays, picnics, debates, practical jokes, magic lantern shows, an ox roast, along with vivid accounts of football games and other student events. A monochromatic, straight-laced puritanical Coolidge suits their simplistic agenda but never provides anything like an accurate picture of the young Calvin Coolidge.

The historians employed on this project seem aware that people have been up and working on Calvin Coolidge in the academic kitchen for a while. However, they personally, have not yet smelled any coffee. At the same time, their serious -- even dignified treatment of President Coolidge is far better than we might have expected five or ten years ago.

Could this be the last gasp of the New Deal historians? I doubt it. Old habits die hard and the vengeance of dead and dying scholarship continues to twitch reflexively like the severed leg of a laboratory frog. When will it ever end?

Rating:
Summary: A Terific Book
Review: This book is a great book if you are a lover of U.S. History.From George Washington to Bill ClintonEverything you ever wanted to know about our Presidents you will find it in this book. I loved it!!

Rating:
Summary: A nice history filled with great art and photos
Review: This book is a very nice historical piece for the curious and beginning researcher. It provides enough detail to get one started in a more thorough search of one or more of the men who became president. However, it is not a definitive history text.

The art and photos in this volume are its redeeming quality. One could look through this book for hours and never get bored with the pictures.

The only negative thing that stood out in my mind about this book was the fact that it was not organized in chronological order. In other words, the book does not begin with George Washington and move to each subsequent President. Instead, the book categorizes the presidents into 'types' (for lack of a better word). For example, the sections are titled "The Candidate," or "Executive Vision," or "Happenstance," etc. and a President is categorized into a section. Some of the Presidents often times don't seem to fit the category or type and it makes you wonder what the authors were thinking. Nonetheless, the only time the reader gets a chronological listing of the Presidents is in the back of the book. This, in my estimation was a big mistake.

Otherwise, the book, as a whole, is pretty good and enjoyable to read and merely browse through.

Rating:
Summary: Couldn't be better
Review: This book is must-reading and must-owning for any lover of American history. Many of the pictures are rare or unknown. The text reads like a dream, and the categorization of the Presidents is thoughtful and thought-provoking. I'm buying copies for every student of history or government on my holiday shopping list. This book accompanies a TV series which is coming early next year. The more time you spend with the book ahead of time, the more you and yours will get out of the TV series. This same trio of authors produced the extraordinary documentary/book on Lincoln. This is every bit as fine.