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Rating: 
Summary: The Authors Bait and Switch
Review: I am conflicted on this book review. My first response would be that I was disappointed with the book. The title and dust jacket lead me to believe that the author was going to cover story after story of mean, nasty, back stabbing methods past Presidents had employed to get their way. Real tricky Dick Nixon type of stuff that makes people who are skeptical of politicians stand up and cry out "look at those scum!". What I got was a chapter length review of some of the past Presidents from Washington to Ike. Sure it was easy to read, but it did not have enough detail to really get into the topic. The author presented his book in a very nice and calm manner. My opinion is that with a book covering this subject, the author needs to be frank, direct and maybe have a little chip on his shoulder to get the right level of distain in his writing.
This author had not one disagreeable thing to say in the whole book. I got to the mid point and started to think that this author would be hard pressed to speak of criminals in a harsh tone. On the other hand the author did have a very easy to read and almost conversational way of writing. The pages flowed along and before I knew it I had completed the book. Did I learn a lot from the book, well some, but again not what I wanted. I wanted to sit and gawk at a train wreck and this author presented a view to a tea party. He was just so darn nice that I feel some obligation to give him a high mark on the rating.
Rating:
Summary: The Authors Bait and Switch
Review: I am conflicted on this book review. My first response would be that I was disappointed with the book. The title and dust jacket lead me to believe that the author was going to cover story after story of mean, nasty, back stabbing methods past Presidents had employed to get their way. Real tricky Dick Nixon type of stuff that makes people who are skeptical of politicians stand up and cry out "look at those scum!". What I got was a chapter length review of some of the past Presidents from Washington to Ike. Sure it was easy to read, but it did not have enough detail to really get into the topic. The author presented his book in a very nice and calm manner. My opinion is that with a book covering this subject, the author needs to be frank, direct and maybe have a little chip on his shoulder to get the right level of distain in his writing.
This author had not one disagreeable thing to say in the whole book. I got to the mid point and started to think that this author would be hard pressed to speak of criminals in a harsh tone. On the other hand the author did have a very easy to read and almost conversational way of writing. The pages flowed along and before I knew it I had completed the book. Did I learn a lot from the book, well some, but again not what I wanted. I wanted to sit and gawk at a train wreck and this author presented a view to a tea party. He was just so darn nice that I feel some obligation to give him a high mark on the rating.
Rating:
Summary: A timely and original work
Review: In his book, Shenkman does an excellent job of ferreting out and explaining presidential ambition. While it may seem that Shenkman is concentrating on the negative, he is vigorously fair, and his ability to empathize with his subjects is his greatest asset. His central themes are: 1.Our presidents have been (from Washington onward) insatiably ambitious men who have done not-so-nice things to get and maintain power; 2.Their ambition and willingness to bend the rules often provided the leadership needed to steer the country through difficult times; and 3.Changes in the media, immigration, political parties, and technology forced presidents to take extreme measures to get and keep power. What makes his book even more interesting is that he uses evidence from the historical record of presidents *before* Truman. And Shenkman spends a lot of time discussing presidents that most people know nothing about: Cleveland, Hayes, Buchanan, Polk (and his chapters on Buchanan and Polk are the best of the lot). This alone makes the book worth reading: I can't wait to suggest it to my blowhard uncle who claims Clinton was the first president besides Nixon to lie in office. So why 3 stars, given that I am so enthusiastic about the content and the rigor of Shenkman's work? His writing has been called "breezy" and "journalistic". And his prose is both of those things, but there are times in this book that Shenkman gets in his own way with his self-conscious prose. He overuses two devices that should never, ever be overused in prose--sentence fragments and slang. The first time he used the word "caved" to describe a presidential capitulation, it was refreshing, but by the fourth I was tired of it. More annoying was his continued use of sentence fragments. Some of his points flourished with the punchy use of such informal prose; but in other cases, the device felt to me like an affection-an affection unworthy of someone like Shenkman whose prose in other places was indeed breezy and graceful. That said, these problems are not serious enough to diminish the maturity of Shenkman's commentary. I think it is an excellent book for people (of any age) interested in the presidency. Some readers may be put off by Shenkman's moral relativism, and I guarantee the book would make for a lively discussion for a book group.
Rating:
Summary: Elementary
Review: Presidential Ambition is an elementary read on the politics of the presidency. It significantly misleads the reader into believing that they are going to read a political/psychological analysis of the presidency, by treating each president individually. Rather we get a historical recap of what events forced the president to act "ambitiously" and "without scruples." Although each time we are reminded that the President did not really want to act in this matter, but the events around him forced him to do so. Shenkman offer little in terms of analysis and my reasons for offering an average review is that while there is little in terms of political analysis or an a look into the presidential psyche (in terms of analyzing personal papers, decisions, etc.); Shenkman offers a very good history on the presidency in an easy to read manner. His anectodes are interesting and purposeful chosen to support his rather simplistic thesis that to be President one must be ambitious, and as the country grew more complex, the more ambitious the president. Ambitious as the sole reason for propelling a President to make any decision sets up an unrelaistic scenario that suggests the President acts unilaterally. It is a historical delight, but as a book of political sciecne, it is underwhelming and a travesty
Rating: 
Summary: A fascinating look into presidential power
Review: This book offers a fascinating insight into the lives of some of the men who have held the office of President. The author maintains that as times have gotten more complex, presidents are pressured to break the rules, lie and lend themselves to scandal to maintain political power. Shenkman poses and interesting question when he asks if the system is flawed or the individuals. He fairly concludes that both are flawed and proceeds to give example after example of how different presidents manipulated situations and circumstances to achieve and maintain their presidential ambitions. The thing that I liked best about this book is that it spotlights some obscure presidents that you rarely hear about such as James K. Polk, James Buchanan and Chester A. Arthur. I particularly found the chapter on Franklin Pierce very interesting. He had high presidential ambitions but at the same time, he had to keep his ambitions a secret from his wife because she did not want him involved in politics. The book does an excellent job of covering presidential amibitions up until the Eisenhower administration. After this, the author gives an abbreviated view of the Cold War, Vietnam and Watergate. I found this to be strange because it would seem that this period of American history would provide the most blatant examples fo men manipulating events and circumstances to maintain power and shape policy. In anycase, this was the only shortcoming that I didn't like but overall it is a very good easy to read book that is well worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: A fascinating look into presidential power
Review: This book offers a fascinating insight into the lives of some of the men who have held the office of President. The author maintains that as times have gotten more complex, presidents are pressured to break the rules, lie and lend themselves to scandal to maintain political power. Shenkman poses and interesting question when he asks if the system is flawed or the individuals. He fairly concludes that both are flawed and proceeds to give example after example of how different presidents manipulated situations and circumstances to achieve and maintain their presidential ambitions. The thing that I liked best about this book is that it spotlights some obscure presidents that you rarely hear about such as James K. Polk, James Buchanan and Chester A. Arthur. I particularly found the chapter on Franklin Pierce very interesting. He had high presidential ambitions but at the same time, he had to keep his ambitions a secret from his wife because she did not want him involved in politics. The book does an excellent job of covering presidential amibitions up until the Eisenhower administration. After this, the author gives an abbreviated view of the Cold War, Vietnam and Watergate. I found this to be strange because it would seem that this period of American history would provide the most blatant examples fo men manipulating events and circumstances to maintain power and shape policy. In anycase, this was the only shortcoming that I didn't like but overall it is a very good easy to read book that is well worth your time.
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