<< 1 >>
Rating: 
Summary: Great for adults and kids!
Review: I bought this for my son's school report on presidents and got hooked myself. This is a fantastic book. Filled with all the facts and information you need to know, but fun to read. Don't take the Idiot's title literally. This is for anyone who wants or needs to know anything there is to know about our greatest, worst, and most mediocre presidents.
Rating:
Summary: It is a knockout
Review: The author's unique approach of using boxing ranking as an approach to the president's grabs the reader's attention. The humor is interwoven well and makes the reading easier. Interspersing the little known facts and avoiding the obvious gives the reader a different insight and background to the presidents. For the price, it should be on the shelf of every high school and college student. It makes for great summer reading when you have a desire for something beyond the usual "beach" reading.Also good to attract others attention.To use the author's boxing terms. it is a KNOCKOUT.
Rating: 
Summary: Minimalist account of each president
Review: The problem with this book is that if one is not somewhat familiar with U.S. history, there will no framework on which to hang the few actions and events that occurred on each president's watch. And the organization of the book contributes to that problem, because the presidents are not presented chronologically. The continuity of events across presidencies gets lost in this book.The presidents are discussed in five tiers, from the "undisputed champions" to the "tomoto cans." In other words, they are ranked from the best to the worst. After the top tier, there is definitely room to quibble with the ratings. The author is rather vague as to the selection process. As a side note, for this reader what is especially noticeable in this journey through the presidents is the remarkably few really top notch presidents we have had. Most have been rather mediocre. Contributing to the narrative disorganization of the book is the author's scattering of snippets of presidential facts in boxes on each page that are not necessarily connected to the main text. In addition, despite the modest amount of information that is actually presented in the book, there are several errors in facts and dates and in some cases there is an absence of dates. For a quick read that will yield a few basic facts, this book will serve that purpose. Beyond that, the book's utility is doubtful.
Rating: 
Summary: Interesting synopsis of Presidents' lives
Review: This is a very interesting book if you're wanting an overview of Presidential History. It covers the highlights of each president, but of course in about 400 pages, it's simply impossible to go very deep. The book is arranged, not in chronological order, but in descending order of each president's success in office, as judged by the author, of course. I probably would have preferred a chronological discussion, for the simple reason that it would be easier to view each biographical sketch in it's larger context. But again, overall it's a good read. I'd suggest it for anyone who is interested in American Presidential History but doesn't want to read multiple books to get the overview he wants.
Rating:
Summary: Interesting synopsis of Presidents' lives
Review: This is a very interesting book if you're wanting an overview of Presidential History. It covers the highlights of each president, but of course in about 400 pages, it's simply impossible to go very deep. The book is arranged, not in chronological order, but in descending order of each president's success in office, as judged by the author, of course. I probably would have preferred a chronological discussion, for the simple reason that it would be easier to view each biographical sketch in it's larger context. But again, overall it's a good read. I'd suggest it for anyone who is interested in American Presidential History but doesn't want to read multiple books to get the overview he wants.
<< 1 >>
| 
