Amazon guide evaluation for “Dealing with the President”:
Reviewer: Constantinos E. Skaros
5 stars (out of 5 stars) Even presidential historians can be taught from this guide!
I am a presidential historian. Actually, I’m the founding father of the Society of Presidential Historians in Teachers (SOPHIA). sophiascholars.com
Many historians could scoff at this guide as not being “tutorial,” however I disagree. “Confronting the President” is traditionally correct, extremely participating, refreshingly goal and extremely entertaining. You will need to be aware that too many tutorial historical past books are written to protect the historic document. However in consequence, they include extraordinarily uninteresting and sometimes extraordinarily boring particulars. However the guide is filled with simply digestible data so the reader’s eyes slide simply from one web page to the subsequent.
Invoice O’Reilly (assisted by Martin Dugard) devotes a chapter to every president from Washington to Obama, understandably omitting particular Trump and Biden, as a result of as of this writing, they’re operating for president once more. O’Reilly solely focuses on the president who is completed. O’Reilly engages the reader in dramatic trend with opening strains corresponding to “George Washington was as loopy as his mom” (p. 3, describing the long-standing feud between the 2 males), “The Govt Mansion” . [now the White House] on hearth” (p. 33, the British invaded and burned Washington, D.C. throughout the Warfare of 1812), “Franklin Pierce wanted a drink” (p. 108, explaining the president’s tendency to drink closely), and “The president of america was trapped “Caught” (p. 215, referring to William Howard Taft’s 350-pound physique changing into trapped within the tub whereas bathing).
I knew all of these items upfront, in addition to quite a few different fascinating information O’Reilly describes, as a result of presidential historical past is my discipline. However I additionally realized some new and attention-grabbing tidbits, corresponding to: Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee labored collectively to coordinate incoming President Zachary Taylor’s Inauguration Celebration (p. 98), Tyler and his operating mate Millard Fillmore didn’t meet head to head till after successful the election (p. 104), Gerald and Betty Ford have been the primary to sleep within the White Home The President and First Girl share a bed room (p. 333), and Barack Obama speaks fluent Indonesian (p. 383).
The guide is remarkably goal till the postscript, when O’Reilly and Dugard increase their fingers to inform us what they consider Trump and Biden, and we lastly be taught that Dugard has been collaborating with O’Reilly on books for years, However he spends most of his time within the shadows in comparison with the conservative-minded (however registered unbiased) O’Reilly, who’s a liberal! For my part, this provides gravitas to their work as a result of they will assess points from completely different views.
My solely disappointment for a guide so wealthy in presidential anecdotes is the dearth of any cited sources. Oh, it isn’t that I doubt the veracity of this data (like I mentioned, I already know most of it and imagine no doubt that any of it’s inaccurate); simply footnotes/endnotes Useful for these involved in additional studying.
For my part, what could seem to be trivial presidential trivia to some is what makes this guide so priceless: George Washington didn’t attend his mom’s funeral (though, to be truthful, the information is alleged to have been premature handed on to him)) and a tombstone was by no means positioned on her grave (no excuses). That is vital as a result of we are likely to denigrate our trendy presidents, however all of us however declare the presidents on Mount Rushmore sacred. However right here we learn the way the Founding Father handled the reminiscence of his mom, within the hope that it reminds us that historical past tends to erase or improve the picture of presidents, as all presidents — each one in every of them — have Such expertise.
The guide’s language is straightforward sufficient for the novice, but informative sufficient even for these of us who’ve made presidential historical past a life’s work.
Get Invoice’s newest guide, Confront the Presidentcome out now.
