Presidential Also-Rans and Running Mates, 1788 Through 1996

Any Presidential history buff should have this book in their personal library. In all seriousness, it has become one of my very favorite books on American history. A marvelous retelling of the Also-Rans of History. And a very fair one too. The author happens to be a fairly Southern conservative Judge. Nothing wrong with that, of course, though not what I am politically. Yet he is extremely judicious (pun intended) and objective in his analyses of the candidates. For a southern conservative to say the positive things he said about Hubert Humphrey, for example, shows that he does not have an ideological axe to grind! Again, I just cannot recommend this book highly enough. It is fascinating - and the type of book that is most fun, I think, not to be read at one sitting, but just referred to, now and again, constantly, at 10 pages or so at a time, whenever the mood hits. Terrific job - and my HIGHEST recommendation!!!!!

I found this book and thought I would browse thru it. But when I picked it up I found it so fascinating that I read it from cover to cover. If you like political history, as I all my life have, this book is a treasure trove. One literally gets a political history of the the USA in 800 well-written pages, from Washington's time to the present. I thought the biographies, ranging in length from 1 to 8 or so pages, are extremely informative. The analyses are pithy and not partisan. All in all, this is a book to read as well as keep for reference.