The Presidents of the United States of America

In a review for a previous edition of this book, another reviewer praised this book and warned positively of "information overload." I agree. This book is excellent and is loaded with facts of presidential history. I am a reader of American presidential history, and this is the best overview of the presidents I have read so far. The authors clearly are superb scholar of presidential history. This book meets the highest standard of scholarship while being very readable. Too many other books on the presidents are too vague (even inaccurate) or targeted for junior high readers. Others have a rotten political bias. This book is neither. This book does not subject you to watered down propaganda, recycled speeches, or overly-extended biographies covering the lives of the presidents before they were presidents. This book profiles the presidents in an unbiased way, with an emphasis on their acts as president, in scholarly detail. You will truly get to know the truth of every president in this book. Highly recommended for pleasure reading and reliable reference.

I haven't read the whole book yet, but I've found it has fascinating facts and anecdotes, especially about the early founding fathers and prexies. It personalizes and further brings into focus the incredible story of the first truly successful republic in modern history. The shorter bios. help give a flow and sweep to the historical periods that their tenures embody. No, you wouldn't want to read it in one or two sittings, but it's good in shorter snatches. They get amazingly complete and interesting details in each story; what an amazing life Andrew Jackson led, for example, in both his great and despicable qualities.