Overview

What makes some presidents triumphant leaders and others disastrous failures? How has the presidency evolved from the institution established by the Founding Fathers? Which president was the first to be elected with no previous political experience? In this wonderfully engaging book, readers will discover the answers to such questions and gain a rich understanding of the personalities, policies, and tragic flaws of our nation's chief executives. With forty-one essays in all, by such eminent historians as Eric Foner, Joyce Appleby, James Henretta, Alan Taylor, Jean Baker, Robert Dallek, Drew McCoy, and Karen Orren, THE READER'S COMPANION showcases some of the most provocative interpretive history being written today. Was Madison, for example, an indecisive bungler who led his country to war or a principled politician whose leadership was appropriate to his time? Ranging from the tragedy of Hoover's administration to Johnson's Great Society, from Carter's human rights agenda to the current administration's challenges, these engagingly written pieces shed light on the hubris, and sometimes the brilliance, of our leaders. Fully illustrated with timelines, data boxes, and short essays on presidential families, this book is an indispensable resource for the serious historian and the curious reader alike.

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9780395788899

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Reviews

Edited by Brinkley (history, Columbia Univ.) and Dyer (TRW: Pioneering Technology and Innovation Since 1900) and written by a collection of eminent historians--including Michael Holt, William McFeely, and David Oshinsky--this book is a solid, concise guide to American presidents. In essays that run between ten and 20 pages, contributors provocatively evaluate the record of each of our 51 executives, from Washington through Clinton. While each entry offers a brief bibliography, a time line, a few demographic and economic tables, and a sidebar entitled The First Family, the book is less factually oriented and less suited for quick reference than either the two-volume Congressional Quarterly's Guide to the Presidency (1996) or Leonard W. Levy's four-volume Encyclopedia of the American Presidency (LJ 1/94). And while each includes at least one presidential photograph or portrait, The American President (Riverhead, 1999) by Philip W. Kunhardt and family is much better for illustrations. This book, instead, is the best place to find an authoritative, critical overview of each president. A very useful purchase and a bargain for all types of libraries. -- Robert F. Nardini, North Chichester, NH Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.

Edited by Brinkley (history, Columbia Univ.) and Dyer (TRW: Pioneering Technology and Innovation Since 1900) and written by a collection of eminent historians--including Michael Holt, William McFeely, and David Oshinsky--this book is a solid, concise guide to American presidents. In essays that run between ten and 20 pages, contributors provocatively evaluate the record of each of our 51 executives, from Washington through Clinton. While each entry offers a brief bibliography, a time line, a few demographic and economic tables, and a sidebar entitled The First Family, the book is less factually oriented and less suited for quick reference than either the two-volume Congressional Quarterly's Guide to the Presidency (1996) or Leonard W. Levy's four-volume Encyclopedia of the American Presidency (LJ 1/94). And while each includes at least one presidential photograph or portrait, The American President (Riverhead, 1999) by Philip W. Kunhardt and family is much better for illustrations.

Edited by Brinkley (history, Columbia Univ.) and Dyer (TRW: Pioneering Technology and Innovation Since 1900) and written by a collection of eminent historians--including Michael Holt, William McFeely, and David Oshinsky--this book is a solid, concise guide to American presidents. In essays that run between ten and 20 pages, contributors provocatively evaluate the record of each of our 51 executives, from Washington through Clinton. While each entry offers a brief bibliography, a time line, a few demographic and economic tables, and a sidebar entitled The First Family, the book is less factually oriented and less suited for quick reference than either the two-volume Congressional Quarterly's Guide to the Presidency (1996) or Leonard W. Levy's four-volume Encyclopedia of the American Presidency (LJ 1/94). And while each includes at least one presidential photograph or portrait, The American President (Riverhead, 1999) by Philip W. Kunhardt and family is much better for illustrations. This book, instead, is the best place to find an authoritative, critical overview of each president. A very useful purchase and a bargain for all types of libraries. -- Robert F. Nardini, North Chichester, NH Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information. Library Journal

Author Information

Alan Brinkley is university provost and the Allan Nevins Professor of History at Columbia University. He is the author of, among other works, Voices of Protest: Huey Long, Father Coughlin, and the Great Depression, which received the National Book Award. Davis Dyer is president of the Winthrop Group and a senior consultant for the Monitor Group in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

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