Helpful Score: 1
This book is as good as any American History class, and much more fun! Professor Stadelmann gives each president a concise personal history, highlights their pre-presidential career, presidential accomplishments, obstacles and controversies and shows the evolution of the office as the country changes through the years.
If you've ever wondered "Fillmore? Buchanan? Polk? Who on earth elected them?", if you've ever wondered whether a certain election was close or a landslide, or how the different political parties divided, died and transformed, this is the book for you.
Stadelmann also includes some interesting supplementals, like the presidents ranked from best to worst by academics and by the general public, and his own lists of the 10 Best and Worst Presidents.
The book was written in 2002, and its slightly surreal to see that Stadelmann leaves off with the observation that George W. Bush might go one to be "one of the greatest presidents in US history." I read this book in the weeks before the 2008 election, and it was a fascinating and engaging exploration of the most important office in the land and the men who've held it.
If you've ever wondered "Fillmore? Buchanan? Polk? Who on earth elected them?", if you've ever wondered whether a certain election was close or a landslide, or how the different political parties divided, died and transformed, this is the book for you.
Stadelmann also includes some interesting supplementals, like the presidents ranked from best to worst by academics and by the general public, and his own lists of the 10 Best and Worst Presidents.
The book was written in 2002, and its slightly surreal to see that Stadelmann leaves off with the observation that George W. Bush might go one to be "one of the greatest presidents in US history." I read this book in the weeks before the 2008 election, and it was a fascinating and engaging exploration of the most important office in the land and the men who've held it.
