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I got it into my head that a fun project would be to read a biography of every American president, chronologically. I've always had a strong interest in US history, and have read here and there throughout school and in life afterwards, but never anything systematic or planned beyond the typical textbook studies from high school. It struck me that an interesting framework would be to follow the course of the country through the lives of the presidents and see where that took me. Was it always the case that the landed gentry were elected? (Yes) How did they interact with their predecessors? Was there always the strange quasi-celebrity aura around ex-presidents that we give Bill Clinton today, or did they tend to go directly into exile, like George H.W. Bush? I am well aware that this course of reading is in direct opposition to the current fashion of historical study, in which I'd be much better served by reading the diaries and stories of the common folks and average townspeople of the time, but I've already had a thorough course of that via Howard Zinn and James W. Loewen, as well as the great deal of Marxism I studied in college.This isn't serious academic work here, thus I'm not too worried about the popularity. And anyways, it seems to me that a deconstruction of that notion could be just as interesting: these were the men that the people chose to represent them, after all. How did they get into power, and why? What circumstances put them there, or how did they get themselves in that position? Why did they seem like the "right man for the job"? And what did they do after they surrendered their power and returned to "normal life"? All that said, the last thing I'm interested in is a tour of "The Great Men of History". No hagiography, so garbage like Glenn Beck's Being George Washington is right out. But neither am I looking for hit pieces that go in with the explicit agenda of making the subject look as terrible as possible. I'd prefer books that are a single volume, and less than 700 pages, because I don't read terribly fast. As awesome as Robert Caro's 5 volume LBJ biography probably is, I simply don't have the time for something that exhaustive. I am also a bit biased towards more modern books, and those by scholars rather than the individuals themselves. While Bush or Clinton may have written fine autobiographies, I don't exactly trust them to tell their stories without an agenda.  Supplemental books for any given period would also be lovely, if you want to recommend them. Here's the course of reading so far. As you can see, there are a ton of gaps (only 8 filled of the 43), and I'm in much need of recommendations. Any corrections or discussion of which biography is best would be appreciated also. The first I've already begun, and the 2nd is pretty much set in stone as I loved the HBO miniseries, but everything else is up for alteration. Who are authors to seek out, and who to avoid? 18th Century 1. George Washington (1732-1799) - His Excellency - Joseph J. Ellis 2. John Adams (17351826)- John Adams - David McCullough 19th Century 3. Thomas Jefferson (17431826) - American Sphinx - Joseph J. Ellis Supplemental - Duel: Alexander Hamilton, Aaron Burr, and the Future of North America - Thomas Fleming 4. James Madison (17511836) - James Madison: A Life Reconsidered - Lynn Cheney 5. James Monroe (17581831) - The Last Founding Father - Harlow Giles Unger 6. John Quincy Adams (17671848) - John Quincy Adams - Samuel Flagg Bemis (1956, 2 vol.) or John Quincy Adams: American Visionary by Fred Kaplan or John Quincy Adams by Harlow Giles Unger (Shortest) 7. Andrew Jackson (17671845) - American Lion - Jon Meacham or Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times by H.W. Brands (would rather this one) or The Life of Andrew Jackson by Robert Remini (Abridged is shortest) 8. Martin Van Buren (17821862) - Martin Van Buren: The Age of Romantic Politics by John Niven (only one available?) 9. William Henry Harrison (17731841) - 10. John Tyler (17901862) - 11. James K. Polk (17951849) - A Country of Vast Designs - Robert W. Merry 12. Zachary Taylor (17841850) - 13. Millard Fillmore (18001874) - 14. Franklin Pierce (18041869) - Franklin Pierce: New Hampshires Favorite Son by Peter A. Wallner 15. James Buchanan (17911868) - 16. Abraham Lincoln (18091865) - Lincoln - David Herbert Donald Supplemental - Jefferson Davis, American - William J. Cooper, Jr. 17. Andrew Johnson (18081875) - 18. Ulysses S. Grant (18221885) - Grant - William S. McFeely 19. Rutherford B. Hayes (18221893) - 20. James Garfield (18311881) - 21. Chester A. Arthur (18291886) - 22. Grover Cleveland (18371908) - 23. Benjamin Harrison (18331901) - 24. Grover Cleveland (not reading 2 Cleveland biographies) 25. William McKinley (18431901) - 20th Century 26. Theodore Roosevelt (18581919) - The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, Colonel Roosevelt by Edmund Morris 27. William Howard Taft (18571930) - 28. Woodrow Wilson - (18561924) - 29. Warren G. Harding (18651923) - 30. Calvin Coolidge (18721933) - 31. Herbert Hoover (18741964) - 32. Franklin D. Roosevelt (18821945) - 33. Harry S. Truman (18841972) - Truman - David McCullough 34. Dwight D. Eisenhower (18901969) - 35. John F. Kennedy (19171963) - 36. Lyndon B. Johnson (19081973) - 37. Richard M. Nixon (19131994) - 38. Gerald R. Ford (19132006) - 39. James Carter (born 1924) - 40. Ronald Reagan (19112004) - Reagan - HW Brands 41. George H. W. Bush (born 1924) - 42. William J. Clinton (born 1946) - 21st Century 43. George W. Bush (born 1946) - 44. Barack Obama (born 1961) - List updated 19 May 2015 (Please note that I am explicitly not toxxing myself to any set schedule or series of posts, because, as I mentioned, I read rather slowly, and with some possible shake ups coming in real life, I'm fairly certain I couldn't keep it. Reviews will come as I finish, though.) 
Toph Bei Fong fucked around with this message at 17:45 on May 19, 2015 |
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May 11, 2015 06:04
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The Edmund Morris three-volume biography of Theodore Roosevelt is near-unanimously acclaimed as the best thing since Theodore Roosevelt.
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May 11, 2015 06:13
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Cool thread, cool idea. Just started the Washington book. Hope others join.
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May 15, 2015 06:33
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I am mid way through book 3 ('Master of the Senate') of the Caro series on LBJ. Amazing stuff, although it comes with several warnings: If you can't put up with a book series that spends upwards of 70 pages describing the history of the Texas Hill Country before introducing its main character, or which spends 1000 pages on the history of the Senate before allowing any discussion of the main characters actions there, its probably not your thing. Then there Caro's nasty habit of doing several chapters worth of mini-biography for every person that ever crossed LBJ. Only to have this set up a much shorter section on how LBJ defeats (illustrated by all of his cronies gloating about it in quotes). Finally, every catchy quote from a contemporary gets recycled more than once per boo, even those that involve liberal use of the N word and other horrendous 'period appropriate' slang.
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May 19, 2015 14:30
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I'm 1/3rd of the way through His Excellency, and its quite good so far. It's obvious that Ellis is leaving out vast swathes of history, and I may go back and read Ron Chernow's much more expansive Washington: a Life somewhere down the line to fill in more of the gaps. But despite that, the picture of Washington as an actual human being as opposed to a saintly divine general and statesman who never did wrong and passed his hand over the world to wipe the British from our soil is a refreshing one. Ellis doesn't shy away from explaining how petty and egotistical Washington could be, his many tactical errors, his utilitarian judgements in war, his practicality... you really get a very good sense of the man as a person, as well as a quick trip through the French and Indian, and Revolutionary War periods. The man is almost America in miniature: in the period between wars, Washington spends a lot of money importing the best fashions and latest gear from Britain so he can be the toast of Virginia planter society, quickly blowing through much of his wife's money and putting himself into debt. Rather than sell domestically, he was having his tobacco crop sold through an agent in GB, who in turn did most of the purchasing for him. This same situation left many Virginia planters deep in debt, and penniless by the end of their lives -- notably Thomas Jefferson fell victim also. Rather than reducing his orders for goods so he doesn't overspend, or selling domestically so he could set the prices sold himself, he rages about the agent, who must be ripping him off or purchasing him crap goods so he'll buy more. All records indicate that the guy was buying quite good quality things, and was selling Washington's crops for the best rates he could.
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May 19, 2015 18:00
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The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity focuses on how every President since 1945 has interacted with their fellow Presidents, both in and out of office. It's obviously broad focused (covering from 1945-2012) but really,really worth a read.
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May 20, 2015 01:30
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More Ellis:quote:On October 19, as he sat astride Nelson, his favorite mount, while the defeated British troops marched out between the French and American armies, one witness reported that several redcoats ridiculed the American troops for their disheveled appearance and joked about shoeless victors. Cornwallis, pleading illness, excused himself from the surrender ceremony, and his surrogate, apparently confusing Rochambeau for Washington, attempted to present his sword to the French general. Several hundred Black slaves, previously under Cornwallis's protection, many dying of smallpox, attempted to flee into the woods. Washington ordered them rounded up and advertisements published to return them to their rightful owners. (It is possible that some of Washington's former slaves at Mount Vernon were in the group.) The most consequential battle in American history, the decisive battle Washington had been questing after for six years, had just been won, but Washington did not understand that the war was over, and the surreal surrender scene itself added to the muddle. On a personal level, a family tragedy soon contributed to the confusion of the crowded moment, when Washington learned that Jackie had come down with camp fever, probably meningitis. He arrived at his step-son's bedside on November 5, just in time to watch him die. quote:Though he began to refer to himself in the third person, Washington could also make jokes about the ludicrousness of it all. When the Confederate Congress sent him a gold box containing his surrendered commendation -- his souvenir as Cincinnatus -- he observed that a century later it might be worshiped by his descendants. When the King of Spain transported a prize jackass to Mount Vernon as a gift designed to establish an improved line of American mules, Washington observed that it was so deficient as a breeding stud that it must have obtained its sexual appetite from the dwindling male line of the Spanish monarchy. As the endless stream of visitors determined to make a pilgrimage to Mount Vernon occupied more of his time, he periodically attempted to offset his reputation for aloofness with a human touch, as when one stranger who was coughing through the night found Washington standing by his bedside with a cup of tea for relief. Another early visitor, a French dentist who specialized in implants, also commended on Washington's courtesy, though not even Washington could have predicted that, two centuries later, his false teeth and bridgework would become a major tourist attraction at Mount Vernon. quote:His own intimations of mortality prompted a growing concern about his prospects for immortality. Never a deeply religious man, at least in the traditionally Christian sense of the term, Washington thought of God as a distant, impersonal force, the presumed well-spring for what he called destiny or providence. Whether or not there was a hereafter, or a heaven where one's soul lived on, struck him as one of those unfathomable mysteries that Christian theologians wasted much ink and energy trying to resolve. The only certain form of persistence was in the memory of succeeding generations, a secular rather than sacred version of immortality, which Washington was determined to influence and, in possible, control as completely as he had controlled the Continental army. Most of the prominent leaders of the revolutionary generation recognized that they were making history, and took care to preserve their correspondence and edit their memoirs with an eye on posterity's judgement. But none of them, including such assiduous memorialists as Franklin, Jefferson, and John Adams, were as earnest in courting posterity as Washington.
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May 23, 2015 05:10
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Fantastic idea. I also want to do the same thing with the history of the US, was going to read the Oxford History, but they haven't published the first volume yet.
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May 24, 2015 04:21
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7iVsdRbhnc Not too far from the truth The Book: His Excellency by Joseph J Ellis is an excellent book, and was in many respects the perfect way to start this series off. Ellis' project started with his goal of reading the entirety of the Washington Papers, which had recently been made available, and when combined with the depth of his knowledge of American history and his talent for storytelling, gave an very compelling portrait of the Man and his Times, as the phrase goes. The book is a sweeping tour of Washington's life, from the initial incidents on the public stage as Governor Robert Dinwiddie's agent dealing with the Indians on through to his death in December of 1799. The only criticism I can levy against it is the length, and yet this criticism is one of those double edged ones where it is also a strength. Almost every section left me wanting more, often those that were only incidental to Washington's life: I'd love to read a full length book on the Battle of Saratoga, or the XYZ Affair, and I'm eager to see how things appeared to Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, who emerge as the villains of Washington's later career. But, thankfully, I will be getting just them in a little bit -- though I may have to make room in my reading schedule for Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton, rather than the dual biography of he and Burr I was planning, simply because of how fascinating Ellis makes him out to be. No doubt Hamilton will be the villain and Ellis' biography of Jefferson, and in Cheney's Madison bio. But that length made the life fly by in a panorama of incidents and events. No doubt many of you much faster readers would finish it in a single sitting. It was a lovely ride and a great dip into history for those who aren't super into the subject, but just want a taste of what the revolutionary era was like. No doubt Chernow's Pulitzer Prize winning Washington: a Life is better, and as I found a remaindered copy cheap over the weekend, I'll probably be reading it slowly for personal pleasure, rather than as part of this project, as Ellis made me want more of Washington just as much as the other incidents and folks mentioned above. George Washington himself: Overall: A Good President. Good qualities: Kept his poo poo together, knew how to keep his mouth shut, excellent manners, lucky as hell, knew to surround himself with experts, understood that patriotism alone does not motivate men, and that sheer desire does not produce results unless backed by training, equipment, and money, knew when it was time to quit -- which basically insured that we Americans have the country that we do today. Bad qualities: Greedy as poo poo when it came to land, trusted Hamilton and Jefferson too much, overly fond of complicated schemes no one could ever actually execute, pretty bad tactician Major achievements: winning the Revolutionary War, the United States of America Treatment of the Indians: 3/5 He certainly tried his best, but often didn't have the necessary force to back up said intentions. Was nothing but respectful of their culture, and wanted them to have their own lands in the West. Sadly, did not have the power to protect these borders against Westward expansion, and the settlers didn't give a rat's rear end whether the Federal government thought they should kill their way onto Indian land or not. Treatment of Slaves: 2/5 A lot of good intentions, but always put himself first. He wouldn't break up families, which left him with about 200 of his 300 slaves too old, too young, or too sick to work by the end of his life. Tried to finagle a very complicated scheme to sell off a lot of land and make sure he was completely financially secure before letting any free. Would not publicly back any anti-slavery movement, for the rather understandable reason that it would tear the country apart immediately and leave it ripe for conquest by any number of foreign and domestic powers. Couldn't seem to understand why his cook Hercules didn't want to come back to being enslaved in Virginia after escaping to freedom in Pennsylvania, even though Washington promised to treat him really well. Used very careful language in his will to make sure that all his slaves were freed upon his and his wife's death, with special pensions for his personal attendant and servants, and extra special wording to keep his descendants from pulling any poo poo like selling the slaves before Martha died to keep from having to free them. Better than many for his time, but a selfish and ignorant monster by today's standards. Up next: 
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May 24, 2015 07:13
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Col.Schultz posted:I am mid way through book 3 ('Master of the Senate') of the Caro series on LBJ. Master of the Senate is incredibly my poo poo. Might be my favorite book ever.
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May 27, 2015 10:38
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Oh, hey, I'm doing this exact project myself! I started in the latter half of 2012 with the goal of reading one biography per month. I've not quite kept up the pace, but I'm currently starting an FDR biography for my June book. It's an interesting way to read about American history, that's for sure. I felt like it got off to a slow start, as most of the founding fathers were contemporaries and you will read about the same events over and over, but once you finish Monroe it takes off. Anyway, based on your existing list, I have a couple of comments/recommendations: I also read 'His Excellency: George Washington' and really liked it. I did the McCullough Adams as well, and it's one of the best presidential bios I've read so far. The Monroe book is excellent as well. I read 'John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life' by Paul C. Nagel for JQA and loved it. If you're not too attached to your current selection, I recommend it. I read the Jackson bio you have listed and it wasn't that great. I bet you can find a better one. Some other bios I loved were 'Grant' by Jean Edward Smith,' Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine, and the Murder of a President' by Candice Millard (James Garfield bio) 'The President is a Sick Man: Wherein the Supposedly Virtuous Grover Cleveland Survives a Secret Surgery at Sea and Vilifies the Courageous Newspaperman who Dared Expose the Truth' by Matthew Algeo (not strictly a biography, but it gets the job done and is immensely entertaining), and the TR trilogy by Morris which you already have listed. Also, I've found the American Presidents Series of bios very helpful when you can't find a decent bio of an obscure president. They're all about 150 pages and the ones I have read have been unbiased. I found this site helpful when looking for good bios: https://presidentialchallenge.wordpress.com/reviews-sorted-by-president/
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May 29, 2015 18:29
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Prolonged Shame posted:Oh, hey, I'm doing this exact project myself! I started in the latter half of 2012 with the goal of reading one biography per month. I've not quite kept up the pace, but I'm currently starting an FDR biography for my June book. It's an interesting way to read about American history, that's for sure. I felt like it got off to a slow start, as most of the founding fathers were contemporaries and you will read about the same events over and over, but once you finish Monroe it takes off. Fantastic! I figured I couldn't be the only one. I'd love to see the rest of your list. The only ones that are set in stone are the first 4, as I already own them and will hopefully be approaching shortly (About 1/5 through Adam's right now, and drat is McCullough a good writer). Everything after that is pretty much in flux (I also own the Polk, Grant, and TR bios, but I'm a ways off from reaching those) so please, make suggestions! Which Andrew Jackson bio was it you read? I was leaning towards the Robert Remini if I could find it, as it has the most praise online and apparently doesn't lose too much in the abridgement, but HW Brands isn't supposed to be too awful. I started Jon Meacham's a year or two ago and didn't find it too bad, but then Meacham is absolutely in love with Jackson, but not in the same way that McCullough is with Adams.
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May 29, 2015 20:38
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Toph Bei Fong posted:though I may have to make room in my reading schedule for Ron Chernow's biography of Alexander Hamilton, rather than the dual biography of he and Burr I was planning, simply because of how fascinating Ellis makes him out to be. DO IT. I literally put this book on hold at the library on a whim because I wanted to learn more about Hamilton and it was well-reviewed--then was shocked when it turned up and was 800 pages long. I decided I probably wasn't going to read it, and I only picked it up one night because I was hoping it would put me to sleep during a bout of insomnia. Instead it was so fascinating that I stayed up all night reading it, then finished the whole thing in less than a week. My boyfriend made fun of me because I wouldn't shut up about Hamilton for the next two months. And you know that stereotype about families getting into political spats over holiday dinners? Well, my family and I share essentially the same political views, so I've never had this problem . . . until the year I read this book, when my father--who'd just been to Monticello--and I got into a Jefferson versus Hamilton debate over Christmas brunch, haha. The only real "flaw" of Chernow's book is that it makes Jefferson look like such a petty rear end in a top hat--I'm ready to read a really good biography of Jefferson and see how much it changes my current opinion on him, which has never been great, but definitely took a bit of a nose-dive after reading Chernow's book. I've been thinking of doing a project like this for a while, but I enjoyed Chernow's Hamilton so much that I decided I had to start with his biography of Washington--then immediately intimidated myself with its length. Time to get on it! aslan fucked around with this message at 16:15 on May 31, 2015 |
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May 31, 2015 16:03
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For FDR my dad really liked Traitor to his Class. I'm interested in how this thread goes because I haven't read any of these other than American Lion (which I felt was very long and spent a very large time with petty things).
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May 31, 2015 18:25
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Toph Bei Fong posted:Fantastic! I figured I couldn't be the only one. I read American Lion. It was clear that the author thought Jackson was the best badass ever and was incredibly biased while trying to appear to be completely unbiased. Since you're already leaning towards another book, I'd select that one instead. Are you on Goodreads? I have a presidential challenge shelf with my whole list on it. https://www.goodreads.com/review/list/8528817-squids?shelf=presidential-challenge
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Jun 1, 2015 14:52
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