Customer Reviews

The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776-2007, 5th Edition (American Presidency (CQ))

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Milkis and Nelson's "The American Presidency" 5th edition is a solid, informative text that conveys, although perhaps too superficially, the major events in the presidencies of the U.S.'s first 43 presidents. The text also provides a good number of end notes, which allows students who wish to study a particular president to have a good place at which to begin.

I certainly recommend this book for anyone who wishes to study the history and development of the U.S. presidency using a chronological model (i.e. as opposed to a theme-based model).

The text does not really focus on themes (ex: prerogative powers, unitary executive theory, signing statements) very much. Therefore, my professor supplemented the Milkis text with another book called "Understanding the Presidency" 6th edition by Pfiffner and Davidson. Hence, I believe the Milkis text provided good historical background information that made clearer the material presented in the Pfiffner text - together both textbooks give one a good idea of (1) the major events in the administration of all presidents (Milkis) and (2) considerable information about the big themes of the presidency today (Pfiffner).


The 16 chapters in the Milkis 5th edition are the following:

Chapter 1: The Constitutional Convention
Chapter 2: Creating the Presidency
Chapter 3: Implementing the Constitutional Presidency
Chapter 4: The Triumph of Jeffersonianism
Chapter 5: The Age of Jackson
Chapter 6: The Presidency of Abraham Lincoln
Chapter 7: The Reaction against Presidential Power: Andrew Johnson to William McKinley
Chapter 8: Progressive Politics and Executive Power: The Presidencies of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft
Chapter 9: Woodrow Wilson and the Defense of Popular Leadership
Chapter 10: The Triumph of Conservative Republicanism
Chapter 11: The Consolidation of the Modern Presidency: Franklin D. Roosevelt to Dwight D. Eisenhower
Chapter 12: Personalizing the Presidency: John F. Kennedy to Jimmy Carter
Chapter 13: A Restoration of Presidential Power? Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush
Chapter 14: Bill Clinton and the Modern Presidency
Chapter 15: George W. Bush and Beyond
Chapter 16: The Vice Presidency

* Note: The text mentions the major events during the Administrations of every president from George Washington to George W. Bush. However, some presidents (ex: Washington, Jackson, Lincoln, T. Roosevelt, F. Roosevelt, etc) are given much more attention than other presidents such as Polk or Taylor.

Milkis and Nelson's The American Presidency: Origins and Development, 1776-2007 is a fine overview of the presidency. Basically, it follows the chronological development of how the presidency was first imagined and established, how presidents interpreted and reinterpreted the presidency's powers, how they learned to wield its powers, and how the current shape of the executive office came into being. It is a cursory overview, to be sure, but it's a sound and mostly accurate treatment, certainly adequate for providing its primary audience, college undergraduates, with the basic information about what has happened to the presidency.

Several areas might certainly have been better covered. I was a little annoyed that the authors chose to focus so heavily on more recent presidents. For instance, both FDR's and Lincoln's presidencies receive nineteen-page chapters, while Reagan's, Clinton's, and GW Bush's treatments are each longer. Although Reagan, Clinton, and Bush had very important presidencies, in terms of how their administrations shaped the presidency, they certainly didn't change and shape executive power as much as FDR and Lincoln. Those two important presidents, and Andrew Jackson and Jefferson as well, do not here receive the full attention they deserve. Other more minor presidents, such as Taylor, Fillmore, and Pierce, do not even received full-page treatments, and even if these are not the most memorable or notable figures, their presidencies were important moments in American history.

Additionally, I really wished that the book had considered more fully the historical contexts in which the presidencies took place. For instance, the progressive presidency didn't emerge on a whim, or as the result of an interpretation of a few men who came into the office; it also emerged as the result of historical conditions that called for it, though the book doesn't mention them. History outside of the Oval Office is too little considered in the book.

I probably have some other quibbles, too, with the book, especially the authors' interpretations of some of the recent presidents, although I guess that's the nature of things when you're reading politics. And it's far overpriced, since the buying audience for the book is held captive. But on its own, and despite the complaints I do have, it's mostly a fine work. I doubt that there's a better overview of the presidency on the market.

The book arrived on time and condition promised cursory review of book is excellent will be using the book in classes this fall.