Customer Reviews

Complete Idiot's Guide to the American Presidents

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I bought this for my son's school report on presidents and got hooked myself. This is a fantastic book. Filled with all the facts and information you need to know, but fun to read. Don't take the Idiot's title literally. This is for anyone who wants or needs to know anything there is to know about our greatest, worst, and most mediocre presidents.

The problem with this book is that if one is not somewhat familiar with U.S. history, there will no framework on which to hang the few actions and events that occurred on each president's watch. And the organization of the book contributes to that problem, because the presidents are not presented chronologically. The continuity of events across presidencies gets lost in this book.

The presidents are discussed in five tiers, from the "undisputed champions" to the "tomoto cans." In other words, they are ranked from the best to the worst. After the top tier, there is definitely room to quibble with the ratings. The author is rather vague as to the selection process. As a side note, for this reader what is especially noticeable in this journey through the presidents is the remarkably few really top notch presidents we have had. Most have been rather mediocre.

Contributing to the narrative disorganization of the book is the author's scattering of snippets of presidential facts in boxes on each page that are not necessarily connected to the main text. In addition, despite the modest amount of information that is actually presented in the book, there are several errors in facts and dates and in some cases there is an absence of dates.

For a quick read that will yield a few basic facts, this book will serve that purpose. Beyond that, the book's utility is doubtful.

The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars is because the presidents are not listed chronilogically. They are grouped together as "Legends" or "Heavyweights" etc. It was sometimes difficult to remember what tariff did what or what law hurt who's presidency if it's not listed in order and you keep having to go back and check. If you can get around that timeline thing than this book is very good for giving great info.

The author's unique approach of using boxing ranking as an approach to the president's grabs the reader's attention. The humor is interwoven well and makes the reading easier. Interspersing the little known facts and avoiding the obvious gives the reader a different insight and background to the presidents. For the price, it should be on the shelf of every high school and college student. It makes for great summer reading when you have a desire for something beyond the usual "beach" reading.Also good to attract others attention.To use the author's boxing terms. it is a KNOCKOUT.

...we purchased this item for our high school aged grand children who are interested in American History....we found the book convenient to reference and read and peruse at their rare 'available times'...and the information seems quite complete....

Good book but not in good condition. Would rate it as poor. Book did arrive quickly.

I believe that the information and the trivia was interesting, but my main issue is that it is not written in chronological order, but the Presidents were rated in order of importance, or contributions. This, to me, leads to confusion, especially for a person that may be new to reading history. To me, it is important to be able to picture in your mind what era a President ruled in, what was his personal challenge, etc...and that becomes more difficult when the book is scattered. I sincerely hope that if it is revised, the author re-writes it in chronological order and if he chooses to rate them, this can be done in the appendix.

This is a very interesting book if you're wanting an overview of Presidential History. It covers the highlights of each president, but of course in about 400 pages, it's simply impossible to go very deep.

The book is arranged, not in chronological order, but in descending order of each president's success in office, as judged by the author, of course. I probably would have preferred a chronological discussion, for the simple reason that it would be easier to view each biographical sketch in it's larger context.

But again, overall it's a good read. I'd suggest it for anyone who is interested in American Presidential History but doesn't want to read multiple books to get the overview he wants.