Customer Reviews

The Power of the American Presidency: 1789-2000

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This book gives very brief descriptions of most of the presidents. If you do not know much about the history of the presidency, this book might be useful. However, I would recomend a much more detailed book.

Genovese uses his own ranking system to put the presidents in order. He seems to base most of the ranking on whether or not the president improved the power that the office had not on actual policies. Therefore "administrative" presidents do not do well in his system no matter what policies they implemented.

The tables that Genovese uses contradict each other. Presidents are given different rank numbers in different tables. He also uses the same quotes multiple times for some of the presidents.

This book is ok for a quick overview of the presidency, but does not provide for many detailed profiles outside of a few presidents.

I like this book! "The Power of the American Presidency" is an informative and enjoyable book to read. Genovese gives the reader a broad view of the roots of the American presidency and its powers. Readers will see how some presidents excelled while others lagged behind, how some presidents developed and strengthened presidential powers to lead the country forward while others weakened them and failed to lead....

Genovese describes how a president was accused of breaking the law, or at least? steered around the US Constitution? in order to save a nation, how some loved the position of president while others couldn't wait for their term to end. Genovese shows us the presidents that made the top of the list of great presidents, those who landed on the bottom, and how others took the deep plunge into presidential obscurity. The reader will also discover which president served the longest term, which served the shortest, which president disliked politics.... But most importantly, Genovese explains the development of the American presidency and the expansion of its power.

"The Power of the American Presidency" entices the reader's thirst for knowledge and serves as a good jumping point for further study on the American presidency and presidential powers. Genovese's writing is smart, crisp, and at times witty but always clear. I like that this book can be read from beginning to end, as I did, or it can be used as a reference tool, as I frequently do. I wholeheartedly recommend this book.