Customer Reviews

Presidential Places: A Guide to the Historic Sites of U.S. Presidents

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

 

 

I have taken to working historical sites into my vacations, mostly Civil War and, since last year, Presidential sites. My interest in Presidential sites has increased with C-Span's 25th anniversary series on U.S. Presidents. A friend told me about the book and I bought it. I like the format (organized by President) and it has been very useful in helping me plan an upcoming trip into Virginia, with various Presidential related stops. Not that I'd carry it in the car all the time (since there are no Presidential sites here in Wisconsin) but when I'm on one of my road trips, this goes next to the atlas.

If you're a presidential buff like me, you'll love this book. Whenever I travel, I love to look up and visit sites relating to the presidents. Before this book, I had to rely on general maps, which have lots of limitations for this kind of thing. Now, I just need to carry this book.

It's very well organized. The two basic organization schemes are by president and by state. The first scheme constitutes the main part of the book. It's very well laid out, with sections for different life events (birth, death, inauguration, etc.). Each of these sections includes clearly-delineated addresses and hours. There's just enough "story" to know what you're visiting, but without being bogged down in the details. There are also URLs for those sites that have web pages!

On the down side, I wish there were more pictures. They could have well fit in the grey boxes that say "travelogue" (I haven't a clue what those are for!). I also wish sites that aren't open to the public at least had addresses (it can't hurt just to look from the street).

I've read all of the presidential sites books, and this is the most informative one out there.

It's not flashy -- there aren't a ton of pictures -- but it has all the info you want, including where every president was born, lived and is buried. It also includes president libraries.

In the back it has a listing of sites by state, which comes in handy when traveling.

Of course, this is a reference book -- it's not for light reading. (I've read reviews by some Amazon readers who bought reference books and say they're "boring.")

If you travel and want to visit the presidential sites, this is the book you need.

Randomly found this awesome book in the library - Presidential Places by Gary Ferris. Has lots of quirky little tidbits like Garfield traveled from Cleveland to Pittsburgh by canal boat, falling overboard 14 times along the way. I didn't remember Chester Arthur but his pall bearers were Robert Lincoln, General Sheridan, Charles Tiffany and C. Vanderbilt. If you can judge a man by the company he keeps, well, he was keeping some pretty good company. I found the fact that McKinley got kicked out of Allegheny College for leaving a cow in the school's bell tower kind of funny. Many other interesting things in the book. If I get a chance to go on some driving tours this summer I'll be buying my own copy to take with me.

If you are interested in seeing and visiting sites associated with Presidents and history, this is a nice addition to your library. It is laid out and presented nice. I would liked to have had an updated new edition with more current information and I would have liked to have had information on the grave sites included.

I found this book far inferior to the Clotworthy book and particularly Brian Lamb's book, both of which I own. The quality of the comments is lacking and the photo quality quite inferior. Maybe this book is well suited for someone not truly interested in Presidential history, but then, would they make the effort to visit these places anyway? A big disappointment.