The White House: An Illustrated Tour [Hardcover]

Bill Harris (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: March 1, 2002

The Rose Garden. The Blue Room. The State Dining Room. The China Room. These terms are as familiar to Americans as their own homes. In fact, the White House is America's own house, home to the mightiest leader on earth and his family. This grand symbol of the power and strength of an entire nation grew from the efforts of many colorful and fascinating personalities. Both Democrats and Republicans, first families and social guests, have graced the halls of the White House and made their respective marks on the unique and unusual history of the building. The history that lies beyond the doors has remained a secret until now. Tours gave some insights, but they are no longer available to the public. What has been missing is a comprehensive visual and historical tour, not only of the halls of the White House but also of the history of this magnificent building. The White House: An Illustrated Tour takes the reader on an exclusive tour of the halls of the White House and details the history of the architects, planners, and engineers responsible for it. State rooms like the Red Room, adorned with a portrait of Martin Van Buren's daughter; relics like the Gingerbread House, a replica of the White House as it looked when John Adams first moved in; and the Diplomatic Reception Room that is the site of the secret deals and pacts of political history. These are but a few of the physical sites the reader visits. Written by best-selling author Bill Harris, a leading expert on historical landmarks and architecture, The White House: An Illustrated Tour lets the reader see, feel, and taste political history in the making.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Bill Harris, a veteran journalist who worked at The New York Times for more than 20 years, is also the author of The White House.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 96 pages
• Publisher: Courage Books (March 1, 2002)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0762414111
• ISBN-13: 978-0762414116
• Product Dimensions: 10.9 x 8.7 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 2.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,830,912 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

12 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Disappointng imagery and captions, January 28, 2004

By 

Jim Hood (Boston, MA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The White House: An Illustrated Tour (Hardcover)

The front matter dealing with historical evolution of the early White House is accurate and highly interesting. Bill Harris receives points for the accessibility of this book, and I know it is not meant to be the definitive White House tour book. Unfortunately this is the extent of anything positive I can find to say about this book.

Harris' book suffers in two surprising ways. First the reproduction quality of photographs, even current Bush administration photographs, is disappointing. Photographs appear either milky with little contrast or too dark with low light areas appearing as dark brown to black. Most disappointing, and highly surprising are the blatant disconnects between his captions and the photographs they are supposed to describe. It made me wonder if he had benefit of an editor or fact checker at Courage Books. As example, caption descriptions of the Red Room, and State Dining Room each describe the rooms as they presently exist, yet the photographs are 50 and 45 years out of date respectively. Example: the Red Room is described as having been restored in 2000 retaining the American Empire period established in the Kennedy administration, and yet the photograph we are shown is that of the pre-Kennedy, Truman administration renovation produced by B. Altman showing the room furnished in bad reproductions. A similar disconnect between caption and photograph exists for the State Dining Room where, once again the Truman era renovation photograph is shown. The Blue Room is presented in its Kennedy era decoration as though that was how the room currently appears even though it has been redecorated during both the Nixon and Clinton administrations. The book's last page, a list of phot credits titled "Acknowledgments" reveals the reason we find such dated imagery. Much of the credit goes to the stock image libraries of Corbis and Bettman. Harris and ultimately his readers would have been better served by his simply contacting White House Curator Betty Monkman for public domain and current images of the White House.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars The White House: An Illustrated Tour, February 28, 2006

By 

Sylvia Replogle "Grade 5 Teacher" (Denver, CO United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The White House: An Illustrated Tour (Hardcover)

The title of this book is quite misleading. Wanted a book that would give our class a tour of the rooms of the White House and its gardens. This book shows you old hats and gloves and things worn by Presidents. There is far far too little information about the actual White House. For one who teaches children who may never visit the White House, this book was really did little to increase thier knowledge nor may I add, hold their interest.

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great book at a very good price, January 2, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: The White House: An Illustrated Tour (Hardcover)

I don't often find a coffee-table worthy book [at this price]. This book has more content (including great historical coverage) than I expected, and I am happily suprised. Great product!