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The President's House: History and Secrets of the World's Most Famous Home

Margaret Truman (Author), Sandra Burr (Narrator), Brilliance Audio (Publisher)
4.1 out of 5 stars 50 customer reviews
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Product Details

Customer Reviews

Top Customer Reviews

4.0 out of 5 starsThe Story of the White House, By A Famous First Daughter
By W. C HALL VINE VOICE on December 14, 2003
Format: Hardcover
Former First Daughter Margaret Truman offers the reader an entertaining, anecdotal account of life at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Her focus is on the White House as a home, though its role as a seat of power is not neglected. As a result, you can expect to learn more here about the first wives, children, doormen, Secret Service agents, maids, gardeners, cooks and others who have lived and labored behind these famous walls..although the presidents themselves aren't entirely overlooked.

The exterior the White House presents to the world has changed little in two centuries...but the interior has been undergoing an almost constant process of destruction and renewal. We learn about the 1814 torching of the president's house by invading British troops; the addition of greenhouses, which gave way to the west wing at the beginning of the 20th century; almost constant sprees of redecoration and reconfiguring of the public and family rooms, all of which culminated in the complete reconstruction of the White House during the Truman years.

There are chapters about the rambunctious children, the unusual pets, the glamorous weddings, riotous inaugural balls and other historic events that have enlivened this historic mansion. You will get a sense of the behind-the-scenes preparation that goes into welcoming a visiting head of state or similar dignitary. There are two sections of illustrations, one in color, that further help the reader share in Truman's wonder and appreciation of this historic house.--William C. Hall
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4.0 out of 5 starsfluffy but fun look at America�s showcase home
By A Customer on November 6, 2003
Format: Hardcover
Author and a former first daughter (unbelievably over fifty years ago) Margaret Truman provides the perfect combination to escort readers to an insider tour of the White House (past and present). The best-selling writer provides numerous anecdotes from history as she escorts her visitors through the kitchen, garden and the famous social functions, etc. The book also contains chapters on the household, political and security staffs, the press corps, and White House weddings. Of course other sections provide insight into the first families including pets.
Though history buffs will think it is too much fluff the former first daughter turned novelist provides a fun look at America's showcase home over the two plus centuries of residents. Readers will enjoy this book written in a light-hearted upbeat manner enhanced by color and black and white photos.
Harriet Klausner
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4.0 out of 5 starsInside the White House by a Famous First Daughter
By C. M Mills on March 4, 2004
Format: Hardcover Verified Purchase
Margaret Truman is, of course, the daughter of President Harry Truman and his wife Bess. She is the most prolific writing child of any American Chief Executiv. Margaret Truman has written several mysteries and histories about life in Washington which are written in a popular style easy to understand and enjoy.
As Ms. Truman opens the door to our White House she lets us discover the fascinating men and women who have lived at 1600
Pennyslvania Avenue. She discusses such various topics as:
1. White House Weddings.
2. Relations between the Presidents and the Media
3. The Children of Presidents who have lived in the White House
4. White House Presidential Pets
5. The kooks and crazies who have tried (and in some cases been successful) in assasinating our chief executive.
6. She describes the growth of the White House from its first occupancy by John and Abigal Adams in 1800. The history of the White House building, grounds, gardens and additions are discussed.
7. How the routine of a White House day changed with every administration-when they awoke to what they liked for dinner!
Ms. Truman has written in a charmingly simple style which is nevertheless based on her well done historical research. This is a book anyone regardless of age or party affiliation could enjoy.
I recommend it highly!
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4.0 out of 5 starsA Good Beginning. . .
By JK on November 30, 2003
Format: Hardcover
This book certainly reminds one of Mrs. Daniel's mysteries. I have read her various publications on her parents and I consider them to be better reads.
However, Mrs. Daniel does an excellent job of organizing her work, and the break-down of the chapters here is excellent. I didn't read the book in order, but picked the chapters in which I was most interested first!
I'm a history reader, though, and found very little in this book that was news. Save her personal recollections, I think I've seen this information elsewhere, and in greater detail. The book is very 'readable', though, and I managed to polish it off in two evenings, easily. This will likely broaden its appeal to its intended audience.
I can't say the book is a disappointment. I didn't expect a more academic volume. The expression 'history lite', used by Publisher's Weekly, is appropriate. For those who ordinarily don't read history, it will be pleasurable. For those of us who read history, a look elsewhere is recommended.
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2.0 out of 5 starsAnyone Could Have Written This
By Mariane Matera VINE VOICE on September 3, 2015
Format: Paperback Verified Purchase
I ordered this book because I had read in an Eleanor Roosevelt biography how shocked and dismayed Margaret and Bess were when they arrived in the living quarters and found it so shabby. I wanted to know more about how shabby, what was left, what did they have to do, what's it like moving in, moving out, living on the second floor.

This is not that book. This was a hard book to get to the end. I had to force myself. She does not tell her stories in chronological order. She'll leap from from a 20th century president back to a 19th century one, then back again. You get no sense of how the house grew or changed over the years because the timeline is so out of wack. She has chosen to tell her stories bundled in topics -- the grounds, the office areas, the servants, the gardens, the pets, the reporters, the brides, the children, etc. And within each chapter, even then she does not tell the stories chronologically. She skips back and forth.

I guess the advantage of that is she can insert a story about her father into each chapter, because if she had told it chronologically, she'd have to deal with his stories in one chapter.

She tells her stories in a folksy, casual way, as if she were telling the story over dinner to friends around the table, and it just doesn't work in this context. And all the stories, bumping through history out of order like the Doctor in a runaway Tardis, run together in each chapter. And for someone who was literally inside, this is no insider's tale. Many of these stories you have heard elsewhere, in other books. That's probably where they came from. Here she had a first hand opportunity to write about what it's really like to live in the White House, and she wrote a book that anyone could have pieced together sitting in a research library. I don't get it.
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Most Recent Customer Reviews

5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Great review of the presidential families that have lived in the White House.

Published 24 days ago by Vance E Spurgeon
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

Interesting stories that personal lives in the White House.

Published 2 months ago by Jane Spiegelberg
4.0 out of 5 starsI liked this book and certainly learned a lot

I liked this book and certainly learned a lot. I've been to the White House and it brought back memories. I thought it was very well done.

Published 3 months ago by joyce c
5.0 out of 5 starsThe President's Daughter

Interesting and informative. It was good to hear the point of view of someone who actually lived in the White House.

Published 6 months ago by Booklover
3.0 out of 5 starsMargaret Truman knows DC

Since Margaret had an inside view of life in the White House, it is nice to read her impressions of the place

Published 6 months ago by pidge
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

This was a good read and was very informative.

Published 7 months ago by Rosanne M.
3.0 out of 5 starsAn odd mix of history, memoir, and political commentary

A unique, though jumbled, look at America's most famous house (claiming it is the world's most famous house is a little much for me, unless she's not counting castles, palaces,... Read more

Published 8 months ago by RuthSophia
5.0 out of 5 starsVery Good Read

I enjoy reading about Presidential history and this more than exceeded my expectation.

Published 8 months ago by Dragonfly Lady
4.0 out of 5 starsFour Stars

Entertaining

Published 14 months ago by september
5.0 out of 5 starsFive Stars

Interesting facts about the White House.

Published 14 months ago by Amazon Customer

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