Amazon.com Review
In
Star-Spangled Men, presidential biographer Nathan Miller compiles a subjective list of the 10 crummiest presidents in history. His criteria for ignominy: "bad character, the inability to compromise, a lack of vision, poor political skills, dishonesty, and an inability to communicate." Richard Nixon and Andrew Johnson are obvious choices, Jimmy Carter and William Howard Taft somewhat less so, though probably deserving according to Miller. Many readers probably can find a selection or two to quarrel with on these pages (Is Calvin Coolidge really one of the 10 worst?), but nonetheless will appreciate Miller's candid assessments. (The most controversial part of the book is certainly its brief epilogue, which details "the two most overrated presidents": Thomas Jefferson and John F. Kennedy.) Miller provides 10 neat summaries of 10 arguable failures in this good bit of opinionated writing that turns the klieg lights on some of American history's dimmer stars.
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From Publishers Weekly
Combining brief biographical profiles with scathing critiques, this one-man's rogues' gallery offers up Miller's (The Roosevelt Chronicles) opinions on who he considers to be the least successful American presidents. The trenchant though often superficial nature of this account is first revealed in the table of contents, where Miller lambastes William Howard Taft for being so fat he got stuck in a White House bathtub and characterizes Benjamin Harrison as looking like a "medieval gnome" with a handshake like a "wilted petunia," as if these qualities affected leadership. In an epilogue, he deflates two more presidents as the "most overrated"?John F. Kennedy, whom he calls a "confirmed cold warrior" (wasn't virtually everyone in those days?), and Thomas Jefferson, whom he accuses of wrecking the nation's economy and leading the country to war with Britain through the Embargo Act of 1807. Miller writes with passion in this irreverent broadside, where opinion tends to overstep analysis.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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