American presidents series (Times Books)
Author
Author
Pub. Date
2002.
Language
English
Description
An American hero at the close of World War II, General Dwight Eisenhower rode an enormous wave of popularity into the Oval Office seven years later. Though we may view the Eisenhower years through a hazy lens of 1950s nostalgia, historians consider his presidency one of the least successful. At home there was civil rights unrest, McCarthyism, and a deteriorating economy; internationally, the Cold War was deepening. But despite his tendency toward...
5) John Adams
Author
Pub. Date
2003.
Language
English
Description
Profiles John Adams as an ideal successor to Washington, citing the qualities of his character and Federalist policies that enabled him to address the challenges that took place during his presidency.
Author
Series
Pub. Date
2003
Language
English
Description
Examines the life and presidency of William McKinley, arguing that his diplomatic and military achievements, as well as the lack of major scandal during his administration, make him worthy of admission to the ranks of the near-great chief executives.
Author
Pub. Date
2004.
Language
English
Description
Chester Alan Arthur never dreamed that one day he would be president of the United States. A successful lawyer, Arthur had been forced out as the head of the Custom House of the Port of New York in 1877 in a power struggle between the two wings of the Republican Party. He became such a celebrity that he was nominated for vice president in 1880-despite his never having run for office before. Elected alongside James A. Garfield, Arthur found his life...
10) James K. Polk
Author
Pub. Date
2004.
Language
English
Formats
Description
Polk took office in 1845 with four aims in mind: to lower the tariff, take federal deposits away from private banks, wrest the Oregon territory from joint possession with Great Britain and make California an American territory. In achieving everything he sought, Polk was more successful than most presidents. National sentiment favored him. He was politically skillful. And by declaring that he'd serve for only one term, Polk freed himself to push ahead...
11) Ulysses S. Grant
Author
Language
English
Description
Grant is commonly remembered as the general whose fierce determination turned the tide of the Civil War. But the most common word associated with his presidency is "scandal." Bunting shows that Grant's presidency has been undervalued for generations; only now are his achievements being recognized for what they are.
Author
Pub. Date
2004.
Language
English
Description
During his presidency, Warren G. Harding was beloved. His presidential campaign slogan, "Not heroics but healing, not nostrums but normalcy," gave voice to a public exhausted by World War I. Harding inherited a White House in disarray after President Woodrow Wilson's debilitating stroke. He promised the American people that, under his watch, life and governance would once again be manageable." "His first priority was to bolster the economy, which...
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
The scion of a political dynasty ushers in the era of big government
An engrossing ferry to 19th century America, Benjamin Harrison is sure to capture every political enthusiast's attention. Join Charles W. Calhoun as he renders a fresh perspective on one of America's most controversial leaders.
The book serves as an insightful biography of Harrison, a prominent Indiana attorney and Republican champion, considered by some as
15) James Monroe
Author
Pub. Date
2005.
Language
English
Description
Presents the military and political accomplishments of James Monroe, describing his service during the Revolutionary War; his diverse roles as senator, governor, ambassador, and president; and his creation of the Monroe Doctrine.
16) Martin Van Buren
Author
Language
English
Formats
Description
The first president born after America's independence ushers in a new era of no-holds-barred democracy The first "professional politician" to become president, the slick and dandyish Martin Van Buren was to all appearances the opposite of his predecessor, the rugged general and Democratic champion Andrew Jackson. Van Buren, a native Dutch speaker, was America's first ethnic president as well as the first New Yorker to hold the office, at a time when...
18) Calvin Coolidge
Author
Pub. Date
2007.
Language
English
Description
A portrait of America's thirtieth president looks at the conservative policies that marked his leadership, including cutting taxes, balancing the federal budget, and promoting corporate productivity, as well as his innovative use of public relations.
19) George H.W. Bush
Author
Series
Language
English
Formats
Description
George Bush was a throwback to a different era. A patrician figure not known for eloquence, Bush dismissed ideology as "the vision thing." Yet, as biographer Naftali argues, no one was better prepared for the challenges facing the United States as the Cold War ended. Bush wisely encouraged the liberalization of the Soviet system and skillfully orchestrated the reunification of Germany. Following Iraq's invasion of Kuwait in 1990, he united the global...
21) Abraham Lincoln
Author
Pub. Date
2009.
Language
English
Formats
Description
Abraham Lincoln towers above the others who have held the office of president--the pillar of strength whose words bound up the nation's wounds. His presidency is the hinge on which American history pivots, the time when the young republic collapsed of its own contradictions and a new birth of freedom, sanctified by blood, created the United States we know today. His story has been told many times, but never by a man who himself sought the office of...
22) Andrew Johnson
Author
Pub. Date
2011.
Language
English
Description
Overview: A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian recounts the tale of the unwanted president who ran afoul of Congress over Reconstruction and was nearly removed from office. Andrew Johnson never expected to be president. But just six weeks after becoming Abraham Lincoln's vice president, the events at Ford's Theatre thrust him into the nation's highest office. Johnson faced a nearly impossible task-to succeed America's greatest chief executive, to...
23) Harry S. Truman
Author
Series
Pub. Date
2008.
Language
English
Formats
Description
The plainspoken man from Missouri who never expected to be president yet rose to become one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century, Harry S. Truman clashed with Southerners over civil rights, with organized labor over the right to strike, and with General Douglas MacArthur over the conduct of the Korean War. He personified Thomas Jefferson's observation that the presidency is a "splendid misery," but it was during his tenure that the United...
24) Zachary Taylor
Author
Pub. Date
2008.
Language
English
Description
Presents a biography of the twelfth president of the United States, Zachary Taylor, and focusing on how he became elected despite never holding a lower political office, and describes the events that surrounded his the time in office, including California's application for statehood with an anti-slavery constitution.
25) Herbert Hoover
Author
Pub. Date
2009.
Language
English
Description
Renowned New Deal historian Leuchtenburg offers a frank, thoughtful portrait of the lifelong public servant, and shrewdly assesses Hoover's policies and legacy in the face of one of the darkest periods of American history--the Great Depression.
26) Franklin Pierce
Author
Pub. Date
2010.
Language
English
Description
Examines the life of Franklin Pierce, the New England politician elected as the fourteenth president of the United States, arguing that in his zeal to unify the Democratic Party, he took actions that hastened the onset of the Civil War.
28) John F. Kennedy
Author
Pub. Date
2012.
Language
English
Formats
Description
John F. Kennedy was a new kind of president. Forty-three when he was inaugurated in 1961, he personified what he called the "New Frontier" as the United States entered the 1960s. But the reality of Kennedy's achievements was much more complex than the legend. Kennedy's life, and his violent and sudden death, reshaped our view of the presidency. Brinkley gives us a full picture of the man, his times, and his enduring legacy.
30)
Bill Clinton: the 42nd president, 1993-2001
Author
31) George W. Bush
Author
Pub. Date
2015.
Language
English
Description
A biography of the controversial president whose time in office was defined by the September 11 attacks and the War on Terrorism.
32) Ronald Reagan
Author
Pub. Date
2016.
Language
English
Description
A fresh psychological interpretation of Reagan's life reveals how the conservative icon reshaped American politics and laid the groundwork for the end of the Cold War.
33) Bill Clinton
Author
Description
The president of larger-than-life ambitions and appetites whose term defined America at the close of the twentieth centuryBill Clinton: a president of contradictions. He was a Rhodes Scholar and a Yale Law School graduate, but he was also a fatherless child from rural Arkansas. He was one of the most talented politicians of his age, but he inspired enmity of such intensity that his opponents would stop at nothing to destroy him. He was the first Democrat...