Author in Chief

November 15, 2019
A lively account of the literary achievements (and failures) of America's presidents. Though countless books have been published on nearly every presidential topic imaginable, journalist Fehrman (Home Grown: Cage the Elephant and the Making of a Modern Music Scene, 2013) has found one yet to be covered in-depth: the books that the presidents wrote. While George Washington wasn't much of a writer, the tradition of the U.S. president's donning his influential pen started early and has remained strong, with just a handful of exceptions. Nearly every POTUS has written--or had written for him--either a campaign book or a legacy book. The author provides both backstories and modern critiques of well-known books such as The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant and Barack Obama's Dreams From My Father as well as less familiar titles, including Calvin's Coolidge's surprisingly well-written autobiography. "As a writer and public speaker," notes Fehrman, "Coolidge could be funny, imaginative, even rhetorically forceful when it served his ambitions." Throughout, the author offers highly personal looks at the men who have occupied the White House: "Examining presidents as they write means examining them at their most human." Consider, for instance, John F. Kennedy, who "craved literary fame" but "lacked the discipline to do literary work." Beyond just presidential authorship, Ferhman also paints inspiring portraits of how our presidents consumed books, from Grant ("America's first fiction-loving president") to Theodore Roosevelt ("Reading, to him, was living") to Harry Truman, who "read a stunning number of books." The author goes even further, providing insight on the general history of reading and publishing in America. Overall, the author covers a great deal of ground that even major biographers have skipped over in favor of "sexier" storylines, yet to the book lover, these stories will be unquestionably enticing. Even the footnotes, appendix, and sources offer bookish gems. Fehrman's illuminating blend of presidential and publishing history with literary criticism will appeal to amateur historians and bibliophiles alike.

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December 1, 2019

Journalist Fehrman offers a spritely, quote-filled selective survey of significant writings by those who have held the office of the presidency. Fehrman asserts that while texts by soon-to-be presidents were impactful in their time, the voting public later largely, but wrongly, forgot these revealing writings. The author considers the writings of Abraham Lincoln, John F. Kennedy, Ronald Reagan, Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Jackson, and others in order to determine the leaders' inspirations, aspirations, and motivations. Important aspects here include an annotated appendix of particular publications attributed to presidents, and the author's essays at the beginning of the endnotes for each chapter citing relevant interviews and secondary works. VERDICT This narrative presents an engaging and enlightening perspective on the history of the presidency. Also suggest Seth Cotlar and Richard J. Ellis's Historian in Chief.--Frederick J. Augustyn Jr., Lib. of Congress, Washington, DC

Copyright 2019 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

Starred review from December 2, 2019
Contemporary critics are wrong to dismiss the significance of presidential memoirs and campaign books, argues this entertaining and illuminating survey of U.S. presidents as authors. Historian Fehrman showcases “important presidents and important books,” including Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia and Jimmy Carter’s An Hour Before Daylight, to make the case that such works have “revealed the White House’s deepest secrets” and helped to mold American democracy. He depicts Profiles in Courage author John F. Kennedy as more interested in literary renown than the act of writing, and discusses how Barack Obama’s love of fiction shaped his leadership qualities. More expansively, Fehrman illustrates the evolution of America’s print and popular culture, from the 1700s, when books were expensive and difficult to produce, to the blockbuster era of the 1980s, when Donald Trump accepted Random House’s first offer for The Art of the Deal. Fehrman’s deep research delivers a wealth of intriguing tidbits (Jimmy Carter leased a $12,000 word processor to compose Keeping the Faith; the Committee to Boycott Nixon’s Memoirs sold T-shirts and bumper stickers with the slogan “Don’t Buy Books by Crooks”), which are complemented by a generous selection of illustrations. Bibliophiles and presidential history buffs alike will relish this gratifying deep dive into an underappreciated genre.

Starred review from December 15, 2019
From the very beginnings of America's experiment in republican government, its chief executives, both actual and aspiring, have put pen to paper (nowadays fingers to keyboard) in attempts to justify themselves and inspire others. Here, Fehrman records such literary efforts back to Jefferson and Adams. These presidential books fall into two categories: a memoir to rationalize one's actions in office, or a campaign broadside to introduce its self-promoting subject to the electorate or set a campaign objective. Occasionally delving into quirkier matters, such as John Adams' assurances that he bore no illegitimate offspring, most of these books reflect the deeply held political interests of their writers. Calvin Coolidge published a book that genuinely excited 1920s voters. John Kennedy's Profiles in Courage (1956) became required reading for students even if its authorship was challenged. As Fehrman sees it, what presidents read matters even more than what they wrote. Ronald Reagan read books about film, and Barack Obama, whose Dreams of My Father (1995) was central to his election triumphs, reads widely across genres. Illustrations grace the text, and extensive bibliographic notes brim with intriguing facts. Both history buffs and politics enthusiasts will relish this.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2019, American Library Association.)