Reviews
"Edited by Brinkley (history, Columbia Univ.) and Dyer (TRW: Pioneering Technology and Innovation Since 1900) and written by a collection of eminent historians--including Michael Holt, William McFeely, and David Oshinsky--this book is a solid, concise guide to American presidents. In essays that run between ten and 20 pages, contributors provocatively evaluate the record of each of our 51 executives, from Washington through Clinton. While each entry offers a brief bibliography, a time line, a few demographic and economic tables, and a sidebar entitled "The First Family," the book is less factually oriented and less suited for quick reference than either the two-volume Congressional Quarterly's Guide to the Presidency (1996) or Leonard W. Levy's four-volume Encyclopedia of the American Presidency (LJ 1/94). And while each includes at least one presidential photograph or portrait, The American President (Riverhead, 1999) by Philip W. Kunhardt and family is much better for illustrations. This book, instead, is the best place to find an authoritative, critical overview of each president. A very useful purchase and a bargain for all types of libraries." -- Robert F. Nardini, North Chichester, NH Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information., "Edited by Brinkley (history, Columbia Univ.) and Dyer (TRW: Pioneering Technology and Innovation Since 1900) and written by a collection of eminent historians--including Michael Holt, William McFeely, and David Oshinsky--this book is a solid, concise guide to American presidents. In essays that run between ten and 20 pages, contributors provocatively evaluate the record of each of our 51 executives, from Washington through Clinton. While each entry offers a brief bibliography, a time line, a few demographic and economic tables, and a sidebar entitled "The First Family," the book is less factually oriented and less suited for quick reference than either the two-volume Congressional Quarterly's Guide to the Presidency (1996) or Leonard W. Levy's four-volume Encyclopedia of the American Presidency (LJ 1/94). And while each includes at least one presidential photograph or portrait, The American President (Riverhead, 1999) by Philip W. Kunhardt and family is much better for illustrations. This book, instead, is the best place to find an authoritative, critical overview of each president. A very useful purchase and a bargain for all types of libraries." -- Robert F. Nardini, North Chichester, NH Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information. Library Journal
