3.5
The Presidents
ByPublisher Description
The complete rankings of our best -- and worst -- presidents, based on C-SPAN's much-cited Historians Surveys of Presidential Leadership.
Over a period of decades, C-SPAN has surveyed leading historians on the best and worst of America's presidents across a variety of categories -- their ability to persuade the public, their leadership skills, their moral authority, and more. The crucible of the presidency has forged some of the very best and very worst leaders in our national history, along with everyone in between.
Based on interviews conducted over the years with a variety of presidential biographers, this book provides not just a complete ranking of our presidents, but stories and analyses that capture the character of the men who held the office. From Abraham Lincoln's political savvy and rhetorical gifts to James Buchanan's indecisiveness, this book teaches much about what makes a great leader -- and what does not.
As America looks ahead to our next election, this book offers perspective and criteria to help us choose our next leader wisely.
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Meet readers like you in the Fable For You feed, designed to build bookish communitiesThe Presidents Reviews
3.5
“I was forced into reading this”
“Really interesting snapshots of each president of the U.S. in the order of Best rated to lowest (Trump was in office when the book was published so he is an after thought at the end of the book. Each chapter is drawn from an author who wrote a book about that president and was then interviewed on a C-span show about that book.
Makes me want to pick up some of the books to learn more.”
“3.5 stars.
Some may find this book misleading, as it doesn't really explore the presidential rankings beyond surface-level explanations as to why Lincoln is the best and Buchanan is the worst. Even still, this works as a bite-sized look at every US president, their major accomplishments, their biggest faults, and their overall legacy.”
About Brian Lamb
Brian Lamb is C-SPAN's founding CEO, chairman, and longtime on-camera interviewer.
Susan Swain is C-SPAN's co-CEO and, in addition to her senior management role at the network, has been an on-camera host for C-SPAN for more than thirty years, interviewing public officials, historians, and journalists for the public affairs network. The Presidents is her ninth book project with C-SPAN and PublicAffairs. She lives in the suburbs of Washington, D.C.
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