New Books for Potus Geeks Coming in 2019
I'm disappointed that there were so many good books about Presidents which came out in 2018 that I didn't get around to reading. I still hope to read many of them, but that will be difficult when I look at what is coming out next year. So first, let me begin with the books that came out in 2018 that are still on my "to read" pile:
1. Presidents of War by Michael Beschloss-A collection of accounts of how a number of Presidents took the nation into conflict and mobilized their country for victory. According to one review, "it brings us into the room as they make the most difficult decisions that face any President, at times sending hundreds of thousands of American men and women to their deaths."
2. The Winter War: Hoover, Roosevelt and the First Clash Over the New Deal by Eric Rauchway-Historian Eric Rauchway describes the transition from Herbert Hoover to FDR as the Great Depression was reaching its crescendo. It describes how FDR laid out his plans for the New Deal in the months prior to his inauguration, as outgoing President Hoover feared for the nation because of how he perceived FDR's abilities and policies.
3. The Last 100 Days: FDR at War and at Peace by David Woolner-Technically this is a 2017 book, not 2018. It came out on December 12th, 2017. Woolner looks at the last hundred days of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt and shows how FDR drew on every last ounce of his diminishing energy to pursue what for him was an urgent legacy: the establishment of the United Nations and the reinvigoration of the New Deal.
4. The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s by William Hitchcock. The author makes the case why Dwight Eisenhower deserves to be ranked in the upper echelon of presidents as he reviews Eisenhower’s accomplishments and describes how Eisenhower kept the peace, ending the Korean War, avoiding (or at least delaying) a war in Vietnam, managing a potential confrontation with China, and handling relations with the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death. Domestically, he guided the Republican Party to embrace a more moderate agenda and worked behind the scenes to stifle the demagoguery of Senator Joe McCarthy. Hitchcock argues that from 1953 to 1961 no one dominated the world stage like Eisenhower.
5. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President by James Klotter-We all know the story of Henry Clay, the man who ran for president unsuccessfully three times. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, Klotter offers an well-researched explanation of Clay's programs and politics in order to answer to the question of why the man they called "The Great Rejected" never won the presidency.
6. The Improbable Wendell Willkie: The Businessman Who Saved the Republican Party and His Country, and Conceived a New World Order by David Levering Lewis-The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of W.E.B. Du Bois, offers an insightful portrait of Willkie, a political neophyte from the Midwest, who astounded the pundits of his day by winning his party's nomination for president despite never having been elected to political office or holding a high military rant, and how he went on to give FDR the fight of his life.
Okay, now on to 2019. Here's what I hope to read in the next 365 days:
1. The Accidental President: Chester A. Arthur by John Pafford-After being among the least biographied presidents, this is the second bio of the Gentleman Boss in the past few years. The author, who previously wrote an adulating biography of Grover Cleveland, promises to deliver "an in-depth biography of underappreciated president Chester Arthur explores Arthur’s accomplishments in his short time as commander in chief." Let's hope so. There is much more to Chester than meets the eye. This is due out on April 25, 2019.
2. American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race by Douglas Brinkley-When on May 25, 1961, JFK announced his goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade, the race was on. Brinkley checks off two of my boxes with this work: 1) The Presidency and 2) The Space Program. (If only he could have worked baseball in somehow.) I'm majorly looking forward to this one. This comes out on April 2.
3. The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation by Brenda Wineapple-I'm not sure why impeachment has suddenly become such an interesting historical subject, but the story of Andrew Johnson and the role that politics played in shaping (some would say "contorting") the definition of "high crimes and misdemeanors" in 1868 is a fascinating tale. This book is due out on May 21st
4. After the Fall: The Remarkable Comeback of Richard Nixon by Kasey Pipes-Nixon is fodder for so many interesting biographies, especially when they are focused as this one intends to be. Pipes, who previously wrote about Dwight Eisenhower's battle to enforce Brown v. Board of Education, takes on an interesting chapter of Nixonian lore: how a disgraced President was able to rehabilitate his reputation and make the transition to elder statesman. This is due out on April 22nd.
5. The Problem of Democracy: The Presidents Adams Confront the Cult of Personality by Nancy Isenverg and Andrew Burstein-I love the title and I love the premise. John and John Quincy Adams both lost their bid for re-election to a populist opponent. These two were were brilliant but prickly politicians and, as the authors argue, perhaps the most independently minded among leaders of the founding generation, men who ""were unpopular for their fears of the potential for demagoguery lurking in democracy". Both warned of the seductive appeal of political celebrities, but were powerless to stem the tide. This one comes out on April 16, 2019.
6. Revolutionary: George Washington at War by Robert O'Connell-This book is written by an acclaimed military historian and is about Washington the soldier rather than Washington the President. O'Connell traces Washington's military exploits from some bad soldiering during the Seven Years War, through his stint in Virginia’s colonial governing body, the House of Burgesses, and how he beacme the only choice to lead the inexperienced American army into war with the greatest military power of his time. While there have been many books analyzing Washington's cunning and his brilliance in winning a war with limited military means, I look forward to how O'Connell explains it. Yet another April release, this one is due on April 2nd.
There are many other interesting books coming out, and for a more comprehensive link, may I recommend this excellent compilation prepared by Stephen Floyd.
I'll end this with one complaint. One of my favorite presidents about whom not enough is written about is James Monroe. On January 29th an academic biography of Monroe's presidency by Brook Poston is being released, entitled James Monroe: A Republican Champion. While I expect it would be a worthwhile read, I can't recommend it at its current price of $80. I'll keep an eye on it to see if the publisher decides to price it more reasonably.
Happy reading in 2019!
1. Presidents of War by Michael Beschloss-A collection of accounts of how a number of Presidents took the nation into conflict and mobilized their country for victory. According to one review, "it brings us into the room as they make the most difficult decisions that face any President, at times sending hundreds of thousands of American men and women to their deaths."
2. The Winter War: Hoover, Roosevelt and the First Clash Over the New Deal by Eric Rauchway-Historian Eric Rauchway describes the transition from Herbert Hoover to FDR as the Great Depression was reaching its crescendo. It describes how FDR laid out his plans for the New Deal in the months prior to his inauguration, as outgoing President Hoover feared for the nation because of how he perceived FDR's abilities and policies.
3. The Last 100 Days: FDR at War and at Peace by David Woolner-Technically this is a 2017 book, not 2018. It came out on December 12th, 2017. Woolner looks at the last hundred days of the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt and shows how FDR drew on every last ounce of his diminishing energy to pursue what for him was an urgent legacy: the establishment of the United Nations and the reinvigoration of the New Deal.
4. The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s by William Hitchcock. The author makes the case why Dwight Eisenhower deserves to be ranked in the upper echelon of presidents as he reviews Eisenhower’s accomplishments and describes how Eisenhower kept the peace, ending the Korean War, avoiding (or at least delaying) a war in Vietnam, managing a potential confrontation with China, and handling relations with the Soviet Union after Stalin’s death. Domestically, he guided the Republican Party to embrace a more moderate agenda and worked behind the scenes to stifle the demagoguery of Senator Joe McCarthy. Hitchcock argues that from 1953 to 1961 no one dominated the world stage like Eisenhower.
5. Henry Clay: The Man Who Would Be President by James Klotter-We all know the story of Henry Clay, the man who ran for president unsuccessfully three times. Always a bridesmaid, never a bride, Klotter offers an well-researched explanation of Clay's programs and politics in order to answer to the question of why the man they called "The Great Rejected" never won the presidency.
6. The Improbable Wendell Willkie: The Businessman Who Saved the Republican Party and His Country, and Conceived a New World Order by David Levering Lewis-The Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer of W.E.B. Du Bois, offers an insightful portrait of Willkie, a political neophyte from the Midwest, who astounded the pundits of his day by winning his party's nomination for president despite never having been elected to political office or holding a high military rant, and how he went on to give FDR the fight of his life.
Okay, now on to 2019. Here's what I hope to read in the next 365 days:
1. The Accidental President: Chester A. Arthur by John Pafford-After being among the least biographied presidents, this is the second bio of the Gentleman Boss in the past few years. The author, who previously wrote an adulating biography of Grover Cleveland, promises to deliver "an in-depth biography of underappreciated president Chester Arthur explores Arthur’s accomplishments in his short time as commander in chief." Let's hope so. There is much more to Chester than meets the eye. This is due out on April 25, 2019.
2. American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race by Douglas Brinkley-When on May 25, 1961, JFK announced his goal of putting a man on the moon by the end of the decade, the race was on. Brinkley checks off two of my boxes with this work: 1) The Presidency and 2) The Space Program. (If only he could have worked baseball in somehow.) I'm majorly looking forward to this one. This comes out on April 2.
3. The Impeachers: The Trial of Andrew Johnson and the Dream of a Just Nation by Brenda Wineapple-I'm not sure why impeachment has suddenly become such an interesting historical subject, but the story of Andrew Johnson and the role that politics played in shaping (some would say "contorting") the definition of "high crimes and misdemeanors" in 1868 is a fascinating tale. This book is due out on May 21st
4. After the Fall: The Remarkable Comeback of Richard Nixon by Kasey Pipes-Nixon is fodder for so many interesting biographies, especially when they are focused as this one intends to be. Pipes, who previously wrote about Dwight Eisenhower's battle to enforce Brown v. Board of Education, takes on an interesting chapter of Nixonian lore: how a disgraced President was able to rehabilitate his reputation and make the transition to elder statesman. This is due out on April 22nd.
5. The Problem of Democracy: The Presidents Adams Confront the Cult of Personality by Nancy Isenverg and Andrew Burstein-I love the title and I love the premise. John and John Quincy Adams both lost their bid for re-election to a populist opponent. These two were were brilliant but prickly politicians and, as the authors argue, perhaps the most independently minded among leaders of the founding generation, men who ""were unpopular for their fears of the potential for demagoguery lurking in democracy". Both warned of the seductive appeal of political celebrities, but were powerless to stem the tide. This one comes out on April 16, 2019.
6. Revolutionary: George Washington at War by Robert O'Connell-This book is written by an acclaimed military historian and is about Washington the soldier rather than Washington the President. O'Connell traces Washington's military exploits from some bad soldiering during the Seven Years War, through his stint in Virginia’s colonial governing body, the House of Burgesses, and how he beacme the only choice to lead the inexperienced American army into war with the greatest military power of his time. While there have been many books analyzing Washington's cunning and his brilliance in winning a war with limited military means, I look forward to how O'Connell explains it. Yet another April release, this one is due on April 2nd.
There are many other interesting books coming out, and for a more comprehensive link, may I recommend this excellent compilation prepared by Stephen Floyd.
I'll end this with one complaint. One of my favorite presidents about whom not enough is written about is James Monroe. On January 29th an academic biography of Monroe's presidency by Brook Poston is being released, entitled James Monroe: A Republican Champion. While I expect it would be a worthwhile read, I can't recommend it at its current price of $80. I'll keep an eye on it to see if the publisher decides to price it more reasonably.
Happy reading in 2019!