Reading Presidential Biographies
Since this is such a well-read community, I wanted to canvass your views as to how you decide what biography of a particular president you will read. So here are three poll questions about it:
Hypothetical: You wish to read a biography of a President who was in office prior to 1900. All else being equal, as between the following three options, which biography do you prefer to read?
One written shortly after the President left office (i.e. 10 years or less after the President left office)
2(9.1%)
One written between 20-50 years after the President left office
5(22.7%)
One written more recently (i.e. in the past 10 years)
15(68.2%)
Which of the following considerations or beliefs might factor into your decision? (Select all that apply.)
The closer in time to the actual event, the more accurate the information in the book is likely to be
4(5.5%)
The closer in time to the actual event, the less objective it is likely to be.
10(13.7%)
The more time that has passed since the president was in office, the better it is to assess that president's reputation in history.
19(26.0%)
The more time that has passed since the subject lived, the more likely it will be that the author is just rehashing the views of other historians.
4(5.5%)
Writers from the 1800s and early 1900s write in such a beautiful style.
3(4.1%)
Writers from the 1800s and early 1900s write in such a verbose and boring style.
4(5.5%)
I'd rather read a biography of a Democrat than of a Republican.
1(1.4%)
I'd rather read a biography of a Republican than of a Democrat.
2(2.7%)
I generally don't like to read long books (say 400 pages or more).
3(4.1%)
I'm drawn to more concise biographies, like the American Presidents Series for example.
4(5.5%)
Concise biographies (150 pages or less) are usually superficial and don't really tell you anything new.
7(9.6%)
The length of a book doesn't factor into my decision at all.
11(15.1%)
None of these factor into my decision.
0(0.0%)
Something else (what?)
1(1.4%)
With which of the following statements do you more strongly agree with?
Autobiographies of a President are likely to be more accurate than any other historical account of that President's life because the author has first hand knowledge of everything in the book.
0(0.0%)
Autobiographies of Presidents are more likely to be inaccurate because they are full of embellishments and phony excuses for that President's mistakes.
4(18.2%)
I agree equally with both of these statements.
11(50.0%)
I don't agree with either of these statements.
7(31.8%)