The Honest Book of Presidents: The Men Who Shaped America

by Prager University, Allen Estrin (foreword)

A guide to the fascinating history of the American presidency from top experts.

Only the most remarkable Americans have been granted the title, President of the United States. In this short keepsake volume, PragerU’s world-renowned historians, political thinkers, and bestselling authors will give you a glimpse into those remarkable Americans’ inspiring stories, recounting the history that too often goes untold.

Covering every president from Washington to Trump, The Honest Book of Presidents refutes the revisionist historical narratives now dominant in the education system, and shows how our leaders formed and preserved the ideals of the nation’s founding. It covers many of the key facts from presidential history, such as John Adams’ pivotal role behind the scenes in the Revolution, why Warren Harding is overlooked while his vice president is underrated, and how Lincoln changed history in two minutes. You’ll learn how these leaders and others overcame their vices with virtue, achieved victory in war, and formed new political parties—Republicans, Democrats, and Whigs included.

We owe our liberty to these leaders. They set America on the path we still follow, and they had complex lives, often full of contradictions and trials. The Honest Book of Presidents is a unique overview of American history. You’ll be glad you read it, and more deeply thankful to be an American.

Genres: History, Biography

288 pages, Hardcover

Published November 4, 2025

Reviews

[ActingBrandNew_andReading · Rating 1 out of 5]

Prager U is not an actual university or school. This book is a work of fiction not facts. This is unsettling in the world of books and information that Harper Collins would publish something like this.

[LAMONT D · Rating 5 out of 5]

Full disclosure - I am a huge fan of PragerU. Many apparently are not but that would be their loss. For those that rate a book a 1 star just because it was produced by PragerU is sad, ridiculous, and ignorant to some degree. Rate a book based upon its content and value, not based upon your presupposed prejudice for goodness' sake. I found this book easy to read and valuable since it brought many contributors together to write a succinct, fact-driven summary on each of our presidents. You will learn a ton and also not be bored out of your mind. Sure, there is a conservative take on some of the actions taken by previous presidents. But I found it balanced overall and gave credit where credit was do for those that have held the highest office of the land.

[Kristi Betts · Rating 3 out of 5]

The title of this book grabbed my attention right away. After reading the description, I knew I wanted to pick it up. Seeing the words Honest and Presidents together made me curious—how could those two ideas really go hand in hand?

The book gives each presidential term its own chapter, and if a President served more than once, their terms are separated, which makes things really easy to follow. I’m not a Presidential historian, but I do have a background in history, and I found the material about the early Presidents' stories I have previously read, and new, genuinely engaging information. Even if you don’t know much about our country’s early leaders or the office itself, there are plenty of interesting and surprising details throughout the book that keep it enjoyable.

I’ve had some trouble with what seems like bias in how the more recent presidencies are described. Maybe it’s because I lived through those years and saw some of the effects firsthand, or maybe it’s simply because I’m not looking at things the way a historian might. I’m not a scholar, just someone who genuinely enjoys learning about the past. And I really believe that if we don’t take history seriously, we’re bound to repeat it.

I would give this book more stars if it weren't for the bias shown in the final chapters of the book.

[Véra · Rating 1 out of 5]

Each of the blurbs is by a different person, so the tone varies more wildly than I've ever seen in any book claiming to be historical. Some of the contributors take their jobs seriously, but others are so painfully transparent in their political allegiances that they don't even pretend to hold onto even the slightest notions of objectivity. Older presidents are given much more respectful entries due to the fact that no one would dare raise a stink about ol' Rutherford B. Hayes or Millard Fillmore. But once you get to FDR, all bets are off. And once you get to Biden? Woof. Niall Ferguson really sold out his intellectual credibility for this book; it's rather sad.

If you want an honest book about the Presidents with short essays on each, you best look elsewhere. Start with The Complete Book of US Presidents.

[Morgan Champion · Rating 1 out of 5]

This should really be called "The subjective collection of essays kind of about presidents."

[John Sooter · Rating 4 out of 5]

Every Citizen Should Read This Book

I appreciated how tastefully each president was treated. It was a daunting task but worth the effort. The book achieves its goal of providing a fundamental understanding of each president during his time in office. Having lived and participated during the time from Eisenhower to our present day, I was a little disappointed in the handling of issues during the Eisenhower years. He was the first president to actively address civil rights since reconstruction. Truman may have commanded segregation of the armed forces, but Eisenhower made it happen and then singlehandedly dessegregated Washington D.C. Twice, during his two terms of office, he sponsored civil rights legislation only to have it gutted by LBJ,Storm Thurmond, JFK,and the Dixiecrats. His subsequent vetting and appointments of Federal judges helped insure civil rights legislation when it was finally passed. You cannot justifiably talk about him without addressing his commitment of troops to Little Rock, Arkansas to guarantee admittance of black students to Central High School.

[Richard Littel · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book consists of a short (less than 1,000 words) essay on each individual who has held the office of U.S. President. As the essays are short, only brief biological information about the individual is provided before the essayist proceeds to comment on particular/unique aspects of the individuals. While I knew much of the information regarding the most famous (Washington, Jefferson Lincoln, T.R. FDR) and the recent presidents, it was the updates on those presidents who don’t get much “air time” in most history classes I found interesting. The format of the book makes for a very quick read and while each essayist clearing has a bias, I felt they did a reasonable job of covering the good and the bad of each president.

[Brian Helt · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wanted to find a book that has a good overview of the Presidents, so that I could start to learn about each of them. This book has a decent overview of each one, but each chapter is the text of a video they released on the Presidents.

Overall it’s decent information, but I was left wanting more information about each President. What were the main bills they worked on? What years did they serve (can figure it out but would be nice to have it printed somewhere)?

With the length this book is, they probably could not have packed more information in it, so in that sense it is good and you can go find more information about the Presidents that interest you

[Sass · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is highly editorialized with biased revisionist history. Sure the facts are there but twisted and remarked upon in passive aggressive, childish rhetoric. Insulting every president who wasn’t a republican. Leaving Biden out entirely. Not at ALL honest. Received as a very unexpected gift and our family spent the evening doing ironic dramatic readings of some of the more absurd takes (of which there are many) before I threw it under a recliner to collect dust until the gifter comes to visit. Oh and FYI PragerU is not actually a university. You’re welcome!

[ancientreader · Rating 1 out of 5]

Prager "University" isn't a university, but rather a right-wing YouTube channel associated with Christian nationalist views. It's not a reliable source of information (the page I link to provides a detailed explanation of this point), and Harper should be ashamed of publishing a book promoting it.

ETA: What do you know, Harper is owned by News Corp. So no surprise it would be party to this vile project.

[Jeff Launiere · Rating 5 out of 5]

A brief overview of all the Presidents

Each President is discussed very briefly. Although I have read books on several Presidents, I now learned just enough about some I would never have thought about, so that I now want to delve deeper into them.

[Emersyn Torres · Rating 5 out of 5]

All the things you didn't know

Enjoyed learning about the lives and accomplishment of all our presidents. The format was bite size, giving me the basics without bias. It was a good refresher course in civics.

[frank webster jr. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A required read to understand our Commander in Chiefs

A can’t put down until finished read, please continue you read it all. Then ruminate on what you’ve just finished

[L E Kelsey · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting reviews but

The presidential reviews were interesting but the reviewing authors accomplishments were unnecessarily long and should have been in the appendix.

[JV · Rating 4 out of 5]

Probably geared for a younger reader, this book still provides brief, accurate assessments of the Presidents.

[Horace Ward · Rating 5 out of 5]

Basic info on all Presidents, yet more than most know

Fun quick read. If you want the basics presented fairly, this book is for you. If you want all the details, look elsewhere.

[Ash · Rating 2 out of 5]

I feel like this book was full of lies and not factual at all..

[Orion Gray · Rating 4 out of 5]

The Honest Book of Presidents: The Men Who Shaped America by PragerU

I love Michael Knowles—so when I saw he wrote the chapter on Chester A. Arthur, I had to grab it. (His PragerU take on the party-boy VP who flipped into a real reformer after Garfield's death? Sharp, funny, zero BS.)

Bonus: nearly every chapter on a president is penned by a different author-Larry Elder, Dinesh D'Souza, Carol Swain, Niall Ferguson, and other heavy-hitters jumping in. Keeps it fresh, not some stale textbook snooze. Two or three pages each, Washington to Trump, stuffed with facts that actually honor America-no groveling.

This book straight-up obliterates the left's revisionist trash: they smear founders, bury successes, twist everything to prop up their pathetic worldview. Washington? Indispensable legend. Monroe? Gave everything for the country.
Arthur? Machine hack turned hero. No apologies, no "balanced" lies—just raw truth that makes you stand taller.

Reads like a killer magazine. Four stars. If you're fed up with leftist history and want one that punches back-get it. Knowles' Arthur chapter is fire, but the whole lineup destroys.