The Honest Book of Presidents: The Men Who Shaped America

by PragerU, Allen Estrin (Editor)

America’s most trustworthy resource delivers a refreshing guide to the American presidency.

Only forty-five men have held the title President of the United States. In this concise yet powerful volume, PragerU — in collaboration with leading historians, political thinkers, and bestselling authors — takes you inside the lives of the leaders who have steered America through its 250-year story. From the most revered to the most reviled, each president’s journey reveals personal dramas and struggles, tragedies, and triumphs.

The Honest Book of Presidents pushes back against today’s revisionist history with a fresh, fact-driven look at our nation’s leaders. You’ll

Why George Washington was “the indispensable man.”Why we owe such a big debt to James Monroe. How John Tyler proclaimed himself to be President. And made it stick.Why Abraham Lincoln thought the South was bluffing when they threatened civil war. How the mild-mannered Calvin Coolidge made “the Roaring Twenties” possible. Why Harry Truman dropped the atomic bomb on Japan.How Gerald Ford sacrificed his presidency to save the country from national suicide. Why Bill Clinton might have been the luckiest of all the presidents. Along the way, you’ll see how presidents wrestled with their flaws, rose to moments of greatness, and shaped the nation’s destiny on their way to founding new political parties, winning wars, and defending liberty.

We owe our freedom to these leaders. They set America on the path we still follow. Their lives — complex, flawed, and inspiring — are windows into the American story itself.

The Honest Book of Presidents is a bold, much-needed guide to the men who made America and to the enduring ideals that still define it.

 

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Biography, Historical, Politics

307 pages, Kindle Edition

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.

[Kathryn · Rating 4 out of 5]

Definitely biased, sometimes hagiographic, but otherwise a good survey of American Presidents. I would recommend this or a book like this in lieu of reading all the presidential biographies, as an introduction to presidents you'd like to learn more about, or as a primer before starting a more arduous trek through American history, specifically the presidency.

Happy 250th, America. It may not have been a long, but it's been full.

[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!

[HM · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was surprised at how consistently the authors shared good thing that each president had done and, while I'm not at all drawn to short stories, novellas, or essays, this book gave a great sweeping picture of the progress (using that loosely here) of our United States. I'd recommend this book highly, especially to those homeschooling their children. While you probably are like me, unlikely to ever pick up a tome about each president, this book grabs the highlights and keeps your attention to the last page. Well done, Prager U and each of the authors!

[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.

[Gilbert Warner · Rating 5 out of 5]

An overview of America's presidents....What we should have learned in elementary school.

The authors try valiantly to stay neutral on whether the individual presidents' policies were good, wise or moral, but rather on their effectiveness in implementing those policies. Cognizance is taken of how well those policies solved the perceived problems. Nevertheless it is a useful overview and a quick refresher.

[Hal · Rating 4 out of 5]

An enjoyable read that surveys each of our presidents and gives a neutral to more conservation perspective on who they were and how they impacted our country. Each profile is on the short side and to the point making it for a more entertaining experience. Each profile is written by a different author whose background is also listed. A lot of these people seem to have an association with the particular university behind the book which I was not familiar with.

[Sonyajohnston · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have read several books on the presidents. I enjoyed how short the chapters were on each president. Also that each chapter was written by a different individual . So it was from a variety of perspectives. I have a new appreciation for some I knew very little about. I taught 5th grade in Los Angeles and if I was still teaching would add this book to my library.

[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.

[Joyce · Rating 1 out of 5]

This book is a work of fiction. PragerU is not a school. It was picked up by me, by mistake and I quickly learned the truth about it after a little research. It is scary that books like this are being read and believed.

[Christine Conway · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a great snapshot about each president and events during their presidency. This was a book of essays from different writers. Each essay was less than 1000 words which made it a quick and interesting read. Would definitely recommend.

[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..

[Joann · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading about all the different presidents. Great book to read as we celebrated the 250th anniversary of our country.

[Erin Brasher · Rating 4 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book! It’s short and to the point, but still hits all the major events of each presidency as well as the historical and cultural landscape at the time

[Janice · Rating 5 out of 5]

Every essay is less than 1000 words. Incredibly readable. Fair.

[Greatredwarrior · Rating 2 out of 5]

Sort of honest, but with some weird biases and far too limited to provide much meaningful insight. They know their audience

[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.