The American President: A Complete History

by Kathryn Moore

A thorough and authoritative single-volume reference to the American presidency, from George Washington to Donald Trump. In The American A Complete History, historian Kathryn Moore presents a riveting narrative of each president's experiences in and out of office, along with illuminating facts and statistics about each administration, timelines of national and world events, astonishing trivia, and more. Together, these details create a complex and nuanced portrait of the American presidency, from the nation's infancy to Donald Trump’s first year in office.

Genres: History, Politics, Nonfiction, Biography, Reference, Presidents, American History

1626 pages, Kindle Edition

First published January 1, 2007

Reviews

[Timothy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good General Knowledge Biographies

From George Washington to Donald Trump. This book offers good general knowledge biographies on each President of the United States. With this it is a good general history of the United States.

[Jen · Rating 3 out of 5]

There needs to be a catagory for mostly read, or skimmed. I didn't read every single page of this book, simply for the fact that I never would have finished it! There were so many timelines to follow, cabinet appointments, etc., that I read what was interesting to me and skipped the not-so-interesting. Plus, I'm a total fact geek. Really. I would love to be on Jeopardy someday. I loved reading about the presidents, their lives, stories, interesting sidenotes, accomplishments and failures. It satisfied that craving for more mostly useless knowledge to stuff in my head.

[Peter A. van Tilburg · Rating 4 out of 5]

I do not mention a finished date since I use the book to read about a specific presiednt of whom I did not read a full biography. Knowing that the current president (Mr. Trump) admires him I started with Andrew Jackson. I learned he was a man of controversy who was convinced of the superiority of America and the Americans and who wanted a small federal government but an important role for him as President (contrary to for instance Calvin Coolidge) and he favoured also patronage that is nominate people on positions based on frienship or family relations with himself. One can understand why Mr Trump (and I think Ronals Reagan did also) admires him. I think also because Mr Trump wants to be loved by the people as much as Andrew Jackson was. The peoples love for the latter was caused because he fought in the independance war and was succesfull commander in 1812 and diverse Native American wars. The description in the book is extensive but I needed other sources to understand what the attractivity of the man is for today.
If I read about other Presidents I will add to this review.

[Catherine · Rating 1 out of 5]

I was planning to purchase this book. I enjoyed reading about the first five presidents. Before purchasing, I skipped ahead to skim the chapter on President Donald Trump. There I saw a glaring error claiming Trump spoke in defense of white supremacists at the Charlottesville rally. This has been debunked so many times. Sadly, I'll have to pass on this book.

[Johnrh · Rating 4 out of 5]

I didn't read all the inaugural speeches, if you'll forgive me that omission. Perhaps because of my lifelong predilection for history (How did we get here? Why are we making the same mistakes again?), this was one of the most enjoyable and educational books I've read in a long time. One couldn't ask for a better, more concise, review of American history and its' presidents. (It covers up through George W. Bush and 2005.)

Additional comments: Most presidents had a passion for politics and started in the city and state governments. Few were totally reluctant to govern (Washington and Grant are notable). Many presidents were vice-pres who defaulted to the office by death (gunshot or illness) or, in the case of Nixon, resignation. There is Tyler for Wm. H. Harrison (illness), Fillmore for Taylor (illness), Andrew Johnson for Lincoln (assn.), Chester A. Arthur for Garfield (assn.), T. Roosevelt for McKinley (assn.), Coolidge for Harding (illness), Truman for F.D.R. (illness), L.B. Johnson for J.F.K. (assn.), and Ford for Nixon (resign.). (I think that’s most of them. I had to look a couple up.) An unintended consequence of this book for me was looking at the issue of slavery. How I “wish” the Founding Fathers had confronted the issue more directly, though I can understand their concern about dividing the fragile, 13-colony union at its inception. I’m still left wondering how groups of humans can so thoroughly abhor other groups. To be continued.

[Cindy · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good brief vignettes of US Prez backgrounds and their paths to office, along with their complete inauguration speeches, form a clear review and reference for key facts of American history. For example, I verified that our 44th Prez is just the 43rd distinct man to be sworn in to our highest office.

[Avid · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tempted to give it 3 stars, but there’s so much good stuff…. The chapters at the beginning were the perfect length 4, 5, 6 pages. The later ones were too damn long. And they really turned quickly from “biography” to “history. I know there’s going to be some overlap, but the subtitle gave a much tighter description of what to expect than the text bore out. I thought it misleading. There were also more than a handful of glaring typos/grammatical errors, and even a few inaccuracies. Usually in the “timeline” portion. One i recall is that bush’s library is in houston. It’s not. Neither of them is. But considering the volume of information contained in this book, i can let the errors slide. Overall, i’m glad i read it.

[Mark B. McFadden · Rating 5 out of 5]

I slowly read this from beginning and found it enlightening and worthwhile. Reading it was like reading a history of our country. I found a new appreciation for President Polk. Learning about the family backgrounds and some genealogical notes further put the Presidents in their contexts.

[Connor Weyant · Rating 5 out of 5]

Provides a detailed but not exhaustive biography of each U.S. president, allowing for a broader understanding of each man’s life outside the Oval Office and their place in history. I appreciated Moore’s nonpartisan analysis of the most recent administrations.

[Patricia breslin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Top read

Very interesting thoroughly enjoyed this book. Would recommend anyone interested in the history of American politics get this book. Was a great read .

[Rick Steinmetz · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a great book. It is a broad overview of all the presidents up through GWB with a broad overview of all the major events for each president. The book contains an ongoing timeline that covers both national and world events both political and non-political. The book also contains the innaugural addresses of all the presidents.

[Ellison · Rating 5 out of 5]

Exhaustive collection of data about the men who served as the President of the United States. Each is profiled, their cabinets are mentioned, their appointments to the Supreme Court, the Nation Debt during their time in office and more. Insightful.

[Valerie · Rating 4 out of 5]

I feel like the chapters for the most recent presidents were biased toward conservatives, but not terribly so. Overall a highly informative and excellent book. I really enjoyed reading it.

[JW Schlie · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long but worth it.