Jeff’s Comments (group member since Mar 11, 2016)

Jeff’s comments from the Challenges group.

Michael wrote: "I am so glad I just found this group. I guess I joined right on time..."

Welcome, Michael! I'm currently taking my second turn with Calvin Coolidge, via Amity Shlaes. Great book!

I have read seven of those and own another three. I don't know how much I want to trust a bookseller, but I'm finding it's hard to go wrong with any particular choice, as long as you are not discouraged by some favorable bias. Personally, I put a lot of confidence in bestpresidentialbios (message 2 above).

By the way, it feels appropriate to share this, if anyone didn't know that Ketcham passed away last week: https://news.syr.edu/2017/04/maxwell-...

I consider Madison to be the author of this country, so it's a shame that it is hard to find an engaging book about him.

Jennifer wrote: "I was so glad to find this group, as my husband and friends have no interest in my history obsession!"

I feel your pain! I get eye-rolls or sighs (if anything at all) when I try to talk presidents at home.

I concur with Scott and his friend. However, there is something to be said for that abrupt ending, which you can see coming as the pages ahead reduce. Harrison didn't have such vision.

Niven's is a book about New York politics, with MVB as a main character. I liked it, but it is the only one I've read on Van Buren, and I dare say I might have liked something else better.

Good luck! I am sure you will continue to have fun if you've enjoyed it thus far. My list differs from yours only with Madison, Monroe, and JQA. I own American Lion but read Remini's abbreviated Andrew Jackson. I, too, read Isaacson and Chernow on Franklin and Hamilton, and will throw in some bios of others along the way, including the perpetual Henry Clay. I just finished #11, the unsung James K. Polk, and I'm taking a bio break to read up on the Lee Harvey Oswald fantasies. Ciao!

Thanks for that! Bought it on Google Play Books.

Congrats on finishing your journey. I will start 2017 on POTUS #9.

Good points. But I've found that reality affected the idealism of all of the presidents at least a little, once they sat in that chair. Monroe was blessed with the most capable cabinet yet, but I think politics as usual returned despite it--or perhaps because of it. Too many cooks in the kitchen...?

And welcome to the group, I too am a newby. I'm currently wrapping up Niven's Van Buren.

I'm so glad you think so. I think history has been unkind to the Adamses. The father could be a real bastard, the son assigned to a corrupt bargain, but you would be hard pressed to find two more dedicated servants of the American people.

I read Ketcham's biography (had to buy it to find it), and it was more challenging than the few other presidential bios I've read so far. It bounced around the timeline quite a bit, overloaded me with names of people who meant little to the story, back-referenced previous chapters any time a subject hadn't been mentioned for a while, and had too much confidence in my familiarity with Latin. However, I did enjoy it, and finished it in a month despite my busy schedule. But I would be interested in reading, later, another biographer on Madison.

Jefferson's expertise is portrayed as smoke and mirrors: Having other people put their names on his ideas so he can avoid conflict. The apparently unwritten rule at Monticello that his relationship with Sally Hemmings was not to be mentioned is another example of power through denial or concealment. That he was an expert user of power is evident in his getting his way despite (in most cases) not proclaiming the power to do so. For me, the fact that he was so trusted and revered, despite not being a good public speaker or dressing the part, reveals his power. His, like Benjamin Franklin's and to some degree George Washington's, was a power built on the avoidance of conflict and unnecessary speech; listening, observing, and then shaping the opinions of others behind the scenes. I think Meacham did what he wanted, although I am finding the text less than fulfilling in other ways.

Another quick one is Harry S. Truman's autobiography -- it is not your traditional biography, as it is a collection of his own personal writings over the years, but it really gives you a sense of his character and charm. Sadly, it skips over his presidency completely!

Have any of you read Bill O'Reilly's Killing Lincoln/Kennedy/Reagan? I have read the first two. I think that while they are not great literature and offer little to no new information, they are easy and still a "fun" read. They are quite heartbreaking, as every chapter reminds you that the end is near...

Where are you all now on your lists? I am wondering if Lisa made it through them all in one year! I am just getting started in 2016, and will NOT get them all in. I am mixing my presidential bios in between several other topics and genres, so it will take me quite a long time. I have read Chernow's Washington already, and will be starting McCullough's John Adams after my current book (Benjamin Franklin). I made my own list, based primarily on two websites that I can no longer remember, but one of them may be bestpresidentialbios.com, which I follow on Wordpress.