ISBN: Ostalo
Godina izdanja: 1999.
Jezik: Engleski
Autor: Strani

The American President Hardcover
by Philip Jr, Philip III and Peter Kunhardt

Riverhead Books, 1999.
480 pages, Hardcover, veliki format.

Odlično očuvana.


A companion to a ten-hour PBS series, airing in Spring 2000, explores the lives of America`s presidents, from Washington to Clinton, in a study that examines the nature, history, evolution, and influence of the U.S. presidency. TV tie-in. 75,000 first printing.

The American President has the looks of a coffee-table book, the smarts of an academic tome, and the readability of a novel, full of interesting and little-known facts about the first 41 chief executives of the United States. (Bill Clinton is the 42nd president, but Grover Cleveland was elected president twice, before and after Benjamin Harrison, making him the 22nd and 24th president.) The Kunhardt family are producers of both historical books and documentaries, and their television background is evident in the visual emphasis within The American President--which, as it happens, is also being turned into a television documentary. Another thing that sets the book apart from countless others on the presidents is its unique organization. The presidents are not presented in chronological order, but grouped instead according to characteristics that personified them and their presidencies. For example, Abraham Lincoln and Lyndon Johnson are brought together in a chapter on professional politicians, John Adams and Jimmy Carter share space for their `Independent Cast of Mind,` and Theodore Roosevelt and Richard Nixon are noted for `Expanding Power.` For anyone interested in the presidency, politics, or history The American President is a wonderful library addition. --Linda Killian

From Library Journal
This work of end-of-the-century American history offers an interesting perspective on the Presidents that may not be best presented in a general coffee-table book format. The authors, Kunhardt Jr., a former managing editor of LIFE magazine, and his two filmmaker sons, Peter W. Kunhardt and Philip B. Kunhardt III, base their narratives on the scholarly Presidential model of Stephen Skowronek (The Politics Presidents Make, LJ 8/93), who categorizes Presidents by the similar problems they encounter: one category groups Presidents by their heroic reputations, while other categories take into account the President`s political circumstances, the expanding power of the office, and the officeholders` individual mindsets. The book is profusely illustrated, and each President receives a two- to three-page discussion and an `In His Words` section. The writing is informative but not as interesting, nor are the photographs as emotionally compelling, as that found in Harold Evans`s The American Century (LJ 10/1/98). Yet this work is recommended for larger public libraries because of its fascinating view of Presidential behavior, its tie-in with a PBS series to be aired in 2000, and its being picked as a BOMC main selection.AKarl Helicher, Upper Merion Twp. Lib., King of Prussia, PA
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
The Kunhardts are well suited to produce a splendid pictorial overview of the U.S. chief executives. Philip B. was managing editor of the premier photojournalism magazine, Life; son Philip III has produced several pictorial biographies; and son Peter makes TV documentaries. This book`s TV-series sibling will premier next spring, at which time the book will be republicized. As it is, initial publicity will be heavy, including an 18-month calendar tie-in and special pitches to teachers and librarians. Question is, how good is it? Pictorially, it meets all expectations of splendor. In the text, the emphasis is upon the presidents` personal characteristics and distinctive acts while in office; their political contexts and, to a lesser extent, their other activities, especially after leaving the Oval Office, are scanted. The presentation is thematic rather than chronological; each chapter groups a few presidents under an epithet more appropriate to them than to the others, such as `Happenstance` for five who became president after their predecessor`s death and `The Professional Politician` for four whose partisan attachments helped and hindered them (surprisingly to many, perhaps, Lincoln is one of these). Presidential weaknesses and vices are often downplayed or forgotten, so that such icons as Lincoln, the Roosevelts, and Kennedy come out smelling like roses. On the other hand, the virtues of Tyler that Walter Brian Cisco cites in Taking a Stand , the slanders Democratic hacks circulated about Harding years after his death, and the principles behind the now disdained presidencies of Pierce and Coolidge go unmentioned. A nice feature of each presidential profile is a column of quotations from the subject. In all, a People magazine^-like effort, good of that kind. Ray Olson

From Kirkus Reviews
The Kunhardts (P.T. Barnum : America`s Greatest Showman , 1995) have assembled a generously illustrated volume (a companion to their forthcoming 10-part PBS series) that briefly characterizes each president. Unlike most other works on the presidents, this one groups the chief executives thematically rather than chronologically. Such a pattern yields both yawns and provocative surprises. In "The Heroic Posture," for example, are the expected Washington, W. H. Harrison, Grant, and Eisenhowermilitary heroes all. But in "An Independent Cast of Mind" appear John Adams with Taylor, Hayes, and Carternot a predictable grouping. The authors have tried to sketch each president with a few brief strokes and have found some engaging and poignant anecdotes to animate their text: Washington played the flute, Pierce watched his 11-year-old son die in a train wreck, Taylor`s physicians bled him (hastening his death), Taft ballooned to 355 pounds while in office. The authors have also endeavored to avoid the ordinaryhow refreshing to see a section on JFK with no photos of Marilyn Monroe or the assassination, or to see the section on Clinton with no visual record of his hug of Monica Lewinsky. There is much here to delight and annoy both the political left and right. "Ronald Reagan saw his job as teaching Americans how to dream again," gush the authors. And Clinton-haters will be likewise disappointed to read that the sex scandal was principally a constitutional issue of "checks and balances." Most engaging of all in this smorgasbord of a book are the graphics. On nearly every page are rare and revealing photographs of presidents and of the Washington, D.C., they inhabited. Readers can see LBJ looming over a listener, a full-length silhouette of Tyler, Cleveland both slender and corpulent (after his "prodigious eating and beer drinking"). A celebration of those who have served, a work of stunning visual effect, a graphic Mount Rushmore. (30 color, 500 b&w illustrations) (Book-of-the-Month Club main selection) -- Copyright ©1999, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

Review
`I absolutely loved reading this original and fascinating approach to the American presidency. The organizational structure is brilliant, the narrative is clear and thought-provoking, and the pictures are dazzling.` -- Doris Kearns Goodwin, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian and author of No Ordinary Time

About the Author
Peter W. Kunhardt has been producing documentaries for the past twenty years and is a three-time Emmy winner. His brother, Philip B. Kunhardt III, coauthored and produced Lincoln: An Illustrated Biography, among other projects. Their father, Philip B. Kunhardt, Jr., is a former managing editor of LIFE magazine and the author of numerous books, including the Christopher Award-winning memoir My Father`s House.