Presidential Ambition: How the Presidents Gained Power, Kept Power, and Got Things Done - Hardcover

Shenkman, Richard

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 006018373X ISBN 13: 9780060183738

Publisher: HarperCollins, 1999

Synopsis

In this timely, illuminating, and often shocking book, Richard Shenkman reveals that it is not just recent presidents but all presidents who have been ambitious--and at times frighteningly so, willing to sacrifice their health, family, loyalty, and values. Presidential Ambition is a book that will permanently alter the way we think about past, present, and future American presidents.

About this title

Review:

"Provocative...stimulating and entertaining."-- Robert V. Remini, author of the National Book Award-winning "Andrew Jackson""A knowledgeable, witty, charming, and provocative appraisal of the human foibles of our past presidents." -- Stephen B. Oates, author of "The Whirlwind of War" and "Abraham Lincoln""A fresh, frank, and entertaining study of presidential character, warts and all."-- W. J. Rorabaugh, Professor of History, University of Washington"Colorful, eminently readable and often surprisingly touching. Shenkman...has a gift for entertaining birds-eye-view histories. He sprinkles his stories with revealing quotes and quirky anecdotes. The most delightful surprises in this study of ambition are several achingly bittersweet love stories."-- "Boston Globe""A timely look at the seamy side of presidential power. Not a pretty picture, but a realistic one." -- "Kirkus Reviews"

From the Author:

Give me a break.
Many people like my book, some do not. The people who don't seem to share two gripes. One, they think the book is anti-American, as one critic wrote. This is supposedly because I dare to criticize the presidents, point out their flaws, take them off their myth-gilded pedestals. Well, the fact is I admire virtually all of our presidents (exceptions: Buchanan, Harding, and Nixon). As I say in the introduction the longer I spent with them the more I liked them. I am not an America basher. But I do think it is important that we come to terms with the unfortunate things they sometimes felt compelled to do in order to understand them and the country.

The second group of critics seems disappointed that I don't explain why the presidents were ambitious. Sorry, but I wasn't interested in doing that. And as an author I have a right to decide what my own book is going to be about. I can't believe anybody was misled into thinking the book is about the presidents' psychology. As my subtitle makes abundantly clear, my book is about "how" the presidents gained power, not "why" they went after it. It's not a biography or a collection of biographies. It's a study in power: how it's accumulated, how it's used.

About this edition

• Publisher: HarperCollins
• Publication date: 1999
• ISBN 10: 006018373X
• ISBN 13: 9780060183738
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 361