Author in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote

ISBN: 1476786585

Author: Fehrman, Craig

Condition: New

One of the best books on the American presidency to appear in recent years (The Wall Street Journal) and based on a decade of research and reporting-a delightful new window into the public and private lives Americas presidents as authors.Most Americans are familiar with Abraham Lincolns famous words in the Gettysburg Address and the Emancipation Proclamation. Yet few can name the work that helped him win the presidency: his published collection of speeches entitled Political Debates between Hon. Abraham Lincoln and Hon. Stephen A. Douglas. Lincoln labored in secret to get his book ready for the 1860 election, tracking down newspaper transcripts, editing them carefully for fairness, and hunting for a printer who would meet his specifications. Political Debates sold fifty thousand copies-the rough equivalent of half a million books in todays market-and it reveals something about Lincolns presidential ambitions. But it also reveals something about his heart and mind. When voters asked about his beliefs, Lincoln liked to point them to his book.In Craig Fehrmans original, illuminating, and entertaining (Jon Meacham) work of history, the story of Americas presidents and their books opens a rich new window into presidential biography. From volumes lost to history-Calvin Coolidges Autobiography, which was one of the most widely discussed titles of 1929-to ones we know and love-Barack Obamas Dreams from My Father, which was very nearly never published-Fehrman unearths countless insights about the presidents through their literary works.Presidential books have made an enormous impact on American history, catapulting their authors to the national stage and even turning key elections. Beginning with Thomas Jeffersons Notes on the State of Virginia, the first presidential book to influence a campaign, and John Adamss Autobiography, the first score-settling presidential memoir, Author in Chief draws on newly uncovered information-including never-before-published letters from Andrew Jackson, John F. Kennedy, and Ronald Reagan-to cast fresh light on the private drives and self-doubts that fueled our nations leaders.We see Teddy Roosevelt as a vulnerable first-time author, struggling to write the book that would become a classic of American history. We see Reagan painstakingly revising Wheres the Rest of Me?, and Donald Trump negotiating the deal for The Art of the Deal, the volume that made him synonymous with business savvy. Alongside each of these authors, we also glimpse the everyday Americans who read them.If youre a history buff, a presidential trivia aficionado, or just a lover of American literary history, this book will transfix you, inform you, and surprise you (The Seattle Review of Books).