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American Caesars takes a fresh look at the lives and careers of the twelve leaders of the American empire since World War II, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush. President by president, the noted biographer Nigel Hamilton strips away myths and wishful thinking to record our most recent presidents as they really were: leaders guiding the fortunes of an unruly empire, on a world stage. Hamilton relates and examines the presidents’ unique characters, their paths to Pennsylvania Avenue, their effectiveness as global leaders, and their lessons in governance, both good and bad. With uncompromising candor he looks at how these powerful men responded to the challenges that defined their presidencies—FDR’s role as a war leader, Harry Truman’s decision to mount a Berlin Airlift rather than pursue military confrontation with the Soviets, Lyndon Johnson’s undertaking of controversial Civil Rights legislation and his disastrous war in Vietnam, Jimmy Carter’s handling of the Iran hostage crisis, George H. W. Bush’s effectiveness in guiding the world during the collapse of the Soviet Union, and his son’s fateful invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as other salient episodes in modern American history. In the Suetonian manner, Hamilton also looks at the presidents’ private lives—some noble, some flawed, some deeply moving.
Honorable Mention in the General Non-Fiction category of the 2010 Los Angeles Book Festival
— General Non-Fiction Honorable Mention
"A delight of a summer book: history for the beach, politics for the deckchair, and waspish entertainment come rain or shine."—London Guardian
"An outstanding book. . . . A commanding study on the nature of personal authority and the presidency."—Irish Times
"Enthralling . . . [Hamilton] succeeds brilliantly, . . . offering bracingly clear, if necessarily digested, accounts of the main global events that occurred from the onset of World War Two to our own time."—Irish Independent
"Provocative, stimulating, infuriating, and readable history."—Herald Scotland
"An impressive gallop through eighty years of U.S. history."—Literary Review
"Hamilton does a superb job of getting at [the presidents'] essences. . . . Anyone who enjoys reading history, and loves to look behind the curtain to see the wizards at work, will find this book well worth reading."—Internet Review of Books
"An outstanding book. . . . A commanding study on the nature of personal authority and the presidency."--Irish Times
"An impressive gallop through eighty years of U.S. history."--Literary Review
"Enthralling . . . [Hamilton] succeeds brilliantly, . . . offering bracingly clear, if necessarily digested, accounts of the main global events that occurred from the onset of World War Two to our own time."--Irish Independent
"A delight of a summer book: history for the beach, politics for the deckchair, and waspish entertainment come rain or shine."--London Guardian
"Hamilton does a superb job of getting at [the presidents''] essences. . . . Anyone who enjoys reading history, and loves to look behind the curtain to see the wizards at work, will find this book well worth reading."--Internet Review of Books
"Provocative, stimulating, infuriating, and readable history."--Herald Scotland
Preface vii
1 Franklin D. Roosevelt 1
2 Harry S. Truman 45
3 Dwight D. Eisenhower 87
4 John F. Kennedy 129
5 Lyndon B. Johnson 171
6 Richard Nixon 215
7 Gerald Ford 259
8 Jimmy Carter 301
9 Ronald Reagan 341
10 George H. W. Bush 389
11 Bill Clinton 433
12 George W. Bush 475
Acknowledgements 519
Select Bibliography 523
Notes 539
Picture Credits 565
Index 567
GSDMA
Posted November 28, 2010
i had a difficult time putting the book down! one caesar after another it got better. until W.
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Posted November 20, 2010
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Overview
American Caesars takes a fresh look at the lives and careers of the twelve leaders of the American empire since World War II, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush. President by president, the noted biographer Nigel Hamilton strips away myths and wishful thinking to record our most recent presidents as they really were: leaders guiding the fortunes of an unruly empire, on a world stage. Hamilton relates and examines the presidents’ unique characters, their paths to Pennsylvania Avenue, their ...