American Caesars: Lives of the Presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush - Softcover

Hamilton, Nigel

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0300177658 ISBN 13: 9780300177657

Publisher: Yale University Press, 2011

Synopsis

A provocative portrait of U.S. presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush

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.

 

About this title

About the Author

A distinguished biographer, Nigel Hamilton is senior fellow in the McCormack Graduate School, University of Massachusetts, Boston, and President of Biographers International Organization.

From Booklist

In explicit emulation of Suetonius’ The Twelve Caesars, Hamilton presents character sketches of U.S. presidents since 1945, excluding Barack Obama. Encompassing their pursuit of power, tenure, and personal lives, emphasizing female relationships with wives and other women, the portraits attempt to reveal the men behind the presidential image. Opinionated but acutely insightful, Hamilton grasps the effects of personal traits on the presidency, as shown in his biographies JFK (1992) and Bill Clinton (two volumes, 2003 and 2007). Summarizing in this work the insatiable carnality of those narcissistic chief executives, Hamilton also cleaves to the maturation in their understanding of leadership––both JFK and Clinton recovered from serious political mistakes. So describing character traits sterling or dross, and their influence on behavior in office, Hamilton praises FDR, admires Truman (with caveats), grants peace-keeping probity to Ike, and is illusion-free concerning JFK. Considering their successors all lesser presidents, Hamilton ranges from condemnation of LBJ, Nixon, and George W. Bush to ambivalence about Reagan; but biography fans won’t equivocate: Hamilton’s effrontery in mimicking Suetonius pays off in irreverent, pedestal-toppling prose. --Gilbert Taylor

About this edition

• Publisher: Yale University Press
• Publication date: 2011
• ISBN 10: 0300177658
• ISBN 13: 9780300177657
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 576