Presidential Anecdotes

From the story of George Washington chopping down the cherry tree to Bill Clinton winging a speech to Congress, from Abraham Lincoln's homely tales to Ronald Reagan's one-liners, Presidential Anecdotes contains an abundance of stories about America's presidents. Arranged chronologically, the stories are based on passages appearing in autobiographies, letters, journals, and reminiscences of the presidents and their families, friends, and associates. Some of the stories are spurious, as the book makes clear, but most of them have a solid basis in fact. Boller provides a sketch of each president, depicting his personality, temperament, life style, and central vision, and then goes on to tell stories about them that throw further light on their characters and personalities. Taken together, Boller's essays and stories about America's Chief Executives comprise a capsule history of the presidency and a running commentary on American politics during the past two hundred years.