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Books by and about 2020 presidential candidates |
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Crippled America,
by Donald J. Trump (2015) |
United,
by Cory Booker (2016) |
The Truths We Hold,
by Kamala Harris (2019) |
Smart on Crime,
by Kamala Harris (2010) |
Guide to Political Revolution,
by Bernie Sanders (2017) |
Where We Go From Here,
by Bernie Sanders (2018) |
Promise Me, Dad ,
by Joe Biden (2017) |
Conscience of a Conservative,
by Jeff Flake (2017) |
Two Paths,
by Gov. John Kasich (2017) |
Every Other Monday,
by Rep. John Kasich (2010) |
Courage is Contagious,
by John Kasich (1998) |
Shortest Way Home,
by Pete Buttigieg (2019) |
The Book of Joe ,
by Jeff Wilser (2019; biography of Joe Biden) |
Becoming,
by Michelle Obama (2018) |
Our Revolution,
by Bernie Sanders (2016) |
This Fight Is Our Fight,
by Elizabeth Warren (2017) |
Higher Loyalty,
by James Comey (2018) |
The Making of Donald Trump,
by David Cay Johnston (2017) |
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Books by and about the 2016 presidential election |
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What Happened ,
by Hillary Clinton (2017) |
Higher Loyalty ,
by James Comey (2018) |
Trump vs. Hillary On The Issues ,
by Jesse Gordon (2016) |
Hard Choices,
by Hillary Clinton (2014) |
Becoming ,
by Michelle Obama (2018) |
Outsider in the White House,
by Bernie Sanders (2015) |
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Book Reviews |
(from Amazon.com) |
(click a book cover for a review or other books by or about the presidency from Amazon.com)
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Shadow:
Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate,by Bob Woodward
(Click for Amazon book review)
BOOK REVIEW by OnTheIssues.org:
This book is about scandals. It's not a policy analysis nor a biography: it's just "inside baseball" about five presidents. The concept of the book is to analyze how Nixon's Watergate scandal affected each of the subsequent five presidents, from Gerald Ford through Bill Clinton. As the book flap describes:
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"Our long national nightmare is over," President Ford declared. But it was not. The Watergate scandal, and the remedies against future abuses of power, would have an enduring impact on presidents and the country. In Shadow, Bob Woodward takes us deep into the administrations of Ford, Carter, Reagan, Bush, and Clinton, to describe how each discovered that the presidency was forever altered."
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That all sounds very noble, but the book reads just like any other scandal-sheet. Woodward was one of the reporters who uncovered the Watergate scandal that eventually forced Nixon to resign -- so he has earned the right to talk about scandals -- but the only difference with other scandal-sheets is that Woodward has better access because of his fame.
The book is divided into five chapters, one for each president. Woodward dedicates fully half the book -- 282 pages out of 514 -- to Clinton's presidency. Perhaps that's because he's the most recent president covered, or perhaps it's because his administration was more scandal-ridden than most. In any case, the level of detail on Clinton is far too much for any normal voter to handle, and the same applies even to the shorter Gerald Ford chapter (only 38 pages, focusing mostly on why Ford pardoned Nixon).
For political junkies, the level of details in this book provide endless joy and speculation. For the rest of us, these excerpts should be plenty.
-- Jesse Gordon, editor-in-chief, OnTheIssues.org, Dec. 2011
Woodward has several other books excerpted by OnTheIssues, some of which are a little less tedious to read:
- The Agenda: Inside the Clinton White House (2005)
- The Choice: How Bill Clinton Won (2005)
- State of Denial: Bush at War, Part III (2006)
- Plan of Attack: Bush at War, Part II (2004)
- Bush At War (2002)
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| OnTheIssues.org excerpts: (click on issues for details)
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Abortion
David Souter: Stewardship of Constitution means don't overturn Roe v. Wade.
George Bush Sr.: 1973: Nominally in favor of overturning Roe v. Wade.
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Foreign Policy
Jimmy Carter: 1977: Ended 20 years of secret CIA bribes to Jordanian king.
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Government Reform
Bill Clinton: Campaign promise: support Independent Counsel investigations.
Bill Clinton: Independent Counsel is cornerstone of trust of government.
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Homeland Security
Ronald Reagan: We're armed because we mistrust each other, not vice versa.
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Principles & Values
Bill Clinton: 1995: Budget impasse caused federal shutdown & MonicaGate.
Bill Clinton: OpEd: Clinton's love goes hand-in-hand with abuse.
Bill Clinton: Arkansas trooper declined to cover up for Governor Clinton.
Bill Clinton: There IS no relationship with Monica, and WAS none.
Gerald Ford: Pardoning Nixon carries an imputation of guilt & confession.
Hillary Clinton: Felt she should have known Foster suicide was coming.
Jimmy Carter: 1975 campaign promise: I'll never lie to you.
Richard Nixon: Accepting pardon carries an imputation of guilt & confession.
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War & Peace
Colin Powell: 1990: Encourage Iraqi to leave Kuwait to avoid US deaths.
George Bush Sr.: 1990: Diplomatic solution to Kuwait forces larger crisis.
Gerald Ford: 1975: Ordered US aircraft to evacuate South Vietnamese.
Ronald Reagan: Ok to break law on Iran-Contra to protect hostages.
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The above quotations are from Shadow:
Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate,by Bob Woodward.
Biographies of past presidents:
- President Joe Biden
- Promise Me, Dad, by Joe Biden
- Biden Cabinet, On The Issues collection
- The Truths We Hold, by Kamala Harris
- President Donald Trump
- Crippled America, by Donald Trump
- Trump Cabinet, On The Issues collection
- Donald Trump vs. Hillary Clinton On the Issues
- President Barack Obama
- Decision Points, by Barack Obama
- Obama Cabinet, On The Issues collection
- Barack Obama vs. Mitt Romney On the Issues
- President George W. Bush
- Bush Cabinet, On The Issues collection
- Decision Points, by George W. Bush
- A Charge to Keep, by George W. Bush
- President Bill Clinton
- Clinton Cabinet, On The Issues collection
- Back to Work, by Pres. Bill Clinton
- The Agenda, by Bob Woodward
- President George H. W. Bush
- All the Best, My Life in Letters, by George Bush Sr.
- The Family, (the Bushes) by Kitty Kelley
- William & Mary Environmental Law Review, by Cameron Lynch
- President Ronald Reagan
- Dutch, a Memoir of Ronald Reagan, by Edmund Morris
- Abortion and the Conscience of a Nation, by Pres. Ronald Reagan
- President Jimmy Carter
- An Hour Before Daylight, by Jimmy Carter
- Jimmy Who?: biography of Jimmy Carter
- President Gerald Ford
- Shadow: Five Presidents and the Legacy of Watergate,by Bob Woodward
- A Time to Heal: The Autobiography of Gerald R. Ford
- President Richard Nixon
- Seize the Moment, by Richard Nixon
- The Watergate Transcripts, by The Washington Post
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- President Lyndon Johnson
- The Passage of Power, by Robert Caro
- Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, by Michael Beschloss
- President John F. Kennedy
- Profiles In Courage, by John F. Kennedy
- A Nation of Immigrants, by John F. Kennedy
- Kennedy & Nixon, by Chris Matthews
- 1000 Days, by Arthur Schlesinger
- 13 Days, by Robert F. Kennedy
- President Dwight Eisenhower
- Waging Peace, by Dwight Eisenhower
- Ike and Dick, by Jeffrey Frank
- President Harry Truman
- Plain Speaking, by Merle Miller
- Wit & Wisdom of Harry Truman, by Ralph Keyes
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