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Craig Fehrman – THE BEST PRESIDENTIAL WRITING : From 1789 To The Present
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THE BEST PRESIDENTIAL WRITING : From 1789 To The Present

Craig Fehrman
LIKE NEW, HARDCOVER

RM37.00

An Exceptional Selection of The Top-Quality Writings Of Unique Institution For The American Presidency

Remarks Free Cover-Pages Wrapping
ISBN 9781476788531
Book Condition LIKE NEW
Format HARDCOVER
Publisher Simon & Schuster ( Avid Reader Press )
Publication Date 20 October 2020
Pages 511
Weight 0.85 kg
Dimension 24.5 × 16.5 × 4 cm
Retail Price RM151.80
Availability: 1 in stock

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The Best Presidential Writing: From 1789 to the Present is a book by Craig Fehrman that collects some of the most important and influential writings by American presidents. The book includes speeches, letters, essays, and other documents that provide insights into the presidents’ thoughts on a wide range of topics, including politics, history, philosophy, and religion.
 
A sweeping and groundbreaking treasury of the most essential presidential writings, featuring a mix of the beloved and the little-known, from stirring speeches and shrewd remarks to behind-the-scenes drafts and unpublished autobiographies.
 
It is a fascinating tour of all the different kinds of writing US Presidents have produced over the country’s two centuries, telling the stories of the stories, the biographies of these works, both the well-known ones and the obscure ones.


From the early years of our nation’s history, when George Washington wrote his humble yet powerful Farewell Address, to our current age, when Barack Obama delivered his moving speech on the fiftieth anniversary of the Selma-to-Montgomery marches, America’s presidents have upheld a tradition of exceptional writing.
 
So what makes for the “best” presidential writing? There’s the soaring oratory of Abraham Lincoln’s “Four score and seven years ago,” FDR’s “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” and JFK’s “Ask not what your country can do for you; ask what you can do for your country.”
 
While Fehrman features those classics, he also rescues gems from more obscure presidents, such as Grover Cleveland and Chester Arthur. There’s the infamous, from Richard Nixon on “Checkers” and his wife’s “respectable Republican cloth coat” and Calvin Coolidge’s “It costs a great deal to be president,” to an overlooked bit of TR wit: “The bullet is in me now, so I cannot make a very long speech.”
 
A unique perspective on American history, Fehrman’s wonderful volume ends with a pre-presidential bestseller published in 1987, from Trump: The Art of the Deal: “You can’t con people, at least not for long.”
 
Now, for the first time, the greatest presidential writings in history are united in one monumental treasury: the very best campaign orations, early autobiographies, presidential speeches, postpresidential reflections, and much more.
 
In these pages, we see not only the words that shaped our nation, like Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation and Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Infamy speech, but also the words of young politicians claiming their place in our history, including excerpts from Woodrow Wilson’s Congressional Government and Obama’s career-making convention speech, and the words of mature leaders reflecting on their legacies, including John Adams’s autobiography and Harry S. Truman’s Memoirs.
 
We even see hidden sides of the presidents that the public rarely glimpses: noted outdoorsman Teddy Roosevelt’s great passion for literature or sunny Ronald Reagan’s piercing childhood memories of escorting home his alcoholic father.
 
Craig explains that John Adams was the first president to write a memoir, and traces the many others who followed suit: Andrew Jackson, with the first campaign biography; Ulysses Grant, with the brilliant and moving Personal Memoirs; and Calvin Coolidge, whose intimate autobiography, published soon after he left office for maximum legacy impact, was hugely popular in its day.
 
JFK wrote Profiles in Courage (with a ghostwriting assist from Ted Sorensen) before he was in office, a tradition continued by Obama, with his revealing, authentic Dreams from My Father, and by Trump, with the self-aggrandizing The Art of the Deal (also ghost-written). Fehrman’s engaging and learned narrative reminds us that, with some exceptions, these longer presidential communications let us see presidents “at their most human…their most ambitious and their most reflective.”
 
Encompassing notable favorites like Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address and John F. Kennedy’s Inaugural Address as well as lesser-known texts like Thomas Jefferson’s Notes on the State of Virginia and James Polk’s candid White House diary, The Best Presidential Writing showcases America’s presidents as thinkers, citizens, and leaders.

 
More than simply a curation of must-read presidential writings, this unique collection presents the story of America itself, told by its highest leaders. Even the most famous speeches find new meanings or fresh connections when read in this sweeping context, making The Best Presidential Writing a trove full of insight and an essential historical document.
 
The Best Presidential Writing is a valuable resource for anyone who wants to learn more about the history of the United States and the men who have led it. The book is well-written and well-researched, and it provides a fascinating glimpse into the minds and hearts of America’s presidents.
 
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REVIEW FROM NEW YORK JOURNAL OF BOOKS :
 
From the beginning of our Republic, American politics and society has been shaped by the writings of our Presidents. Craig Fehrman, author of the bestseller Author in Chief: The Untold Story of Our Presidents and the Books They Wrote has collected some of the best presidential speeches, memoirs, and other writings to create both a valuable reference and a thought-provoking journey through American history.
 
The author chooses writings from nearly every president, allowing the reader to discover first-hand how the office and role of the Chief Executive has evolved. Presidents have made famous speeches throughout our history, and many of those are here, but the author also gathers many lesser known speeches and other assorted writings to provide a more intimate look at the men who have held the nation’s highest elected office.
 
These topics allow the reader to peruse many of the most famous American speeches and writings, offering an opportunity to read in context some of the most famous quotes in American history.
 
One of the more interesting collections are the campaign speeches of presidents over the centuries. The political process of choosing a president has completely changed over the 231 years since George Washington assumed the office, from the era where candidates feigned disinterest and used proxies to publish their thoughts to the campaign biographies and political position writings of recent candidates. Many presidents had an extensive body of writing before assuming office and the author includes a number of these as well to show how a president’s political views develop over the course of his personal life and public career.
 
The variety of chosen topics highlights the wide range of domestic and foreign policy challenges faced by the Chief Executive, from Lincoln’s first and second inaugural addresses, to Franklin Roosevelt’s fireside chat on the rising threat of the Axis powers, to the historic address by Ronald Reagan at the Berlin Wall. Many of the writings also offer a behind the scenes look at presidents and the presidency with excerpts from the memoirs of Harry Truman and Jimmy Carter showing the very humble origins of even some of our most recent presidents.
 
Whether they are uplifting or somber, reflective or persuasive, America has been gifted with many highly intelligent and rhetorically gifted Chief Executives. This volume is both an excellent historical narrative and reference volume of an exceptional selection of the top-quality writings of that unique institution that is the American presidency.
 
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About the Author :
 
Craig Fehrman, a journalist and historian, spent more than a decade immersed in the presidents’ writings to produce his first book, Author in Chief, which was described by Thomas Mallon in The Wall Street Journal as “one of the best books on the American presidency to appear in recent years.” Fehrman lives in Indiana with his wife and children.
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