A bold new history of the American presidency, arguing that the successful presidents of the past created unrealistic expectations for every president since JFK, with enormously problematic implications for American politics In The Impossible Presidency, celebrated historian Jeremi Suri charts the rise and fall of the American presidency, from the limited role envisaged by the Founding Fathers to its current status as the most powerful job in the world. He argues that the presidency is a victim of its own success-the vastness of the job makes it almost impossible to fulfill the expectations placed upon it. As managers of the world's largest economy and military, contemporary presidents must react to a truly globalized world in a twenty-four-hour news cycle. There is little room left for bold vision. Suri traces America's disenchantment with our recent presidents to the inevitable mismatch between presidential promises and the structural limitations of the office. A masterful reassessment of presidential history, this book is essential reading for anyone trying to understand America's fraught political climate.

The aim of the American Presidency Series is to present historians and the general reading public with interesting, scholarly assessment of the various presidential administrations. These interpretive surveys are intended to cover the broad ground between biographies, specialized monographs, and journalistic accounts.

An original and engaging account of the Obama years from a group of leading political historians Barack Obama's election as the first African American president seemed to usher in a new era, and he took office in 2009 with great expectations. But by his second term, Republicans controlled Congress, and, after the 2016 presidential election, Obama's legacy and the health of the Democratic Party itself appeared in doubt. In The Presidency of Barack Obama, Julian Zelizer gathers leading American historians to put President Obama and his administration into political and historical context. These writers offer strikingly original assessments of the big issues that shaped the Obama years, including the conservative backlash, race, the financial crisis, health care, crime, drugs, counterterrorism, Iraq and Afghanistan, the environment, immigration, education, gay rights, and urban policy. Together, these essays suggest that Obama's central paradox is that, despite effective policymaking, he failed to receive credit for his many achievements and wasn't a party builder. Provocatively, they ask why Obama didn't unite Democrats and progressive activists to fight the conservative counter-tide as it grew stronger. Engaging and deeply informed, The Presidency of Barack Obama is a must-read for anyone who wants to better understand Obama and the uncertain aftermath of his presidency. Contributors include Sarah Coleman, Jacob Dlamini, Gary Gerstle, Risa Goluboff, Meg Jacobs, Peniel Joseph, Michael Kazin, Matthew Lassiter, Kathryn Olmsted, Eric Rauchway, Richard Schragger, Paul Starr, Timothy Stewart-Winter, Thomas Sugrue, Jeremi Suri, Julian Zelizer, and Jonathan Zimmerman.

In The Other Presidency, Patrick Spero resurrects an overlooked but essential part of Thomas Jefferson’s life. For nearly seventeen years, Jefferson served as President of the American Philosophical Society (APS), the nation’s first learned society and one dedicated to promoting new research in the young republic, especially in the sciences. He did so while also serving as Vice President and President of the United States. As Spero shows in this short but important work, Jefferson used his various positions to solidify the Society’s foundation and, in turn, shape the course of American science. Through a deep dive into APS Archives and Jefferson’s papers, Spero demonstrates how the Society became a thoroughly Jeffersonian institution—that is, the APS, the largest and most powerful scientific body in the nation, advanced an agenda that comported with Jefferson’s own priorities. While Jefferson juggled affairs of state, he also remained deeply involved in the Society. In fact, the two complemented each other. He helped draft the institution’s first collection development policy, making clear the items and material he thought most important for the nation’s posterity. He also used his international network to introduce European intellectuals to the Society, and he called on these same networks to help build the Society’s collection. Jefferson himself received direct support from the Society to conduct his own research, including funding for an expedition with James Madison, and as President of the United States, he would often call on the APS and its members for advice. In short, Spero shows that Jefferson was integral to the development of the APS—and, perhaps more unexpectedly, the APS and the scientific community it fostered were integral to Jefferson and his vision for the young United States. A resource for students, history buffs, and Jefferson aficionados, the book includes a chronology of Thomas Jefferson's contributions to the APS, with references to major events in Jefferson's life.

"Donald Trump took office in 2017 amid an increasingly polarized political field. He quickly carved out a loyal base among the radical wing of the Republican party, dominated the news cycle with an endless stream of controversies, and, with the support of his voting base and party, presided over one of the most publicized, dramatic, and contentious one-term presidencies in American history. In The Presidency of Donald J. Trump, Julian Zelizer gathers leading American historians to put President Trump and his administration into political and historical context. These scholars offer strikingly original assessments of the central issues that shaped the Trump years, including the #MeToo and #BlackLivesMatter movements, Trump's crusade against media he dubbed "fake news," the border wall and immigration more broadly, the rapid rise of open white supremacy, the national COVID-19 response, the calls to "defund the police," the efforts to contest the outcome of the election, and the January 6th insurrection, among others. Together, these essays argue that the Trump presidency was not unprecedented, but it represented and emerged from the long-term development of the Republican Party and American polarization more broadly"--

The first book-length assessment of Coolidge's presidency in thirty years draws on the recently opened papers of his White House physician for hitherto unknown personal information. Ferrell (history, Indiana U.) exonerates Coolidge for the failures of his party's foreign policy, but holds him accountable for having had insufficient economic savvy to warn Wall Street against the overspeculation that caused the Depression. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

Every president has had a unique and complicated relationship with the intelligence community. While some have been coolly distant, even adversarial, others have found their intelligence agencies to be among the most valuable instruments of policy and power. Since John F. Kennedy's presidency, this relationship has been distilled into a personalized daily report: a short summary of what the intelligence apparatus considers the most crucial information for the president to know that day about global threats and opportunities. This top-secret document is known as the President's Daily Brief, or, within national security circles, simply "the Book." Presidents have spent anywhere from a few moments (Richard Nixon) to a healthy part of their day (George W. Bush) consumed by its contents; some (Bill Clinton and George H. W. Bush) consider it far and away the most important document they saw on a regular basis while commander in chief. The details of most PDBs are highly classified, and will remain so for many years. But the process by which the intelligence community develops and presents the Book is a fascinating look into the operation of power at the highest levels. David Priess, a former intelligence officer and daily briefer, has interviewed every living president and vice president as well as more than one hundred others intimately involved with the production and delivery of the president's book of secrets. He offers an unprecedented window into the decision making of every president from Kennedy to Obama, with many character-rich stories revealed here for the first time.