Hugh Sidey White House historian and the veteran writer of Time magazine's popular column "The Presidency", has reported on America's Presidents for Life and Time magazines since 1957. Over the course of more than four decades, he has become one of our foremost observers of the Oval Office - a reporter whose unparalleled contacts and access have created countless scoops, a writer whose nuanced insights into the complex interplay of personality and power at the highest level have brought us a deeper understanding of our government. Now Sidey has collected his memories, anecdotes and reflections on America's 12 most recent Presidents - from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W Bush - in one volume. At the heart of the book is a fresh portrait of each President, based on Sidey's unique insider's view of these multi-faceted men. In these pages, after a lifetime of what Sidey calls "President-watching," the veteran journalist shares his unvarnished opinion of such unforgettable individuals as John F Kennedy, Richard Nixon and Ronald Reagan - whose sports broadcasts Sidey listened to on the radio as a smalltown Iowa boy.
Sidey has also reviewed his archives and written fresh introductions to vintage columns that shed further light on each President. In addition, the book features a pictorial biography of each president, as well as a picture gallery capturing the major events of his term in office. To complement Sidey's matchless anecdotes, Time's editors have chosen hundreds of photographs that offer a surprising, fresh view of American Presidents, their families and life on what Sidey terms "the White House stage." From Dwight Eisenhower flipping flapjacks in a Colorado bunkhouse to Franklin Roosevelt and his inner circle dressing up as members of a Roman imperial court, this richly visual volume will find an honored place on bookshelves.