Reading Presidential Biographies
As a history major, and a former teacher of US History in public schools before moving into the principalship (all of this before my favorite career in real estate), I still keep my hand in it by selecting one or two good pieces of fiction to balance out my mystery book and other fictional reading. My choice in 2009 is American Lion - Andrew Jackson in the White House (2008) by Jon Meacham who is an Editor with Newsweek and moves around some of those MSNBC talk news shows.
My five favorite Presidents are Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Thedore Roosevelt, and Harry Truman. As a new biography comes out with these five, I generally put it on my list. I also try to read another one so that over time I will have read about each president. I also add Benjamin Franklin to my list ... although not a President, could there be anyone more important and influential in our American History.
Someone might ask: "Why?" Reading about the man, the history of the time, relating it to the American of today, reflecting on the critical issues, and trying to gain some understanding of the decisionmaking role taken ... all of this provides insights to our own lives ... leadership, what makes American great, and how our country has evolved over time. Every American should take some time and read more about our unique history.
If you have not read David McCullough's John Adams (a number of years ago) or Walter Isaacson's Benjamin Franklin (also several years ago), they represent two other great starting points.
As I read non-fiction, which is only about 10-15% of my reading, I tend to take notes and do a sort of mini outline in my Journal. It's the teaching background in me ... maybe I will be able to use it later. I'm still the guy that underlines and clips out sections of my newspaper or Time magazine.
Let me know if you have enjoyed, or after you have enjoyed, reading these biographies. Thanks for reading my posting.
Dap
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