February is the month of the federal holiday many of us know as Presidents Day. But the official name for the holiday is Washington’s Birthday, which has been celebrated since the first American president was in office. In 1971, the
February is the month of the federal holiday many of us know as Presidents Day. But the official name for the holiday is Washington’s Birthday, which has been celebrated since the first American president was in office.
In 1971, the holiday was shifted to the third Monday of February to comply with the Uniform Monday Holiday Act. Many states choose to celebrate the birthdays of both George Washington (Feb. 22) and Abraham Lincoln (Feb. 12) on this day and call the state holiday Presidents Day.
In honor of American presidents, Book Buzz this week offers books on historical and fictional, domestic and international presidents and their wives.
Happy Reading!
American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House
By Jon Meacham
973.56092 Jackson Me
This well-researched, well-written, and entertaining book offers a lively take on the seventh president’s White House years. In Lion in the White House: A Life of Theodore Roosevelt Aida D. Donald’s elegant and affectionate presidential portrait is less a biography than a essay on idealism and power. See also John Milton Cooper Jr.’s biography of Woodrow Wilson, the 28th president, a democrat who claimed the White House after sixteen year of Republican administrations or William E. Leuchtenburg’s Herbert Hoover, president during the nation’s last great depression.
American Wife: A Novel
By Curtis Sittenfeld
Adult Fiction Si
Sittenfeld based this novel on Anne Gerhart’s 2004 biography, The Perfect Wife: The Life and Choices of Laura Bush as she tells the story of bookish, naïve Alice Lindgren and the trajectory that lands her in the White House as first lady. Later the first couple contends with his being ostracized as a president who favors an increasingly unpopular war. Many reviewers can’t understand why the book’s very decent Alice supported her husband despite her doubts about his capabilities. For a tense first lady political thriller try Pursuit, a novel by Karen Robards. For non-fiction on one of America’s founding mothers try out Abigail Adams by Woody Holton who paints a strong-minded woman whose boldness developed in the context of the revolutionary era in which she lived. For primary documents see My Dearest Friend: Letters of Abigail and John Adams edited by Margaret Adams.
Citizen in Chief:
The Second Lives of American Presidents
By Leonard Benardo
973.099 B
Eight presidents died in office, leaving 34 whose subsequent careers make up this revealing and opinionated history. America’s founders believed pensions smacked of royal privilege, so ex-presidents were on their own until 1958 when Congress voted pension in. The authors dub John Quincy Adams and Jimmy Carter our leading postpresidents. Adams served 17 years in the House, a leading antislavery advocate. Carter’s diplomatic and humanitarian activities won him a 2002 Nobel Prize. See Jimmy Carter’s Beyond the White House: Waging Peace, Fighting Disease, Raising Hope.
Mounting Fears
By Stuart Woods
Adult Fiction Wo
This suspense thriller in which the pace never lets up features an incumbent U.S. president who faces a series of crises in an election year. For other fictional presidents try The Firefly by P.T. Deutermann, Killer Weekend by Ridley Pearson, The Mongoose Deception by Robert Grier, The President’s Nemesis by Michael Beres or Sixty Days and Counting by Kim Stanley Robinson.
Playing the Enemy:
Nelson Mandela and
the Game the Made a Nation
By John Carlin
968.065 Ca
Nelson Mandela spent 27 years in a South African prison because he led the country’s foremost anti-apartheid organization. In 1994, after his release, he was elected South Africa’s president in the country’s first free election. Realizing that his new government was on tenuous ground, he sought a symbolic moment that would unite the black citizenry with white Afrikaners and hit upon the idea of South Africa hosting rugby’s first World Cup. The first step was to convince South Africa’s national team-the Springboks-to get aboard. Carlin concludes this excellent book of redemption and forgiveness with chapters that depict how a divided country can be elevated beyond hate and malice to pride and healing. This story is also told in director Clint Eastwood’s new movie Invictus. For reads on other international leaders try Revolution of Hope: The Life, Faith and Dreams of a Mexican President by Vincente Fox Quesada or Madame Chiang Kai-Shek: China’s Eternal First Lady by LauraTyson Li.
• Carolyn Larson is head librarian at Lihu‘e Public Library. Her weekly column brings you the buzz on new, popular and good books available at your neighborhood library. Book annotations are culled from online publishers’ descriptions and published reviews.
