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HOMES OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENTS by

HOMES OF THE AMERICAN PRESIDENTS

By

Pub Date: Nov. 19th, 1962
Publisher: McGraw-Hill

Americans do not go in for the cult of privacy, particularly in those cases where the person being talked about is one who has put himself in the public eye. A conspicuous feature in the American press are the reports on the President's health and eating habits. A popular TV show conducts its viewers through the homes of Hollywood stars; the First Lady has given a similar tour of the White House. This work adds a link to the growing chain of personable accounts of the chief executive. One has occasionally wondered for whom such books are intended. Mr. Jones' and Mr. Schleisner's book raises the question in acute form. They nip through 35 presidents, devoting 3 to 5 pages to each man. The format they follow seems to be this: two paragraphs on the man's boyhood, two paragraphs on his spouse, a few sentences on his presidential caliber, and four or five paragraphs describing in brief detail the home to which he retired. Written by home enthusiasts, the book can be recommended to the same. There is probably some merit in providing the avid traveller with the addresses of these homes. But the average reader would spend his money better on a trip to the national monument nearest him.