Reference Reviews

Doug’s Student Reference Room

Facts About the Presidents: From George Washington to Barack Obama. By Joseph Nathan Kane and Janet Podell. 816 pp. Bronx, NY: The H.W. Wilson Company, 2009. ISBN: 978-0-8242-1087-8. $150.00.

The eighth edition of this volume, a compilation of biographical and historical information, will intrigue political junkies, history buffs and fans of American trivia. Beginning in 1959, editions of Facts About Presidents have gathered data about the Presidents’ lives as well as information about the presidency itself. The work, which features more than 200 images of Presidents, First Ladies and various people and events—including those related to the 44^th President-- is divided into two parts. The first, Biographical Data, presents chapters in chronological sequence, each offering a general profile listing such facts as the President’s dates in office, familial information, appointments and highlights of the President’s administration. Additional data add interest to the entries: George Washington raised mules, for example, while Ronald Reagan, who worked as a lifeguard in his youth, saved seventy-seven people from drowning and Franklin Delano Roosevelt threw out the most pitches at major league baseball games (11 in total). Part II explores material in a comparative format and browsing this section yields fascinating facts about such categories as the Presidents’ nicknames (James Monroe was deemed the “Last of the Cocked Hats” while George W. Bush famously referred to himself as “The Decider”), the education of the Presidents’ wives, favorite sports, hobbies and foods and even a compilation of Presidential last words: James Madison pronounced, “I always talk better lying down;” Grover Cleveland claimed, “I have tried so hard to do right,” and Warren Harding asked his wife to, “Go on, read some more.” A name/subject index closes out the volume, which is a useful addition to the reference collections of general readers and scholars. Highly recommended for middle school, high school and public libraries.
—Doug Achterman