War and the American Presidency
Pulitzer Prize-winning presidential historian Schlesinger is perhaps best known for his study of the Kennedy presidency,A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House(1965), and it is his reputation that will likely attract readers otherwise turned off by the vociferous glut of books, pro and con, about the Bush administration. Their interest will be well rewarded, for this selection is a notch better than most. Rather than comparing the current president's character with that of his predecessors--something both political camps enjoy doing--Schlesinger focuses on the office, not the man, and argues that the current administration's use of presidential power in war tells both an old story and a new one. Old, in that unilateral warfare is as old as America, but new--and, says Schlesinger, dangerous--in the manner in which Bush has taken advantage of wartime's mandate. This intelligent collection of essays, sketching historical congruities (most conspicuously between the Bush administration and Nixon's original "imperial presidency") as well as incongruities, includes a compelling discussion of the challenges inherent to history's lens.Brendan DriscollCopyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.