Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents

by Cormac O'Brien

Paperback, 2004

Call number

TN-6GA.C-Obr

Series

Secret Lives

Genres

Description

Biography & Autobiography. Politics. Nonfiction. Humor (Nonfiction.) HTML:Includes all-new chapter about the 45th POTUS, Donald J. Trump. This updated and redesigned edition of Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents features outrageous and uncensored profiles of our commanders in chief�??complete with hundreds of little-known, politically incorrect, and downright wacko facts. You�??ll discover that: �?� Teddy Roosevelt was blinded in a White House boxing match �?� John Quincy Adams loved to skinny-dip in the Potomac River �?� Gerald Ford once worked as a Cosmopolitan magazine cover model �?� Warren G. Harding gambled with White House china when he ran low on cash �?� Jimmy Carter reported a UFO sighting in Georgia With chapters on everyone from George Washington to Donald Trump, Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents tackles all the tough questions that other history books are afraid to ask: Which president claimed that God struck down… (more)

Publication

London : Hi Marketing, 2004.

User reviews

LibraryThing member ASolomon

Hooray for this book! It is so much fun as a history major to read. It is the childhood book I always wanted, but was not ready for.

6 more

LibraryThing member WittyreaderLI

This book is a fascinating read that gives facts about all of the presidents of the US. But not just your average "they did this and that" facts. More like weird quirks and flaws, scandals, and other interesting tidbits. Did you know that James Tyler had 14 children with two wives? Or that Taft was

so overweight that he often got stuck in the tub? This book is a quick, fun and interesting read. I recommend it!

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LibraryThing member madamejeanie

Now, this is the kind of book I really enjoy reading. Full of
fascinating obscure facts and written in brief paragraph form so that
you can pick it up, read a little bit, then lay it down without having
to worry about "catching up" again when you come back to it. It covers
every President from

Washington to Bush II, revealing little-known
tidbits and facts I never knew before. It's heavily illustrated with
full page caricatures of each president, detailed stats and factoids,
plus some really fascinating insight into what made each one of them
truly tick.

I enjoyed it. 5

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LibraryThing member Kiki5211

As a U.S History teacher, this book makes a great way to "hook" students in when teaching about all the Presidents. Some of the information is well know, but each has something you may not know, that the history books leave out. Very humorous stories will get your attention about our country's

leaders.

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LibraryThing member dczapka

There's a very funny personal story about Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents, one that's far better than any review I could possibly post, so I'll lead off with it.

A good friend of mine, who was a contestant on Jeopardy! back in 2005, kept this book in her bathroom. (Better reading than Playboy, I

suppose.) When I was selected to be a Jeopardy! contestant myself in 2012, she advised me that one of the categories that most frequently came up was the U.S. Presidents. And since my head is a black hole when it comes to most bits of U.S. history, I decided to pick this book up myself to help study for my appearance.

As it turns out, I never did get any Presidents categories on the show. But I found the book to be a quick and informative (if not nearly as scandalous) read as was promised. Some Presidents, it turns out, just have a more fascinating history than others. But despite the fact that the material didn't always live up to the promise, I can tell you that it did help me grasp a better understanding of our nation's leaders and how they fit together as a tapestry, as opposed to just rote memorization of who held office when and for how long.

If only Alex had decided to query me about American History as opposed to Latin American History...

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LibraryThing member annbury

I read this book because I wanted a quick guide to the lives and personalities of the lesser known presidents, and that's exactly what it provides -- useful and very short biographical sketches of ALL the presidents. It doesn't provide much in the way of big secrets, except for the even worse than

one expected philandering of some recent occupants of the office; for many presidents, "secret" lives simply equals personal lives. But that's no problem, the book gave me what I wanted. It's interesting amusing, and a very quick and easy read. Look elsewhere for profundity.

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LibraryThing member knightlight777

I love books that profile the Presidents and there are many different angles to be explored out there. Here is yet another entry that says it deals with "secret lives." A bit of a teaser that line as one may think we have some very intriguing and unknown tales between the covers. Well kind of, what

we get is a synopsis of what their terms produced, mostly common knowledge. But after this, topics are brought up unique to each man (yep still all men) some which has been out there before and some new uncovered material.

In chronological order we see the blemishes and peccadillos of each and every one exposed for what they were or did. I'm don't know anything of Cormac O'Brien (could he be related to Conan?)but one does soon enough get a glimpse into his political orientation particularly toward our more recent occupants. President Obama portrayed as an all round cool guy. El Presidente Donald, not so much. In fact he provides quite a buffet of venom venting here. In general a fun read with insights into the oh so real people that took up the mantle.

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