All the Presidents' Children: Triumph and Tragedy in the Lives of America's First Families | 
 enlarge | Author: Doug Wead
Publisher: Atria
Category: Book
List Price: $16.00
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Rating:  54 reviews
Sales Rank: 22985
Media: Paperback
Number Of Items: 1
Pages: 464
Shipping Weight (lbs): 1.2
Dimensions (in): 9.2 x 6.1 x 1.2
ISBN: 074344633X
Dewey Decimal Number: 973.099
EAN: 9780743446334
ASIN: 074344633X
Publication Date: January 6, 2004
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Product Description
From Abigail "Nabby" Adams to Chelsea Clinton, George Washington Adams to John F. Kennedy, Jr., the children of America's presidents have both suffered and triumphed under the watchful eyes of their powerful fathers and the glare of the ever-changing public. Whether they perished under the pressure like Andrew Johnson, upheld controversial views like Amy Carter, or carried their father's torch right back to the White House like George W. Bush, all presidential children grew up having to share their fathers with the whole of their fellow countrymen -- and, in too many instances, spent the rest of their lives in a desperate search for their own identities. In this illuminating bestseller, Washington insider Doug Wead offers an authoritative analysis of our nation's presidential offspring. Featuring lively anecdotes, photographs, short biographies, and never-before-published personal accounts, All the Presidents' Children is an important socio-cultural work, a groundbreaking study of American family dynamics, and an entertaining foray into the homes, hearts, and history of our forefathers.
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| Customer Reviews: Read 49 more reviews...
 Semi-educational and an inch deep December 28, 2008
I'm reading this book, published in 2003, in late 2008 only because it's a 2009 selection for my book club. What a shame that is, because what a silly book this is.
It's semi-educational, meaning that I trust the author got the names of the Presidents' children correct. But it's about an inch deep, meaning that the author's commitment to his thesis (the US Presidency is an immutably destructive force blunting the development of all but a few Presidential children) is too strong to be blunted by any facts that don't support it.
The author, an active apologist for compassionate conservatism, the Bushes, and Amway, has fashioned a book that reads like this:
1. Here's my theory.
2. Here are the facts I've selected to support my theory.
3. See how the facts I've selected prove my theory.
Sheesh.
 Some good information and a long, long list December 16, 2008
I was researching for something I was writing and this book gave a lot of wonderful information. It categorized a bit but could have done more. While the categories themselves, helps the reader see many different patterns in the children of the oval office, the categories themselves seemed a little random.
 Fascinating families February 12, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
Doug Wead's "All the Presidents' Children" is one of my favorite history reads. Periodically, I go back to it and am always amazed at how well it is written and how fascinating the characters are. It has taught me much about family foibles and how presidents must strive to be statesmen and fathers at the same time. It makes me more tolerant, and that is always a good thing.
All the President's Children January 18, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a book that fills a void in the historical record of Presidential Families. There is piecemeal information in other volumes, but this book brings all the history into one very readable account. Mr. Wead is known to be close to the Bush Family, and thus he appears to have a personal reason to research this aspect of the Presidency.
I teach classes on"First Ladies", and my audience had urged me to tell them more about their children, but I had been largely unsuccessful at finding interesting, reliable information which covered the President's children, their joys, health, and trials and tribulations, including their similarities in how they coped with their celebrity with all its benefits and disadvantages.
This is a book that anyone who is interested in people and history should enjoy and find enlightening. This is facts, not gossip.
Fascinating book for high achieving parents January 18, 2007
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
This is a most fascinating book combining history, parenting and child psychology. It is written extrememly well and will engage you from the very first page. Each man who became president was a unique, high achieving, individual. How each president viewed his children, who in many cases, were simply bright, average kids, directly effected their children's future and happiness in life. The stories of some kids will break your heart, others will make you glad for their success. After reading this book, high achieving parents will be much less likely to try to mold little clones of themselves (which as you will read, can meet with distasterous, unhappy results), but encourage their children's interests, perhaps different from your own, and help them along their path in life. I have given and recommended this book to my parents and friends and everybody has said it was one of the best books they have ever read. I also recommend the book Doug Wead wrote about presidential parents.
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