Happy President’s Day! Has the holiday (whether observed with a day off of work or not) influenced your reading choices?
If you’re looking for a presidential read, we have some suggestions. His Excellency, by Joseph J. Ellis, just might be the definitive look at George Washington, as BookPage contributor Alden Mudge said in an interview with Ellis about the book. For kids, What Presidents Are Made Of by Hanoch Piven is pure fun. And last year, in honor of Lincoln’s 200th birthday, BookPage published a great roundup of Lincoln books that should be out in paperback right about now, including Ronald C. White’s A. Lincoln, as well as a feature on Lincoln books for the younger set.
But the Lincoln story that stands out in my mind isn’t actually about the president at all–it’s a fictionalized account of the life of his wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, that was published in 2006. As I said in my review of Janis Cooke Newman’s Mary, it’s a sympathetic account that paints Mary as “a deeply passionate, intelligent woman in a time when these qualities in women were discouraged and feared.”
Do you have a favorite book with a presidential link?
Thanks for the recommendation; I’ve added Mary to my list.