Under This Roof: The White House and the Presidency--21 Presidents, 21 Rooms, 21 Inside Stories Hardcover - 2015

From the rear cover

The White House is arguably the most famous building in the world. For more than two centuries what has transpired there reflects the story of the United States and its rapid rise from an exuberant but weak and disorganized new nation to global colossus. It is the ultimate symbol of the nation itself, a place of power and grandeur that has awed emperors and kings, prime ministers and popes, tycoons and movie stars, not to mention the millions of ordinary tourists who have walked its halls.But to the 42 men and their families who have lived here since November 1, 1800, when John Adams moved in, the "Executive Mansion," "President's Palace" or "President's House," is, and has been, something far more mundane: a place to kick back, walk the dog, or fix a sandwich. In other words, home. This dichotomy is reflected in the colorful history that has occurred in the mansion's 132 rooms. From Adams to Obama, Under This Roof will tell 21 of the most interesting stories associated with our Presidents and First Families, in chronological order, bringing a sense of place and context to each. The best way to understand the presidency is through the special building they presided from. The events that shaped America have often started or ended at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, often with the White House becoming part of the story. Some of those narratives peaked in the Oval Office, but more often the most interesting moment occurred in some quieter, domestic event like Edith Wilson running the country from the Master Bedroom, or Barack Obama nervously playing spades in the Private Dining Room before heading down to the Situation Room on the night Osama bin Laden was killed. These stories will tell not just the history of the event, but will detail the particular room in which the event occurred. The battered office chair Lincoln used as he pondered the Emancipation Proclamation. The overheated, dimly lit Red Room during the secret swearing in of Rutherford B. Hayes. Brandus finds underreported or neglected angles that bring new light and perspective to these stories. The White House has expanded as the country has, gained workspace as the government grew, and embraced technology as the nation did. (Rutherford B. Hayes installed the first telephone and for a time the phone number was simply the number 1.) It now includes the West Wing, the East Wing, and the Executive Residence, with the latter having six stories if you include the basement. Every renovation from the rebuild after it was burned in 1814 to the building of the West Wing and the remodeling under Theodore Roosevelt, Truman and then Kennedy had a larger cultural and political significance. The stories in this book are not the most famous or most important stories in the lives of America's Presidents. However, in each, the White House is almost a character come to life, and each reveals something important about the man at the helm and the growing nation that put him there. Even in this time of relentless coverage of the President's every move, we can forget that he and his advisors are human, with a life filled with smaller personal moments that lead up to the big public ones. Ideally, imagining Nixon in the East Room, worrying what would happen if the moon mission failed, or McKinley in the map room knowing he will start a war he doesn't want to fight, will bring the reader close enough to each moment to imagine what it like to have history resting on your shoulders.

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Citations

• Publishers Weekly, 09/14/2015, Page 0