Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House Hardcover - 2006 - 1st Edition

From the rear cover

Winner of Foreword Magazine's 2006 Silver Award for Political Science Book of the Year! Mark K. Updegrove's Second Acts is a smart and provocative look at the most exclusive club in America - ex-presidents. Highly recommended!--Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History and Director of the Theodore Roosevelt Center at Tulane UniversityFormer presidents have been likened to Cinderella after the ball. In this intimate, often surprising group portrait, Mark Updegrove reveals how our ex-presidents since Truman have dealt with the loss of power that is their pumpkin. From Ike struggling to master the intricacies of the dial tone, to LBJ raging like Lear on the Perdenales [River], to Jimmy Carter, the Extra President--Updegrove gives us riveting history by twilight. His evening stars cast a memorable glow.--Richard Norton Smith, president historian, Scholar in Residence, George Mason UniversityMark Updegrove's Second Acts is a fascinating read about a subject that has been neglected for too long. It is history at its best; a well researched and well told narrative that illuminates the recent past in surprisingly unexpected ways. Filled with wit as well as wisdom, Second Acts is a delight.--Don Carleton, Director, University of Texas Center for American History Highly recommended.--Library JournalFor those interested in the former presidents, this popular history will do the trick.-- Publishers WeeklyRevealing in detail and context.--Kirkus Reviews

From the jacket flap

F. Scott Fitzgerald once wrote, "There are no second acts in American lives", but more and more, our former presidents are proving him wrong. No longer fading into the background upon leaving the highest office in the land, ex-presidents perform valuable services as elder statesmen and international emissaries - and by pursuing their own agendas. From Eisenhower taking Kennedy to the woodshed (literally) on the Bay of Pigs crisis, to Carter earning the Nobel Peace Prize, to Bush Sr. and Clinton joining forces in an unlikely partnership for tsunami and Hurricane Katrina relief, the author examines the increasingly important roles that former presidents assume in our nation and throughout the world. Through interviews with former presidents, first ladies, family members, friends, and staffers, the author also delves into the very human stories that play out as the modern ex-presidents - from Truman to Clinton - adjust to life after the White House and attempt to shape their historical legacies. In this, the first narrative history of the modern post-presidency, Mark K. Updegrove makes a refreshingly unique contribution to literature on the American presidents.

Media reviews

Citations

• Booklist, 08/01/2006, Page 35
• Kirkus Reviews, 08/01/2006, Page 776
• Library Journal, 10/15/2006, Page 75
• Publishers Weekly, 01/01/0001, Page 46
• Reference and Research Bk News, 11/01/2007, Page 61