Millard Fillmore, by Paul Finkelman

So I told you guys last month that Zachary Taylor was actually pretty sweet for how unknown he is and the length of his presidency (only about 18 months). The biography that I read talked about how had he lived, the civil war may had been totally avoided. The weird part? His vice president, Millard Fillmore, was his polar opposite. They didn’t meet each other until inauguration and even then never became close. After Zachary Taylor died, Millard Fillmore immediately (like within days) fired his whole cabinet without having replacements and just… did his own thing entirely.

Dude hated blacks, Jews, Catholics, Masons… and made laws/decisions based on all of this. It was kind of a wreck. Any advancement toward a compromise that Zachary Taylor had made, Millard Fillmore set back years and years. Totally wild. I know that Pierce and Buchanan are often sited more for escalating things leading up to the civil war, but I think that there is a strong, strong argument for Millard Fillmore getting that ball rolling, especially when he approved the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. I shudder just thinking about it.

So that’s that. He finished up Zachary Taylor’s term then ran a couple more times unsuccessfully then pretty much faded into obscurity.

I really did like learning a little bit about Millard Fillmore, only because I knew literally NOTHING about him before…. but, guys? Not the best biography. There were a lot of actual writing problems (sentence structure, SERIOUS repetition of whole phrases), but the real issue was that this guy, Paul Finkelman, straight up hated Millard Fillmore. He did not say one single positive, nice thing about him. Ever. He talked VERY little about his regular life (as in… I had to look on Wikipedia to find out that he had two children) and nothing about decisions that he made as president that did actually have positive results. The only thing he talked about was the slavery issues. Doing a bit of research myself online after finishing the book, I realized that there were a few other things that he had his hand in that turned out well in the end. After reading a biography, I probably shouldn’t have to Google/Wikipedia the subject, right? Right.

The thing is, I knew when I bought this book that it had low reviews. There are only a handful (like 3 or 4) biographies on Millard Fillmore- he’s one of those overlooked guys- and some had higher ratings, but they all cost OVER THRITY DOLLARS. Was I about to shell that out on an unknown? Never. This one was cheaper (but still like sixteen bucks!) so I went with that one. So. This isn’t a glowing review, but for like half the price, I honestly was pretty happy with what I ended up with.

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Zachary Taylor, by John S. D. Eisenhower

Is it bad that my general opinion of Zachary Taylor came from a little, brief mention on 30 Rock? Yup. I’m a total idiot.

Most of the other presidents, even if I didn’t know much about them going into this challenge, had begun to take shape for me before I got to their biographies, only because they all feature so prominently in each other’s lives. The political scene then was even smaller than it is now and a lot of the presidents were close friends, related, bitter enemies, something enough to bear mentioning. Maybe Zachary Taylor was BRIEFLY mentioned in the Polk biography because he was a hero in the Mexican War, but outside of that he was an absolute nobody in politics. He had never held a political office- not one- before he ran for president and won. Wild, right?

Taylor was a military man through and through. He started his military career young and rose through the ranks quickly. His willingness to get down in the muck with his troops and his attention to their training is what gave him the nickname Old Rough and Ready and, in the end, made him very, very successful. What I really loved about him was that throughout his military career, he only got into uniform a handful of times, and even as president he would go around D.C. wearing wrinkled, messy clothes. He wasn’t a slob so much, he was just dedicated to comfort over fashion. I totally, totally get that

Kind of the “hypothesis” behind this book was that had Zachary Taylor lived (he died about one year into his term) he may have been the only person to have not only held off but cancel the need for the Civil War. He was a southerner and a slave owner but really opposed spreading slavery to new territories. The author was told by a historian and then decided to investigate what kind of effect this may have had on the developing country. Although there is no way to know exactly what may have happened, the author found quite a bit to show that North/South tensions were lower during his term than ever before in the country and that many Southerners were more comfortable listening to Taylor’s voice than to the voices of any one before him.

His early death (from drinking gross D.C. water) is a real shame, not only because he was a great war hero, but because of the good he could have potentially done.

I actually came out of this book with a real respect and admiration for Zachary Taylor- which is a lot more than the impression he left on Tracy Jordan. (I looked and looked for a clip of this scene. If you find it, let me know!)

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The Book: Always Looking Up, by Michael J. Fox

The Story: After Michael J. Fox quit working on Spin City due to Parkinson’s, he was kind of depressed- day-to-day life was a struggle and after years and years in front of the camera, he felt bored and lonely. He decided to use his disease, his fame, and his money toward something that really mattered to him: finding a cure for Parkinson’s Disease, which had effected him for almost 20 years at that point.

By surrounding himself with excited, influential people and putting his heart on the line, Michael J. Fox developed The Michael J. Fox Foundation. Their goal is to hire scientists who are experts in their field to focus their whole attention on Parkinson’s. Through this, the foundation has been able to develop amazing drugs and therapies that are helping the tons of people effected by this disease.

What I Thought: When I went to the library in search of Michael J. Fox’s book, I’m a little embarrassed to admit that I didn’t know that there were two. When the librarian handed me both of them, I know I looked confused. I decided to pick the newest one for no other reason than it was newer. I didn’t even read the book flaps. Had I read them, I think I would have picked the first one because what I was looking for was more of an overview of his life. While this book had a little bit of that, it really was more focused on his later life- his disease and post-TV/movie life.

That being said, I really did enjoy this. The first chapter just talks about his daily struggles- getting up and getting ready when his muscles just refuse to listen to him. For me, this was the most memorable part of the book. To be able to watch movies (Hello, Back to the Future, I love you!) where he is so adorable and totally in control and know that at such a young age that even brushing his teeth is quite the job… that’s tough. As I read the book and learned about all the good he is doing in the world, I kept reflecting on the fact that he’s doing all of this while almost unable to walk.

I sometimes get annoyed when celebrities “use” their fame to promote stuff, but I love that Michael J. was smart enough to realize that he could influence real change. He didn’t do it in this “look at me!” way- instead he got with smart people who knew what they were doing and basically told them that he wanted to be the face and the voice of this thing, but wanted them to use their knowledge, their training to make the real change. There is a powerful message in there.

Of course Michael J. Fox is brimming over with lovableness, but this book just hammered it home even more.

At points I got bored with hearing about the political side of what he does, but even in that I was impressed with his will, with his determination and with his vigor. He decided what he wanted to do and is totally going after it. I love that.

Conclusion: While I still haven’t read it, I think I’d recommend reading his first memoir first, but even as a stand alone, this is a moving book.

Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America, by Walter R. Borneman

Unlike several of the presidents in this little “between Jackson and Lincoln” clump, I had actually heard of Polk and knew a teeny bit about him. I knew that he was in some way involved in the Mexican American war (although I would have guessed that he fought in it) and that he only ran for office once. I was looking forward to reading this, especially after reading the subtitle. “The Man who Transformed the Presidency and America”…. wow. That’s a pretty big claim.

Turns out it’s only about half true. I think that Walter Borneman set out to write a book about how the country’s boundary lines were drawn and fell in love with Polk along the way and decided to make the book a biography of him. While the first few and last few chapters were about Polk as a person and about his rise to the presidency, nearly the whole thing was about “manifest destiny” and the Mexican War. I was fine with that and found it interesting, but if you are looking for a true-blue biography of Polk, I’d look elsewhere. The actual man only makes a handful of appearances.

So, he did, in fact, transform America- he literally decided where it’d start and stop. I’m not sure that I would say that in his one term in office that he actually transformed the presidency. The real lasting impact that he had on the presidency was shifting the rule of how war could be declared, but you can hardly say that that transformed the entire presidency.

Even though the sub-title was a bit of an exaggeration, I really did kind of fall for Polk myself. I loved his relationship with his wife Sarah. They never had children and Sarah was one of the first first ladies to really come along side her husband and make a huge impact not just on the decor in the White House but on government issues. They were a great match and when Polk died shortly after his term, Sarah wore her mourning for the next 43 years until she passed away. The political bit that I drew from Polk was this: when he took office, he stated four things he wanted to do while was president, outlined how he was going to get them done, then he just did it. He didn’t spread himself to thin. It doesn’t seem like he concerned himself too much with other stuff- he just took those four issues and ran with them the whole time he was in office. I really think that modern politicians could learn from this.

I do wonder, though, how a Polk biography would read by someone who wasn’t a bit obsessed with him. It’s no secret that the Polks had slaves, although it is not discussed much at all in this book. I also know that part of westward expansion and getting Texas and California on the map meant running Native Americans out and/or slaughtering them. That wasn’t discussed at all. I feel like these little unsavory details were glossed over or skipped entirely. I kind of get it because Polk seems like he was a good, nice, honest guy and Walter Borneman didn’t want to muddy the waters with these facts, but I think that it would have made for a more honest, contemplative book had they been included.

That being said, I would recommend this book to other people doing this challenge. It was well written, longer without being taxing, and detailed. It made me want to read a lot more about westward expansion as it applied to normal people, to families, as opposed to the military side. I have read a little bit about the Donner Party. Any other recommendations?

If you want more info on the Presidential Challenge, read this and check out the current participants. If you want to join, email me or comment here and get started!

The Book:Steve Jobs, by Walter Isaacson

The Story: This is the story of Steve Jobs’ life: his youth, his family, his beliefs, and primarily his successes and failures at Apple and his other companies.

Steve Jobs is one of these modern “celebrities” that has been part of the tech revolution since its earliest days. He and Steve Wozniak started Apple in Jobs’ parent’s garage when they were way young. As the company grew and developed so did Steve. Sometimes they developed together, and sometimes not.

Toward the end of his life, he talked to Walter Isaacson about doing a really open biography of his life. Unlike most things he’d taken part in, Steve wanted to have no control over the biography. He wanted Isaacson to interview everyone he could and get the good stuff and the bad stuff and put it all together. Later, he admitted that his real motivation in this project was to have a really honest book for his kids to read so that they could know their dad a little better.

This is the result.

What I Thought: We are Apple people. Shaun had an iPod before I had ever heard of an iPod. Right now, on our desk I can count 6 apple devices and, for some reason, an iPhone 3GS box. So. We’re part of the cult. All that to say that I went into this with a pretty good opinion about Steve Jobs, a fairly clear idea about his past, and an expectation about what I was about to read.

And I still thought Steve Jobs was a real, real prick at times. Wow. For whatever reason, I’ve always had a real interest in people who end up in positions of great power. I’ve always kind of thought that it is ok for them to be jerks, to have big egos, and to kind of do their own thing. People who believe in their vision strongly almost HAVE to push hard to get that vision get realized. I think that Steve Jobs kind of took that to the extreme. He was a perfectionist to beat all perfectionists and had very clear ideas about what was “good” and what was “crap” and he never ever held that back- at board meetings, at restaurants, at home… This is part of what made him so extremely successful, but also what made him distant from his family, was cause for his long separation from Apple, and is why many people just refused to work with him.

I think that that dynamic part of Steve Jobs is what made this biography perfect for me. Walter Isaacson was very fair. He obviously got emotionally attached to Jobs, but was not shy about pointing out the crazy things that Jobs did or said. He struck this really great balance. I didn’t think that he made Jobs out to be Jesus or to be this awful demon of a person. He just made him look like a real person, and it seems like that is hard to do to a person who pretty much requires strong reactions.

I loved the little stories here and there about fateful hires, game changing meetings and incredible ideas. Because Walter Isaacson had full access to Steve for over a year and to his family and friends and co-workers and ex-everythings, he really got this really broad view of Jobs, he really got some great little stories that even those of us fully emerged in the “cult of Apple” had never heard.

I love non-fiction that reads easily. Walter Isaacson put together a well written, well thought out, seamless book. At times, he was bouncing around in time a lot but it never felt overwhelming or confusing. I’m not a computer programmer nor do I know much about business/stocks/whatever and both of these things were very easily accessible throughout the book. I never felt bogged down by jargon. It was a smooth, easy, fascinating read.

Guys, I can’t say anything about this book that isn’t just gushing. Oh, no, wait. I’ve got one. The word “unfurnished” was probably in this book 200 times. I got really tired of hearing about how Jobs was such a perfectionist that his house was unfurnished. “So and so came over and since Jobs’ house was unfurnished, they sat on the floor” was repeated until it was comical. I don’t know if anyone else noticed this or cared, but it bugged me.

And that’s it. This book is incredible. Steve Jobs is incredible. I could go on and on about parts of his story that just really struck me, but I won’t bore you. I am blown totally away by his unique way of thinking, his passion for his products and his view into the future. Love him or hate him, you have to admit the huge impact he has had on the world. Amazing, amazing, amazing. I can’t say enough.

Conclusion:Get this. Read it. Thanks.

John Tyler, by Gary May

John Tyler is one of those forgotten presidents. He was the first vice president to take over after the death of a president and to be perfectly honest, he didn’t really do much in office. He got himself really hooked on Texas and slavery and tried to get stuff done in those departments. Because of the forever-villian Henry Clay, he didn’t succeed there or really anywhere else.

The real problem was that he had very different beliefs than William Henry Harrison, who he took over for. In fact, at one point his entire cabinet (minus one!) just walked into his office and quit. He was even nearly impeached. During his term, his party dumped him and he had to start his own party. Wild, right? Why don’t they teach this stuff?

Also, he married a 23 year old while he was in office. He was 55. Seriously. They had a bunch of kids (I want to say like 7 or 8?), including one when Tyler was 70 years old.

He didn’t run after his term was up, he just headed back home to Virginia. While he was there, the Civil War started and he ran for and got elected to the Confederate Congress.

One little tidbit at the end of the book said that John Tyler was born the year that Washington was inaugurated and his last child died when Truman was president. I guess that that is one benefit of marrying someone less than half your age, huh?

Anyway, I really thought that John Tyler was super interesting. I think part of it was the fact that he never really aspired to be president, and had William Henry Harrison not died in office, he never would have been. They called him the Accidental President and it was way interesting to see how someone who had not really wanted the position did with it. The answer was not very much at all.

Because I thought John Tyler was going to be pretty boring and forgettable, I just read a little, skinny book about him. It was another one from the American Presidents series, which has been really hit-or-miss for me so far. What I really enjoyed about this book was that the author seemed to just tell Tyler’s story. He wasn’t trying to push an agenda and he wasn’t obsessed with Tyler. It was just really factual and unbiased. That was refreshing.

I thought that the little political skirmishes got to be a bit much, but if you are into that kind of stuff I’m sure that you’d be way interested. He was, however, a president, so I guess I can forgive him for talking too much about politics

Seriously though, pretty good book on a really interesting guy. I may try to go back and read a little bit more about him (and Henry Clay! He keeps popping up!) when I complete the challenge.

If you want more info on the Presidential Challenge, read this and check out the current participants. If you want to join, email me or comment here and get started!

John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, A Private Life, by Paul C. Nagel

Let me just start by saying that this was not one of the biographies that I was really excited about.  After reading John Adams, I kind of thought that I had a pretty basic idea of JQA’s life and thought this would be just a giant re-cap for me.

Um, no.

Turns out that JQA had this really full, amazing life that he basically lived pretty far removed from his father.  Not in a bad way, I don’t want to come across wrong.  He just wanted success on his own terms, not because his dad was president too.

I loved that this biography focused in on his life and the person who JQA was, as opposed to his politics and yadda yadda.  The biographer read a lot of previously unread parts of JQA’s diary/journals/letters and put together just this really great character sketch of JQA as a man, not so much a politician.  Really amazing.

The thing is: he was sort of a boring dude.  He was a reader/a writer/a really introspective guy.  When he was a bit younger he was lively, but early in his life he was faced with the idea that he HAD to open a law practice and go into politics.  He did it really grudgingly and knowing that it wasn’t really what he wanted to do with his life.  Because of this, he had bouts of depression for the rest of his life. He was really interested in science and literature and just couldn’t pursue those things like he wanted too.  It’s kind of sad, really.

His presidency was only given 1 chapter in this book and I think it is because it was only 4 years and it was the most miserable 4 years of his life.  He pretty much hated it and just wanted it to be over. He wasn’t very effective and when he left office, it was kind of this sigh of relief.

Here’s what is cool: the best part of his life was after his presidency.  He maintained public office and was a lawyer in the Amistad case and got to spend more time with his wife and his books, and after this long, somewhat grueling life he finally got a kind of happy ending.  I like that.

So. This is a great biography.  Parts of it are a little dry, but I think that it is just because JQA was a little bit boring.  The author did a great job of showing the person of JQA and I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in American history.

The Book: The Man Who Loved Only Numbers: The Story of Paul Erdos and the Search for Mathematical Truth, by Paul Hoffman

The Story: Paul Erdos is a math legend.  He contributed more papers, solved more problems and made more mathematical discoveries than just about anyone in history.

As you may imagine, he was a pretty quirky dude.  He slept a minimal amount and socialized mostly over a good, solid math problem.  He never had children, never married and never really seemed to care too much.

He died in 1996 and just left this amazing legacy. This book is the story not only of his professional life, but his personal life as well.

What I Thought: Let me start by saying that I’m far from a math wizard.  I use a calculator to make change.  I never got past Algebra in high school.  I can’t even do simple multiplication without a healthy dose of caffeine.  I picked up this biography not out of an interest in math, but out of an interest in people who are great, legendary even, in their field.

If Paul Erdos was nothing else he was that: legendary in this field.  His aptitude at math started showing itself at a young age and he continued to foster it by asking hard questions then setting out to find the answers.  Just that in and of itself is pretty incredible.  Maybe that’s what greatness is, in some cases: just having the dedication to find the answer to the questions that you’re asking.  It didn’t hurt that both of his parents were also mathematicians. Although in Paul Erdos’ case, there was just something in his brain that could naturally put numbers together quickly and think through problems logically. By the time he was 3, he could calculate the number of seconds a person had lived.  Pretty awesome.

Anyway.  Here is the thing that I think is awesome: in mathematics there is something called an “Erdos Number” and it is the number of people away from Erdos you are via papers.  If you have written a paper with Erdos, your number is 1.  If you’ve written a paper with someone who has a Erdos number of 1, you have a 2- and so on and so forth.  For some reason, I love that.  He’s the Kevin Bacon of math.

He was kind of this weird guy and had a different vocabulary and look on life, but I think it is pretty strange that the book is called The Man who Loved Only Numbers… because from reading I guess I got the idea that he treasured his friendships and would do most anything for his good friends.  I felt like he loved children and animals.  He just didn’t have a particular interest in women or marriage… and you have to admit, marriage is sometimes a time-suck

There were parts of this book that I really just had to skim.  The math presented towards the beginning was interesting and I could follow along.  By the middle and end of the book it had totally, totally lost me.  Don’t let this scare you away though.  These are relatively small segments in comparison to the biographical story and, who knows, maybe you will totally “get it,” but stupid old me just got confused.  Seriously though, I think that that was the single thing that I didn’t enjoy about this book.  The writing, the subject, everything else about this got a big huge thumbs up from me.  Good stuff.

Conclusion: Math nerds & phobics: read this.  If you like a good biography this is worth your time for sure.

The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation’s Call to Greatness, by Harlow Giles Unger

Alright, there are a lot of little things that I want to talk about that have absolutely no relation to one another so bulleted list it is!

• Harlow Giles Unger is maybe the best historian name I’ve ever heard of.  And check him out.  He even looks the part.  I love it.
• I don’t know why it never occurred to me before starting this challenge, but I keep being surprised at how much overlap there is in these biographies.  I know that these first five guys were major parts of each other’s lives, but I really didn’t know that before I got started and I think it’s fun that I’ve already been introduced (several times) to the next few presidents I’ll be reading about.  It could make the reading a bit monotonous, except I sort of like hearing the different takes on the same events.
• After I got done reading this, I sent Shaun and IM that said, “I think James Monroe is my second favorite founding father.”  Seriously. Ha.
• Here’s the thing: I know that the author probably skipped over the sketchy parts of Monroe’s character and focused more on the good he did, but I’d rather that than a complete focus on his faults like in the Jefferson biography I read.  I’m not a historian though, so this honestly didn’t bother me one bit.
• So Monroe pretty much doubled the size of our country for just a few bucks.  Way impressive and influential.
• After I finish with my presidential challenge, I think I’m going to want to go back and read about Alexander Hamilton.  He is the villain in just about every one of these biographies.  And? Killed in a duel? Wild. I’m intrigued.
• I loved the “family  man” side of James Monroe.  I think it is sweet how his wife and daughter traveled everywhere with him and they refused to be apart for long periods of time.  That is exactly the kind of first lady I would be.
• Am I the only one who didn’t know that the guy standing by Washington in the picture of him crossing the Delaware is James Monroe?  Well it is.  Now you know.
• I pretty much loved this book.  I thought that it was engaging and compelling and painted a crisp picture not only of James Monroe but the place/times that he lived in.  If you are doing the presidential challenge, I recommend this without reservation.

If you want more info on the Presidential Challenge, read this and check out the current participants.  If you want to join, email me or comment here and get started!

American Sphinx, by Joseph Ellis

Something that I’m already noticing about these presidential biographies as I make my way through them is just how much overlap there is.  Reading John Adams, I learned almost as much about Thomas Jefferson as I did about John Adams.  For most of their political lives they were on a pretty similar path.  They each started as lawyers. They both helped with the Declaration then headed to France.  They both came back, took a little bit of time off then launched into American politics in a big way.  They each served as vice president then went on to become president themselves, then retired and wrote 100,000 letters.  Then even died on the same day.

What I’m saying is this:  I went into this book kind of knowing what was going on.  I was excited because the subtitle of the book is The Character of Thomas Jefferson.  While I knew a lot about Thomas Jefferson’s life, the only real idea I had of who he was as a man was from visiting Monticello and reading a book about his best frienemy.  My goal throughout this challenge is to get to know the history of our country from the perspective of the men who have led it, so finding out more specifically about Thomas Jefferson’s character really appealed to me.

The thing that I thought was kind of funny about this book is that I’m pretty sure that Joseph Ellis harbored some deep-seeded hatred of Thomas Jefferson.  I feel like usually biographers fall in love with the person that they are extensively studying, but it seems like studying Thomas Jefferson had the adverse effect on Ellis.  When it came to breaking down his character, Ellis tended to make Thomas Jefferson look like this self-indulget, hypocritical, neurotic, idealistic, deeply flawed man.  While many of these things may be true, at a certain point it almost became comical how hard the author came down on the subject.

Outside of that, I thought that this was a pretty solid read.  Initially I was a little bit disappointed that this wasn’t a “straight through is life” biography, but I really ended up liking the “snapshot” way that this was written.  Only the most important parts of Thomas Jefferson’s life were explored and I felt like this left the author room to really delve into these areas more deeply than if he were writing a more “all inclusive” biography.

I think that when I’m done with this challenge, there will be a few presidents that I want to go back to and explore a little more deeply and I think that Thomas Jefferson will be one of those without a doubt.  Interesting dude.

If you want more info on the Presidential Challenge, read this and check out the current participants.  If you want to join, email me or comment here and get started!