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Guide to the presidency
338
Reviews
Guide to the Presidency, 2nd ed. Edited by Michael Nelson. Quarterly, Inc., 1996. 1706~. ISBN: 1-5680-2018-X. $199.95.
Washington,
DC: Congressional
This edition of Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to the Presidency is a two-volume publication that takes a very comprehensive look at the presidency of the United States in all its facets. As an update to the first edition, this volume brings the presidential coverage up-to-date through much of President Clinton’s first term, and discusses the budget and economic problems of the 1980s and 1990s as well as the challenges brought about by the end of the Cold War. The first edition was one very large volume. The new edition is now in two more manageable volumes. Each volume has a complete table of contents and a complete, 47 page index. Each chapter has end notes and a bibliography of additional sources. The volumes are divided into seven main parts with two appendices that are referred to as reference materials. The first volume contains four parts and the second volume contains three parts and the reference materials. Part I covers the origins and development of the presidency. Part II discusses the selection and removal of the President. Part III focuses on the powers of the President. Part IV covers the topics of the President, the public and the development of political parties. Part V discusses the White House, its history, and the development of the executive branch. Part VI deals with the idea of the President as the chief executive and his role in the federal government as it relates to the Congress, the Supreme Court and the development of the federal bureaucracy. Part VII contains biographies and pictures of the Presidents and Vice Presidents. There is a final section that contains a variety of reference materials. Appendix A contains 44 documents ranging from the Declaration of Independence to Clinton’s 1996 State of the Union Address. The selection seems to include what the editor perceived to be the most important presidential documents. The section introduction refers to them as the top 40 documents. Most are from the twentieth century and have been edited because it was not the purpose of the volume to provide the complete text but to provide the part of the document that demonstrates a particular idea or event of importance in the development of the presidency. That information can be found in other sources. Appendix B contains information in tabular and graphical format, ranging from a list of the Presidents and Vice Presidents to time lines, to pertinent information about and events during each administration. One table of particular interest was the one that contained information about presidential cabinet members and other officials. A second notable table is the one that covers the political party nominees from 1831 to 1992. Minority candidates are included in this table. There is also a listing of sources for illustrations. These volumes are well written and very readable. Each chapter was prepared by a different individual, but due to the nature of the subjects this did not interfere with the flow of the volume. Because of the complexity of the office, particular facets were discussed in more than one chapter. This was usually referenced in the text so it is easy to find related materials. The authors used numerous pictures, graphs, facsimiles and other illustrations to make the work more useful and interesting. The authors made judicious use of boxes or sidebars to highlight important materials. Each chapter has its own select bibliography of additional sources. These are a gold mine of additional information on the U.S. presidency. The notes following each chapter provide not only credit for works cited but also outline additional information and sources of information about the subject. These two volumes provide excellent coverage of the presidency of the United States and its many facets as it has developed over the last 200-plus years. Owners of the first edition should consider updating their holdings; the information that has been added would make it worth the price. This work is a recommended purchase for all libraries, especially academic and school libraries. JO ANN BEEZLEY Government Documents Librarian Pittsburg State University Pittsburg, KS 66762 USA Government Information Xchange. Washington, www.info.gov
DC: General
Services Administration.
http://
Reviews
Guide to the Presidency, 2nd ed. Edited by Michael Nelson. Quarterly, Inc., 1996. 1706~. ISBN: 1-5680-2018-X. $199.95.
Washington,
DC: Congressional
This edition of Congressional Quarterly’s Guide to the Presidency is a two-volume publication that takes a very comprehensive look at the presidency of the United States in all its facets. As an update to the first edition, this volume brings the presidential coverage up-to-date through much of President Clinton’s first term, and discusses the budget and economic problems of the 1980s and 1990s as well as the challenges brought about by the end of the Cold War. The first edition was one very large volume. The new edition is now in two more manageable volumes. Each volume has a complete table of contents and a complete, 47 page index. Each chapter has end notes and a bibliography of additional sources. The volumes are divided into seven main parts with two appendices that are referred to as reference materials. The first volume contains four parts and the second volume contains three parts and the reference materials. Part I covers the origins and development of the presidency. Part II discusses the selection and removal of the President. Part III focuses on the powers of the President. Part IV covers the topics of the President, the public and the development of political parties. Part V discusses the White House, its history, and the development of the executive branch. Part VI deals with the idea of the President as the chief executive and his role in the federal government as it relates to the Congress, the Supreme Court and the development of the federal bureaucracy. Part VII contains biographies and pictures of the Presidents and Vice Presidents. There is a final section that contains a variety of reference materials. Appendix A contains 44 documents ranging from the Declaration of Independence to Clinton’s 1996 State of the Union Address. The selection seems to include what the editor perceived to be the most important presidential documents. The section introduction refers to them as the top 40 documents. Most are from the twentieth century and have been edited because it was not the purpose of the volume to provide the complete text but to provide the part of the document that demonstrates a particular idea or event of importance in the development of the presidency. That information can be found in other sources. Appendix B contains information in tabular and graphical format, ranging from a list of the Presidents and Vice Presidents to time lines, to pertinent information about and events during each administration. One table of particular interest was the one that contained information about presidential cabinet members and other officials. A second notable table is the one that covers the political party nominees from 1831 to 1992. Minority candidates are included in this table. There is also a listing of sources for illustrations. These volumes are well written and very readable. Each chapter was prepared by a different individual, but due to the nature of the subjects this did not interfere with the flow of the volume. Because of the complexity of the office, particular facets were discussed in more than one chapter. This was usually referenced in the text so it is easy to find related materials. The authors used numerous pictures, graphs, facsimiles and other illustrations to make the work more useful and interesting. The authors made judicious use of boxes or sidebars to highlight important materials. Each chapter has its own select bibliography of additional sources. These are a gold mine of additional information on the U.S. presidency. The notes following each chapter provide not only credit for works cited but also outline additional information and sources of information about the subject. These two volumes provide excellent coverage of the presidency of the United States and its many facets as it has developed over the last 200-plus years. Owners of the first edition should consider updating their holdings; the information that has been added would make it worth the price. This work is a recommended purchase for all libraries, especially academic and school libraries. JO ANN BEEZLEY Government Documents Librarian Pittsburg State University Pittsburg, KS 66762 USA Government Information Xchange. Washington, www.info.gov
DC: General
Services Administration.
http://