Sunday, January 10, 2010

The Premise

As all of us tend to do, I sat down on January 1, 2010, and made a list of New Year's Resolutions. Not the kind that vow to lose twenty pounds, although I certainly could use it, or to exponential change my lifestyle, thought processes, or beliefs. No, to pledge that radical of a change has always seemed pointeless to me. Instead, my thought was to find things that I genuinely enjoy and revisited them.

At 47 years of age, I am not old but I certainly have lived. With two teenagers, two dogs, and a wonderful wife, along with all the obligation that adulthood has brought, simple pleasures tend to be burrowed under, still fresh enough to see, but without the time to unearth the gems that once were. As a result I have decided to read a book about every US President in the year 2010.

I graduated with a history degree from University of Missouri-St Louis in 1988 so I at least have a cursory knowledge of the subject but that certainly does not make me an expert, nor do I claim to be. The idea is to read a book, let everyone know what I thought of it, and hopefully gain some feedback on who I should read about next and why.

At times, I will read something that is not related to Presidents and I will chime in on that as well. The source for my books are as follows:

  1. The St Louis Public Library
  2. The Half Price Book Store in Dallas (courtesy of my Aunt Trula Skaggs)
  3. Barnes and Noble which is just a few miles from my house
  4. The occasional book fair or garage sale.
  5. Left Bank Books in St Louis
  6. Amazon.com

The criteria for choosing the books will be far from exact:

  1. They have to be about a US President, that is a given
  2. The book does not have to be a full biographical account. It can be about something specific that occurred during the Presidency (Bay Of Pigs as an example)
  3. Length is a determining factor. With 44 US Presidents and 52 weeks in a year, I can't read Team of Rivals with 944 pages, although I have and would like to read it.

So on with the reviews and most importantly, on too learning something new.

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3 comments:

  1. Jeff MansJanuary 10, 2010 at 10:06 AM

    Rhett,

    What a great idea! I'm a big fan of U.S. and Presidential history myself and can't wait to see what you read and your reviews of them. I just finished The Secret Lives Of The U.S. Presidents & the followup The Secret Lives Of The First Ladies by Cormac O'Brien. Both were easy reads and full of interesting little known facts. Will you be going in order of Presidency or be doing a shuffle? Either way, best of luck with this new blog and everything else in the new year!

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  2. Rhett OldhamJanuary 10, 2010 at 10:19 AM

    Jeff,

    NO particular order is the plan. right now I am focusing on the early 20th century Presidents. Any suggestions would be great.

    Take care and I hope you enjoy the reviews.

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  3. Clay RoseFebruary 20, 2010 at 6:18 PM

    Rhett -

    Even thought you aren't challeging anyone, I'm in. My normal pace is one book per week with about 5 or 6 extras throughout the course of a year. My bench is empty and I've been considering rereading books I've read in the past (something I've only ever done once). I've managed to squeeze a handful of recommedations out of friends and family in the early part of 2010, but that well has run dry.

    7 weeks are gone, 45 are left. There are 44 Presidents, so it will be a tight fit. Wish me luck. I'll be watching your posts to monitor your progress. I'm going to start with some guys you haven't read about yet.

    Your former student,
    Clay

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