Guide to the Presidency

The Guide to the Presidency is an extensive study of the most important office of the U.S. political system. Its two volumes describe the history, workings and people involved in this office from Washington to Clinton. The thirty-seven chapters of the Guide , arranged into seven distinct subject areas (ranging from the origins of the office to the powers of the presidency to selection and removal) cover every aspect of the presidency. Initially dealing with the constitutional evolution of the presidency and its development, the book goes on to expand on the history of the office, how the presidency operates alongside the numerous departments and agents of the federal bureaucracy, and how the selection procedure works in ordinary and special cicumstances. Of special interest to the reader will be the illustrated biographies of every president from Washington to the present day, and the detailed overview of the vice-presidents and first ladies of each particular office. Also included are two special appendices, one of which gathers together important addresses and speeches from the Declaration of Independence to Clinton's Inaugural Address, and another which provides results from elections and polls and statistics from each office. Special features include : * extensive footnotes and selected bibliographies at the end of each chapter * cross-referencing for every chapter * tables, documents and charts with explanatory headnotes * over 400 photographs * a complete index for each volume Thr Guide will appeal to students, teachers and the general reader alike. Its thorough yet accessible approach means that it works as a valuable research tool or simply as an all-encompassing reference piece. And because the scope of its focus is so broad, covering much more than the presidency in isolation, it will prive useful to teachers and students of political science, international affairs and to anyone whose course touches on American Studies.

Table of Contents:
Volume One 1. Origins and development of the Presidency 2. Selection and Removal of the President 3. Powers of the Presidency 4. The President, the Public, and the Parties Volume Two 5. The White House and the Executive Branch 6. Chief Executive and Federal Government 7. Biographies of the Presidents and Vice Presidents

Review :
'This sprawling collection of essays on all aspects of the American presidency ... puts in one place nearly all one would ever need to know. It partakes of the virtues of a competent textbook history of the office, a biographical survey of all who have served, and a statistical abstract.' - Times Literary Supplement