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Worst. President. Ever.

James Buchanan, the POTUS Rating Game, and the Legacy of the Least of the Lesser Presidents

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Worst. President. Ever.

Written by: Robert Strauss
Narrated by: Tom Perkins
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About this listen

Worst. President. Ever. flips the great presidential biography on its head, offering an enlightening - and highly entertaining - account of poor James Buchanan's presidency to prove once and for all that, well, few leaders could have done worse.

But author Robert Strauss does much more, leading listeners out of Buchanan's terrible term in office - meddling in the Dred Scott Supreme Court decision, exacerbating the Panic of 1857, helping foment the John Brown uprisings and "Bloody Kansas", virtually inviting a half-dozen states to secede from the Union as a lame duck, and on and on - to explore with insight and humor his own obsession with presidents, and ultimately the entire notion of ranking our presidents. He guides us through the POTUS rating game of historians and others who have made their own Mount Rushmores - or Marianas Trenches - of presidential achievement, showing why Buchanan easily loses to any of the others, but also offering insights into presidential history buffs like himself, the forgotten "lesser" presidential sites, sex and the presidency, the presidency itself, and how and why it can often take the best measures out of even the most dedicated men.

©2016 Robert Strauss (P)2016 Tantor Biographies & Memoirs United States War of 1812 Witty American History
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What the critics say

"Strauss maintains a light tone, but doesn't sacrifice substance in offering solid historic detail and insights into American politics as the country careened toward civil war." ( Publishers Weekly)

What listeners say about Worst. President. Ever.

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Profile Image for Shaun Lynch

Not the worst biography ever… but not great either

This is a competent and reasonably informative biography of an American “leader” (few actually followed his lead) whose life all but defines the word “unremarkable.” There is so little to say about James Buchanan’s life and accomplishments that the author has effectively been required to produce two books in one: the biography making the case for Buchanan as the Worst. President. Ever. (eclipsed for that position by the incessant blunderings of president #45), and a more general text about the concept of presidential ratings. Both make for entertaining listens on long walks in the forest, but neither is ultimately satisfying. The biography falls short due to the inherent dullness of its subject. The analysis of the approaches to rating American presidents, on the other hand, would benefit from being expanded into a standalone book on its own.

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