Presidential Campaigns From George Washington to George...

Book: Presidential Campaigns From George Washington to George Bush Author: Paul F. Boller Jr. Publisher: Oxford University Press Date: 2004 Pages: 479 The Author Paul F. Boller, Jr. was born on December 31, 1916 in Spring Lake, New Jersey. He received a B.A. degree in 1939 and a Ph.D. in 1947, both from Yale University. He served as a Japanese translator for the U.S. Navy from 1942 through 1946 and then as a civilian analyst for the Office of Naval Intelligence in Washington, D.C. He taught history as a professor at several universities, including Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas (1948-1966), the University of Texas at Austin (1963), Queens College in New York (summer of 1964), the University of Massachusetts at Boston†¦show more content†¦Much of the book is like this. The author also uses some words to describe people that you can only figure out if you lived in that era of time he was writing about or again if you knew about that time in history. He mention that President Lincoln had dropped McClellan in 1862 for having the â€Å"slows† (page 116). In this case â€Å"slows â€Å" means that he was slow to attack the enemy and not as aggressive as Lincoln wanted him to be. If you know a little about history then this book would be substantially more enjoyable. Otherwise you might end up looking up names and phrases all day long to figure out what the author is talking about. I personally enjoyed the book. It was a quick read and kept me entertained and wanting to read more. The author manages to keep the readers attention with just enough humor and a nice brief but informative campaign summary. Its short and sweet. Its funny to read about how little some things have changed and even how some things have gotten worse. These days the candidates have access to more of each others pasts and do not hesitate to expose even the dirtiest of things and use the dirtiest of tactics in order to be president. It will never again be the same as when George Washington became President of the United States. He didnt even want the job, â€Å"Washington, who was fifty six, had mixed feelings about the honor,†