'Crisp and witty' Charles Moore, Spectator

'A brilliant survey of the occupants of the Oval Office' Daniel Johnson, Article

'Witty and succinct with splendid caricatures' Tibor Fischer, Critic


A spirited and entertaining aide-memoire offering 44 short, fascinating accounts of each president, from George Washington and Abraham Lincoln to Barack Obama and Donald Trump, bringing the United States' political history to life as never before.

Who can name the eight presidents before Lincoln, or the eight presidents after him? Historians tend to shed light on just a handful of leaders: Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and perhaps half a dozen others within living memory, leaving at least 30 holders of office if not in total darkness, then at least in deep shadow.

Helping to bring these forgotten figures into the light, Andrew Gimson's illuminating accounts are accompanied by sketches from Guardian sartirical cartoonist, Martin Rowson, making this the perfect gift for all lovers of history and politics - the experienced and the novice, the serious and the silly.


The Sunday Times bestselling Gimson's Prime Ministers and Gimson's Kings & Queens are also available.

An illuminating account of the lives of each President of the United States, illustrated by Martin Rowson.

About the Author
Andrew Gimson is the author of Boris: The Rise of Boris Johnson, published by Simon & Schuster in 2006 and described as 'brilliant', 'scintillating' and 'an effervescent delight'. He writes for a wide range of newspapers and magazines, and is a contributing editor to ConservativeHome.com. He lives in London. Martin Rowson is an award-winning political cartoonist whose work appears regularly in the Guardian, the Independent, the Daily Mirror, the Scotsman, Tribune, Index on Censorship and Granta. His previous publications include comic-book adaptations of The Waste Land and Tristram Shandy, as well as Gimson's Kings & Queens by Andrew Gimson. His first novel, Snatches, was published by Cape in 2006.

Reviews
This is history at its liveliest and most enjoyable. Most presidential biographies are abominably long-winded and reverential. With miniaturist wit and precision, Gimson manages to compress all the salient facts about each president into five or six pages, while offering beautifully crafted insights into their characters and temperaments ... There is something fascinating or funny on every page -- Craig Brown * Mail on Sunday *
Witty and succinct with splendid caricatures * Tibor Fischer *
Brilliant -- Matt Chorley
Terrific -- John Rentoul
Andrew Gimson's hugely enjoyable collection of biographies of the 44 US Presidents (not 45, I have learned) is rendered all the more fun, as his books ever are, by Martin Rowson's cartoons. * Tom Holland *



Book Information
ISBN 9781529110012
Author Andrew Gimson
Format Hardback
Page Count 320
Imprint Square Peg
Publisher Vintage Publishing
Weight(grams) 425g
Dimensions(mm) 222mm * 144mm * 31mm