Chronology of the U.s. Presidency

Four volumes present 44 presidents in 44 chapters, for high school level students and above and general readers. In the first volume an essay by editor Manwell (political science, Central Washington U.) describes this reference's organization and rationale and introduces readers to historical background in terms of the growth of the American presidency, the rise of the administrative state, the growth of the presidential staff, the rise of the national security state, and the use of "inherent" powers. At the heart of each chapter is a detailed chronological narrative of the presidency under consideration, supported by a structured presentation of basic statistics, a biographical essay, first family biographies, brief profiles of cabinet members, primary source documents, and a bibliography. Indexing is in the fourth volume. Annotation c2012 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Mathew Manweller, PhD, is associate professor of political science at Central Washington University, Ellensburg.