Presidential Biographies
So, along with being a big reader, I’m a bit of a history dork. I love a good, long, extensive biography. A few years ago, right as the pandemic began, I really dove into audiobooks loving their convenience, especially my ability to both consume a book and cook at the same time (something that’s very difficult and messy with a physical book). I was aimlessly listening to various books I’d always meant to get to (the list of classic works I hadn’t read were quite frankly embarrassing), when I started to listen to biographies of famous historical figures. I immediately in love. I loved the breath and depth of the work, the narrative structures the writers used, and the inspiration (and anger) these works inspired in me. I do not believe I would be a writer today if it weren’t for many of these biographies and the brilliant individuals who wrote them.
During this period my father told me about a colleague of his who had set out to read a biography of every president of the United States. Naturally this idea appealed to me. It was a goal, a solitary contest. It was like running a marathon but without the shin splints.
I should mention that at this point in my life I felt rather rudderless. I’d fallen in love, gotten sober, quit smoking, finished school, learned to cook, found a job, but something was missing. In the end, I would fill that hole with writing, but first there would be biographies.
They were something to discuss about at social functions. Safety valves for me to fall back on when my friends and family talked of their career successes. This may sound silly, but these things are important for someone who was in the position I was – nearing thirty with seemingly little to show for it after a decade thrown away through alcoholism.
It turns out other people don’t find random facts about presidents nearly as interesting as I do, but the people in my life were good sports about it and indulged my obsession. Given my work schedule (which often involved data entry where I could listen as I worked) and speeding up the audiobooks (I might’ve missed some stuff if we’re being honest), I got through the biographies in a year. Some were excellent, some were terrible, some were just ok. Some surprised me, some left me wanting more, but I’m glad I listened to them all.
I took some notes as I went and over the next 45 weeks (yes, its 45 Grover Cleveland was both the 22nd and 24th president making him a great trivia question), I will let you know the biography (or biographies in a few instances when I went with a multivolume selection) I read and a very short review of the book. I’ll try to include one fun (or not so fun) fact about each president so you can have something to say at your next party (but be prepared for people to not care). I hope you follow me on this journey and please comment or get in touch if you have questions or want to yell at me about something.
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History is an important thing. I increasingly worry that we are losing our connection to the past. We often tend to over glorify or condemn it and in doing either, we tend to destroy it. There’s both good and bad in every person and in every time period. I hope that over the next 45 weeks I can spark an interest in history for you or, at the very least, you can get some fun facts and trivia answers.