Citizen in Chief

(Paperback)

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Description

Despite their colossal achievements as founding fathers, Jefferson, Madison, and Monroe all ended their lives impoverished and in debt.

Ulysses S. Grant saved his family from a life of penury by finishing his bestselling memoirs on the very eve of his death.

Having failed to address HIV-AIDS effectively as president, Bill Clinton directed groundbreaking efforts after leaving office to make life-saving AIDS drugs affordable.

In Citizen-in-Chief, Leonard Benardo and Jennifer Weiss examine the dramatic, little-known, sometimes inspiring, and often heartrending post-presidential lives of former Oval Office occupants. From the high-profile humanitarianism of Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton to the quiet achievements of Rutherford B. Hayes and Herbert Hoover, Citizen-in-Chief reveals that the true stories of great leaders are rarely complete once they leave the White House.

Reviews

"Appealing to both general readers and history geeks....[A] readable approach to a significant aspect of presidential history that doesn't always receive the treatment it deserves." -- Kirkus Reviews

"[A] remarkably revealing history....this well-researched, opinionated account does a fine job of filling a surprisingly empty historical niche." -- Publishers Weekly

"A lively, insightful, and illuminating examination of an underexamined yet influential American institution: the postpresidency. Benardo and Weiss show how our chief executives' 'second lives' are as diverse--and as rich in uplifting tales and cautionary ones--as their time at the pinnacle of power." -- Strobe Talbott, president, The Brookings Institution

"The afterlife of a president, a dimming of the spotlight and a final chance at buffing the reputation, can sometimes be more interesting than the presidency itself--at least it is in this engrossing book. Benardo and Weiss tell a fascinating tale." -- Richard Cohen, columnist, Washington Post

Author Bio

Leonard Bernardo is a former weekly columnist for the Brooklyn Daily Eagle. Jennifer Weiss has written for New York Newsday, and the Washington Post. They are the authors of Brooklyn by Name: How the Neighborhoods, Streets, Parks, Bridges and More Got Their Names. Husband and wife, they live in Brooklyn, NY.