Combing Through the White House: Hair and Its Shocking Impact on the Politics, Private Lives, and Legacies of the Presidents
By (Author) Theodore Pappas
HarperCollins Focus
Harper Celebrate
5th March 2025
26th September 2024
United States
General
Non Fiction
Social and cultural history
Political leaders and leadership
973.099
Hardback
256
Width 186mm, Height 236mm, Spine 23mm
806g
Discover a fascinating and novel look at the U.S. presidents, the first families, and American historyall through the lens of hair. With meticulous detail, engaging storytelling, and full-color visuals, encyclopedia editor Theodore Pappas combs through American history, teasing out long-forgotten and little-known ways that hair has influenced the presidency and the public and private lives, personal scandals, and tragedies of the men and women who have occupied the White House.
Go deep into the history of such topics as:
This unique window into the past shines entertaining new light on the decisions, relationships, and tragedies that have shaped the role of the president and the place of the U.S. in the world. Whether you're interested in presidential trivia or historical mysteries, Combing Through the White House personalizes the past through an element of life we can all relate tohairgiving us new glimpses into our country and even ourselves.
'[W]acky and weird fun' * Publishers Weekly *
'A talented writer presents a uniquely entertaining and edifying cultural history of the U.S. presidency via hair... The delightful snippets of presidential and U.S. history that Pappas has assembled in this engaging book entertain and inform. A thoroughly fun read for a wide audience.' * Kirkus Reviews *
'Entrepreneurs see things that others miss. They leverage the past for a better tomorrow-and with his entrepreneurial approach to history, Theodore Pappas will help you see our country clearer, like wiping hair away from your eyes.' * Jason Feifer, editor in chief of Entrepreneur magazine and author of Build for Tomorrow *
'Theodore Pappas has written an erudite, witty, eminently charming book on a subject with surprising richness and depth. This is cultural history at its most entertaining, by turns moving and salacious. As Pappas ably demonstrates, a person's hair-especially when that person happens to be the most powerful man in the free world-is the product of so much more than a comb and a cut.' * Sudip Bose, editor of The American Scholar *
'Theodore Pappas's book does two things brilliantly. First, you'll learn surprising facts that will keep you busy at cocktail parties for the next century or two. Second, you'll see the world through a clarifying new lens. Because hair is everywhere. Hair weaves (sorry) its way into everything from politics, religion, literature, and identity. You'll never look at history-or the protein filaments on the top of people's heads-the same way again.' * A. J. Jacobs , New York Times bestselling author of The Know-It-All and The Year of Living Biblically *
'With his novel perspective, engaging prose, and entertaining eye for detail, Theodore Pappas has combed through the White House and teased out moving, little-known tales about our 'heads of state,' First Families, and country at large. Documentary producers would be wise to take note.' * Karen and Howard Baldwin, producers of the Academy Award-winning film Ray *
Theodore Pappas has served as the Executive Editor of Encyclopaedia Britannica for 25 years. His writings have been taught, anthologized, as well as discussed and published in publications such as the New York Times, Chicago Tribune, Wall Street Journal, London Spectator, The American Scholar, The New Yorker, Vanity Fair, and History Magazine. He has appeared multiple times on the NBC Today Show as well as on CBS Evening News, CBS Sunday Morning, CNN, Fox News radio and television, NPRs All Things Considered, and BBC Radio. He has written several books, the latest being True Grit: Classic Tales of Perseverance.