Our country's presidents: A complete encyclopedia of the U. S. Presidency by Ann Bausum

 It's very tricky to publish up-to-date books on political or contemporary events and people. No sooner have they gone to press, than people get arrested, do something horrible, change careers, or... you get the idea. I generally prefer to stick with online resources for current events, but I do like to have a few titles on hand, especially if they can put current events into historical perspective.

The 2020 edition of National Geographic's Our Country's Presidents does an excellent job of updating, including perspective, and of course lots of fun information. The profiles of each president include their basic information and historical context (opponents, birth and death, number of states added, first ladies, and landmarks, among other things) and a thoughtful discussion of their term of office. Bausum includes the negative aspects of their time in office as well as the positive and presents nuanced portraits that do not shy away from harsh realities, like Washington's slave ownership or McKinley's censorship of news. I was especially interested to see how Bausum deals with Trump's presidency, which was drawing to a close as this book went to press, and she did an excellent job. She presents an unbiased and measured view of this controversial president and, as in the profiles of other presidents does not shy away from presenting the negative aspects of his presidency without resorting to personal attacks or his own personality.

In addition to the profiles of each president, there are numerous discussions of US history throughout the book, adding context to the terms of each president and explaining in more detail processes like impeachment. There are statistics about the presidents and vice presidents, explanations of political parties from the past to the present, and discussions of presidents during wars and in times of peace.

Verdict: An excellent and reliable resource, this is well worth purchasing to update your collection and, when matched with current online resources, is a good choice for schools to use in discussing US government and history leading up to current events. Recommended.

ISBN: 9781426371998; Published January 2021 by National Geographic; Review copy provided by publisher; Donated to the library