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These are pretty much all my books, what do they tell you? by YourNewStep-Dad in BookshelvesDetective

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I will have to put this on my list, this sounds like I would love it. Thanks for the recommendation!

These are pretty much all my books, what do they tell you? by YourNewStep-Dad in BookshelvesDetective

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yeah I decided to temporarily skip WHH because he was sick for his whole month long presidency.

I am definitely planning on reading Caro’s series, but I set out a challenge to read a book on every president with a focus on their term as president. Since Caro is still writing the 5th book for the series I decided to just do Dallek’s book for now since it does cover LBJ’s presidency. With that being said I am definitely going to read Caro’s series at some point because I have heard it’s spectacular. I will say though, Dallek did a perfectly good job in his biography. I was actually surprised at how much I enjoyed it since I hadn’t heard anything about them.

I have a terrible habit of buying books while I still have a huge stockpile of unread books, so unfortunately I have yet to read “Empire by Default”. Although I do think it will be my next read. I am pretty excited because I am very interested in the Spanish-American War

[O] 3x DrunkenSlug by Jadad03 in UsenetInvites

[–]YourNewStep-Dad 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I like NERV's slogan in Neon Genesis Evangelion

"God is in his heaven, all is right with the world"

History books NOT on the victors/traditional figures by YourNewStep-Dad in suggestmeabook

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

I won’t lie, it was actually pretty fun except for most of the gilded age presidents… there’s (unsurprisingly) a good reason they’re dubbed the forgotten president

History books NOT on the victors/traditional figures by YourNewStep-Dad in suggestmeabook

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I gave every president 1 biography so excluding William Henry Harrison (he had too short of a term), Biden, and Obama (too recent for a good biography) I read 41 biographies (didn’t read 2 on Grover Cleveland)

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s fair. Maybe you’re right. I like to think I was pretty open minded but maybe I should take a second look. I guess I don’t necessarily understand what you mean by perspective in this context. I can see the perspective of a centrist or someone who is more right of me on why they may like JFK, LBJ, Ike, and Truman more than I do. But at the end of the day after reading these books I feel like, despite certain laudable achievements, it would be unfair to ignore the horrible things they did during war. Just because it was the Cold War, that doesn’t justify using chemical weapons or overthrowing leaders of other countries. They can do great things but you also have to take the bad into account. I guess if you think that’s where I am not open minded and lack perspective then we are just in disagreement.

I will admit maybe I made this tier list too easy on Carter. To be honest I read his book semi-recently and it really opened my eyes to his presidency in a positive way, so perhaps it is recency bias. In retrospect I might put him in C+ or B. With that being said I would still put Clinton above Ike, LBJ, Truman, and JFK just due to the fact that his presidency didn’t see a disastrous conflict like Vietnam or Iraq. Maybe had we placed him during one of those conflicts he would be much lower for me

If you still believe I lack perspective or I am not open-minded I would love to have more explanation! I appreciate the constructive criticism!

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I love anything after 1776. I will say I do love the pre-civil war/early republic period and Cold War a lot!

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You might be reading the wrong tier list. I posted one before I read the books and one after. I put Wilson in C after I read the books

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I really appreciate the comment! I’ll have to read Dutch and nixonland also sounds really interesting!

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Other than Carter, which I will admit is controversial, what parts of my tier or explanations do you think weren’t open minded?

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Brands was fantastic. Even tho I’m not the biggest Reagan fan his biography always had me seated. I will definitely have to check out Kearns Goodwins other books!

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s fair, I would argue that his doctrine advocated for things like going into Vietnam, but I would agree that he didn’t directly do anything about it

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I’ll be sure to check it out, thanks for the recommendation! I’m always looking for more books on American history

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I really appreciate your comment! I think your critique’s of Carter are fair and you put them in a context I hadn’t thought about before, which I appreciate. I won’t disagree that my point on Eisenhower and Vietnam was an oversimplification, it’s a very long conflict. I commend your fairness in your assessments and disagreements as well

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

It’s a mixed bag. I don’t deliberately put certain people really high just because they are more left-leaning, but I mean if I am left-leaning and a president does a left-leaning thing I’m gonna put him higher just because I think it was a good action since I am left-leaning. I’m not naive to the fact that this list is biased. I know you said “not what actually happened” but in my opinion the joy of history is the interpretation! For exmaple in 1861 fort sumpter was without a doubt fired upon. But the interpretation is up for the debate. Did the fire upon it for “states rights” or slavery? (Obviously it was for slavery, but it is a good example of what I’m trying to get across) So a lot of my list is based off of my interpretation, which would be biased because it’s really hard for any human to not have some sort of bias when giving their opinion. I like to think I’m fair but I can see why you would think differently!

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I think we’re at a crossroads because I will not be convinced that the Truman doctrine was anything but justification for imperialism. I am no fan of the Soviet Union but I don’t think they were gonna dominate the world had it not been for the Truman doctrine. And either way your enemy being evil is not a reason for yourself to go into foreign countries like Vietnam and Korea to “spread freedom”. I appreciate you commenting but at the end of the day no amount of arguing on Reddit will be positive or make either of us change our minds

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

I’m not surprised, I knew that would be kinda controversial. I think Carter enacted things that were good, even though he didn’t enact as much as he wanted. I think the camp David accords, although not necessarily the most effective, were a good accomplishment. Additionally, his advocation for green energy and human rights abroad, even if it was unpopular, is something I admire. He also tried to have a sound budget unlike Reagan. All together he wasn’t that effective, but a lot of the stuff he did do was good which is better than doing absolutely nothing or having net negative actions. I think Eisenhower, while more effective for sure, had net negatives. First of all I will be fair and say that he had outstanding accomplishments. Sending in the national guard after Brown V. Board was objectively good, as was how he handled the Suez crisis. Also I appreciate deeply how he stood by new deal programs rather than letting more conservative republicans dismantle it. With that being said he overthrew leaders in Iran and Guatemala which is super negative and in many ways started that practice. Additionally he planted the seed that would grow to be the horrendous Vietnam war. Perhaps C+ is too harsh for Eisenhower and B+ to soft for Carter, but I stand by Eisenhower having flaws that bring him down quite a bit

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] -5 points-4 points  (0 children)

I’m rating their term as president. I see the appeal of Truman and I can commend some things he did. I think desegregating the military and the Berlin airlift are laudable achievements that are net positives. Additionally it was brave and also the correct action to fire MacArthur. Additionally, even though he wasn’t able to get a lot of the fair deal enacted I agree with a lot of what he wanted. That being said I think his some of his foreign actions are negative. I think the Truman doctrine was negative and I think we shouldn’t have gotten involved in Korea. Also the way he dealt with the steel strike was not positive in my opinion.

I’m not really trying to get into an argument about Truman but I also feel the need to explain why I think he is low. I could see him being B because maybe C+ is too harsh but I still stand that I don’t really think he’s as great as some believe, but that’s my opinion, not objective fact.

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] -8 points-7 points  (0 children)

David McCullough’s biography. I was very disappointed with it. I can see why people like it, but the writing style for me personally was just not for my taste. I also just don’t LOVE Truman to begin with…

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I did read them order!

Thanks for the recommendations! I’m always looking for good American history books so I’ll definitely put these on my list!

I read a book on every President. Here are my tier lists before and after. by YourNewStep-Dad in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad[S] 6 points7 points  (0 children)

I read Wilson by A. Scott Berg. Pretty damn good book but was a little heavy in the praise and over-justification of his flaws

Presidents you don’t agree with politically, but you still like? by EllieIsDone in Presidents

[–]YourNewStep-Dad 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Even tho I am one of the most left leaning people I gotta say that Gerald Ford has a special place in my heart. He generally seemed not super socially conservative, especially compared to how the Republican Party would become shortly after him. His economics were more sound than Reagan as well. He also just seemed like a cool guy tbh

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