FREE: White House: Confidential Paperback Book

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In the introduction to this book on presidential sinners and scofflaws, Greg Stebben poses the following questions: "Are we, the people, really this callous? Petty? Shallow? Or easily amused?" Stebben and his coauthor, Jim Morris, are betting that we, the people, are all of the above. This book is packed with trashy tidbits and lighthearted hearsay. Although the authors admit that "this work contains absolutely no groundbreaking or earth-shattering new research on the behavior of presidents past or present," much of this "information" will be new to many readers. Most people probably have an inkling that John F. Kennedy had an extramarital affair or two, but may not know that Richard Nixon once worked as a carnival barker. According to Stebben and Morris, President Calvin Coolidge enjoyed having petroleum jelly slathered on his head while he ate breakfast in bed; Coolidge believed it was good for his health. Some factoids in this book are fun; others are just factoids. For example, it was not astonishing to learn that Ronald Reagan believes that knocking on wood is good luck. The authors devote chapters of the book to presidential scandals, tempers, fatalities, and money problems. A presidential "scorecard" near the middle of the book shows readers at a glance which presidents cheated on their wives and who their mistresses were. Stebben and Morris rank the presidents according to their entertainment value, which makes Warren Harding a winner and George Washington a big loser in their book. Harding had mistresses, scandals, and a corruption-ridden administration; Washington was noble. The authors' central point is that presidential eccentricity and scandal are not a new development but have been part of the history of the presidency all along. --Jill Marquis