Online Bookstore: PublicAffairs First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers, and Cheaters from Taft to Bush Book

PublicAffairs Best selling books from the top online bookstore offering First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers, and Cheaters from Taft to Bush book. Search our bookstore for books, First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers, and Cheaters from Taft to Bush book and used out of print books. Search a large selection of rare out-of-print books from your source for new, used and hard to find book titles from the top book authors and publishers including PublicAffairs.

from: PublicAffairs
See Larger Image
Customer Reviews
Average Rating: Rating: - Fore! Interesting angle. Using the sport and game of golf as the foundation to add insights and discuss the Presidents who played it. Author Van Natta Jr. brought forth an original avenue to bring a topic that is commonly written about (presidents) to light. Golf, the ever-increasing mainstream sport to the American public, is no longer stereotyped (falsely) that it's an elitist sport to play. In "First Off The Tee," there are many interesting facts about the habits of some of the commanders-in-chiefs that hit the greens. Bill Clinton took so many mulligan's the author called them "Billigans." He scored himself in the low 80s, similar to his idol JFK, but he literally took over 200 swings. Clinton played loosely with the rules, at times bending them to conform to his ends. Can the phenomena of how a person plays golf be taken and applied to political and administrative behaviour? Psycho-social analysis? Perhaps a dissertation has started somewhere regarding this. One President drank booze while golfing during prohibition. He also gambled on a every game. John F. Kennedy was an avid golpher, and fairly decent one at that, getting scores in the low 80s. But he did keep the fact that he played the game secret from the public. Gerald Ford played amateur tourneys and pinged the bystanders in the crowd from time to time. The author played with the likes of Clinton and George W. Bush. G. W. Bush could play through 18 holes in an hour and a half, while Clinton took six hours. (He liked to talk a lot more.) In the past, Presidents didnt' want to be photographed on the greens. Today it's acceptable, and perhaps even expected. 14 mini-biographies highlighting the lighter side of the Execs as men and the sport of golf. Very interesting. Rating: - the real deal This book is superb and here's why: Because no matter what the form -- novel, poetry, essays, history -- a successful piece of writing must tell you something new. As an avid reader of history and presidential biography, I subconsciously felt I had the 20th century's presidents nailed: Wilson was a tragically lofty prig, FDR a crippled Machiavelli, Nixon a man woefully uncomfortable in his own skin. But what Van Natta does, through golf of all things (and I'm no golf nut) is revitalize these men, bring them back alive through their comical passion for the little white ball. Wilson played EVERY day, rain, snow or shine? FDR designed dozens of golf courses? Taft blew off diplomatic appointments for his putter? Powered by Van Natta's adrenalized prose and exhaustive research, this finely-woven narrative gives an entirely fresh look at these men. And then it does more. The book's most publicized gotcha! is Van Natta's round with a cheatin' Bill Clinton, which, naturally, serves the purpose of right-wingers everywhere. Less noticed, though, is the insight Van Natta provides in the most revealing portrayal of Clinton yet. By showing Clinton's loosey-goose attitude toward the rules -- and the way he charms those around him into helping out with the bending -- Van Natta offers not only a subtle metaphor for Slick Willie's mindset during the Lewinsky mess. He also shows us why Clinton's approval ratings remained high throughout that mess, why as he puts it, "it's impossible to dislike the guy" even as Clinton is cheating you to your face, why the American public liked him in spite of -- or maybe even because of -- his peccadillos. It's a rare thing to get all this out of a sports book, but then again, we are a differnt nation now, a place where only a fool pays his rightful share of taxes -- and Billigans rule. Rating: - a bore This book is not only poorly written and boring..it also contains much of the same information that was in a much-better earlier book; "Presidential Lies: The Illustrated History of White House Golf" by Shep Campbell and Peter Landau. This book by Van Natta doesn't offer anything new or noteworthy and is not as exciting or amusing to read. Plus the author brags that he played with Clinton. So what? Clinton will play with just about any journalist who asks. For the real deal, definitely check out "Presidential Lies."

Featured Book Publisher: PublicAffairs

Find PublicAffairs books, First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers, and Cheaters from Taft to Bush and other related products from the top online bookstore. To find PublicAffairs books use the search box at the top left of the page.

Online Bookstore: PublicAffairs First Off the Tee: Presidential Hackers, Duffers, and Cheaters from Taft to Bush

Online Bookstore Home Page > Online Bookstore

© COPYRIGHT 2003 ALL RIGHTS RESERVED SHOP-4-BOOKSTORE.COM