I love books that profile the Presidents and there are many different angles to be explored out there. Here is yet another entry that says it deals with "secret lives." A bit of a teaser that line as one may think we have some very intriguing and unknown tales between the covers. Well kind of, what we get is a synopsis of what their terms produced, mostly common knowledge. But after this, topics are brought up unique to each man (yep still all men) some which has been out there before and some new uncovered material.

In chronological order we see the blemishes and peccadillos of each and every one exposed for what they were or did. I'm don't know anything of Cormac O'Brien (could he be related to Conan?)but one does soon enough get a glimpse into his political orientation particularly toward our more recent occupants. President Obama portrayed as an all round cool guy. El Presidente Donald, not so much. In fact he provides quite a buffet of venom venting here. In general a fun read with insights into the oh so real people that took up the mantle. ( )

I read this book because I wanted a quick guide to the lives and personalities of the lesser known presidents, and that's exactly what it provides -- useful and very short biographical sketches of ALL the presidents. It doesn't provide much in the way of big secrets, except for the even worse than one expected philandering of some recent occupants of the office; for many presidents, "secret" lives simply equals personal lives. But that's no problem, the book gave me what I wanted. It's interesting amusing, and a very quick and easy read. Look elsewhere for profundity. ( )

There's a very funny personal story about Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents, one that's far better than any review I could possibly post, so I'll lead off with it.

A good friend of mine, who was a contestant on Jeopardy! back in 2005, kept this book in her bathroom. (Better reading than Playboy, I suppose.) When I was selected to be a Jeopardy! contestant myself in 2012, she advised me that one of the categories that most frequently came up was the U.S. Presidents. And since my head is a black hole when it comes to most bits of U.S. history, I decided to pick this book up myself to help study for my appearance.

As it turns out, I never did get any Presidents categories on the show. But I found the book to be a quick and informative (if not nearly as scandalous) read as was promised. Some Presidents, it turns out, just have a more fascinating history than others. But despite the fact that the material didn't always live up to the promise, I can tell you that it did help me grasp a better understanding of our nation's leaders and how they fit together as a tapestry, as opposed to just rote memorization of who held office when and for how long.

If only Alex had decided to query me about American History as opposed to Latin American History...

As a U.S History teacher, this book makes a great way to "hook" students in when teaching about all the Presidents. Some of the information is well know, but each has something you may not know, that the history books leave out. Very humorous stories will get your attention about our country's leaders. ( )