Dead presidents : an American adventure into the strange deaths and surprising afterlives of our nation's leaders

Title:

Author:

Carlson, Brady, author.

Personal Author:

Carlson, Brady, author.

ISBN:

9780393243932

Edition:

First edition.

Physical Description:

xii, 324 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Contents:

Monument man -- Well-timed exits -- The first patient -- Farewell, Mr. President -- Death trips -- His good name -- Robots and sphinxes -- Unintended legacies -- Eternal flame -- The rest of the set -- Family reunion.

Abstract:

An exploration of the death stories of American presidents, and the wild ways that have been chosen to memorialize them, shares the surprising origins of landmark monuments and what they reveal about American history and culture.

Subject Term:

Presidents -- Biography.

Presidents -- Death.

Summary:

Holds:

Available:*

Library	Material Type	Shelf Number	Status
Searching... East End	Book	973.099 C84	Searching... Unknown
Searching... West End	Book	973.099 C84	Searching... Unknown

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Summary

To public radio host and reporter Brady Carlson, the weighty responsibilities of being president never end. As Carlson sees it, the dead presidents (and the ways we remember them) tell us a great deal about ourselves, our history, and how we imagine our past and future. For American presidents, there is life after death--it's just a little weird.

In Dead Presidents, Carlson takes readers on an epic trip to presidential gravesites, monuments, and memorials from sea to shining sea. With an engaging mix of history and contemporary reporting, Carlson recounts the surprising origin stories of the Washington Monument, Mount Rushmore, Grant's Tomb, and JFK's Eternal Flame. He explores whether William Henry Harrison really died of a cold, how the assassin's bullet may not have been what killed James A. Garfield, and why Zachary Taylor's remains were exhumed 140 years after he died. And he explains the strange afterlives of the presidents, including why "Hooverball" is still played in Iowa, why Millard Fillmore's final resting place is next to that of funk legend Rick James, why "Who's buried in Grant's Tomb?" became a running gag for Groucho Marx, why Ohio and Alaska fought for so long over the name of Mt. McKinley (now known as Denali), and why we exalt dead presidents not just with public statues and iconic paintings but with kitschy wax dummies, Halloween costumes, and bobblehead dolls.

With an infectious passion for history and an eye for neglected places and offbeat characters reminiscent of Tony Horwitz and Sarah Vowell, Carlson shows that the ways we memorialize our presidents reveal as much about us as it does about the men themselves.

Reviews (1)

Kirkus Review

What dead American presidents reveal "about ourselves, our history, and how we imagine our past and future." In his spirited debut book, Carlson, host of NPR's Weekend Edition for New Hampshire Public Radio, looks at the curious ways that presidents have been commemoratedby buildings and tombs, statues and libraries, and even bars and gift shops. Some presidents (George Washington and Calvin Coolidge, for example) resisted being celebrated. "It is a great advantage to a President," Coolidge wrote in his autobiography, "and a major source of safety to the country, for him to know he is not a great man." Not all were so modest. John Tyler was "the first presidential pariahand the first president the House considered impeaching"; yet he longed to be remembered as a great man, appointing a literary executor to review and eventually publish his papers. Franklin Roosevelt was the first president to establish his own library, setting a model for every successor. Besides millions of documents, letters, and government papers, the library contains his stamp collection and a papier-mch Sphinx made to lampoon him when he refused to reveal if he would run for a third term. In the Lyndon Baines Johnson Presidential Library and Museum, a life-size robotic version of Johnson "stands behind a podiumand cracks jokes." Along his exuberant journey, Carlson found whole cities devoted to presidential celebration: in Buffalo, which claims connections to Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, and Teddy Roosevelt, a downtown pub is called Founding Fathers, where patrons can order a "Hail to the Chef!" sandwich. Rapid City, South Dakota, near Mount Rushmore, calling itself "the most patriotic city in America," features a complete set of life-size presidential statues. Mount Rushmore itself, the enthusiastic author learned, "was designed not to be an icon of American identity buta tourist trap" meant to draw visitors to the Black Hills. A brisk, lighthearted travelogue with an exuberant guide. Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.