Purpose and objectives

My intention is to return this blog to what it was intended for, an exploration of various presidents and the biographies that have been written about them. There are 45 presidents and ex-presidents; two of them have served in separated terms. All kinds of things have been written about them.

Biographies can roughly be divided into autobiographies and biographies by others. With Jackson, there was a biography of him only as a soldier. Similarly, Carter's autobiography was only about his childhood and not about his presidency. This seems to illustrate that there are partial biographies and autobiographies.

They can also be classified based on objectivity. Some readers have pointed out that some biographers are more sympathetic to their subject than others. Meacham's name came up when it came to always being on the president's side. Meacham wrote one about Jackson but also did several others in different eras.

Some books can be best described as tangential. A relative of ours wrote one about MacArthur and Truman than I would consider tangential. His specialty was their showdown. It was therefore about them, but not only about them, and about the presidency, not really about his life.

I vow to use this blog for this kind of thing, not the other. God help me.

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