Star-Spangled Men: America's Ten Worst Presidents

In Star-Spangled Men, presidential biographer Nathan Miller compiles a subjective list of the 10 crummiest presidents in history. His criteria for ignominy: "bad character, the inability to compromise, a lack of vision, poor political skills, dishonesty, and an inability to communicate." Richard Nixon and Andrew Johnson are obvious choices, Jimmy Carter and William Howard Taft somewhat less so, though probably deserving according to Miller. Many readers probably can find a selection or two to quarrel with on these pages (Is Calvin Coolidge really one of the 10 worst?), but nonetheless will appreciate Miller's candid assessments. (The most controversial part of the book is certainly its brief epilogue, which details "the two most overrated presidents": Thomas Jefferson and John F. Kennedy.) Miller provides 10 neat summaries of 10 arguable failures in this good bit of opinionated writing that turns the klieg lights on some of American history's dimmer stars.