We have to give David Greenberg credit for tackling one of the least colorful presidents, and doing so in the confines of the tightly-compact Schlesinger/Times Books series on American presidents. Greenberg does a decent job of trying to place Coolidge in the context of the party-constantly, get-rich-first attitudes of the 1920s. It's no wonder Coolidge was one of Reagan's idols, and would be an idol of virtually any small-government Republicans of the 21st century. Coolidge took laissez-faire attitudes to a ridiculous attitude, failing to respond even when vigorous government response was demanded to crises. Greenberg fairly points out that Coolidge was nowhere hear the corrupt personality Harding was, and suffered in part through a guilt by association. Greenberg also shows that the type of aloofness Coolidge specialized in was something that was demanded by Wall Street barons and main-street Americans alike. The author hints, without much debt, that such laisser-faire approaches paved the way for both the Wall Street crash and the rise of 1930s political crises that brought us World War 2. Unfortunately, the size of the biography does not let him adequately explore those themes that might make this a better book.