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Oval Office Oddities: An Irreverent Collection of Presidential Facts, Follies, and Foibles
Every four years Americans go to the polls to elect a leader—a personage of unimpeachable sobriety and moral standing who will serve as a paragon for the rest of us. But truth be told, presidents and their families are people too—with quirks and character flaws like everyone else . . . and plenty of skeletons rattling around in their closets. Oval Office Oddities is a grand compendium of fascinating, sometimes embarrassing presidential facts, gaffes, and oddball behaviors—available in plenty of time for Election Day! White House Whoopee: We've all heard about the dalliances of Clinton and Kennedy—but what were Washington, Jefferson, FDR, and Ike doing behind closed doors? America's Imelda: Mary Todd Lincoln had an endearing little clothing fetish . . . and once purchased 300 pairs of gloves in a single month! Go West, Young Prez: "California Dreamin'" was not a top presidential priority . . . since no Commander in Chief bothered to visit the neglected coast until Rutherford B. Hayes did in 1880. Crazy Jack: Many prominent leaders were absolutely convinced that John Adams was stark raving bonkers!
341 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2008
8 people are currently reading
55 people want to read
About the author
Bill Fawcett
122 books42 followersBill Fawcett has been a professor, teacher, corporate executive, and college dean. His entire life has been spent in the creative fields and managing other creative individuals. He is one of the founders of Mayfair Games, a board and role-play gaming company. As an author, Fawcett has written or coauthored over a dozen books and dozens of articles and short stories. As a book packager, a person who prepares series of books from concept to production for major publishers, his company, Bill Fawcett & Associates, has packaged more than 250 titles for virtually every major publisher. He founded, and later sold, what is now the largest hobby shop in Northern Illinois.
Fawcett’s first commercial writing appeared as articles in the Dragon magazine and include some of the earliest appearances of classes and monster types for Dungeons & Dragons. With Mayfair Games he created, wrote, and edited many of the Role Aides role-playing game modules and supplements released in the 1970s and 1980s. During this period, he also designed almost a dozen board games, including several Charles Roberts Award (gaming's Emmy) winners, such as Empire Builder and Sanctuary.
Fawcett’s first commercial writing appeared as articles in the Dragon magazine and include some of the earliest appearances of classes and monster types for Dungeons & Dragons. With Mayfair Games he created, wrote, and edited many of the Role Aides role-playing game modules and supplements released in the 1970s and 1980s. During this period, he also designed almost a dozen board games, including several Charles Roberts Award (gaming's Emmy) winners, such as Empire Builder and Sanctuary.
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Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews
September 9, 2017
Interesting titbits about the presidency, nothing particularly new, and the book was in need of editing - the writing was rather sloppy.
March 16, 2008
Author/editor/packager Bill Fawcett has produced a marvelous collection of facts surrounding the Presidency.
Although it is a worthy successor of the earlier works he edited such as It Seemed Like a Good Idea and You said What?, this work is different in two respects. First, it is largely Fawcett's own work instead of being a compilation. Second, the vignettes are usually much shorter ... typically only a paragraph or two, instead of the two to four pages that characterized his earlier works. There are a few chapter-length sections in the book written by other people such as Frank Resnick and Douglas Niles. When you realize that this book runs almost 350 pages, you can see just how much juicy information is packed into this new work.
History and trivia buffs will have a field day with this book. For example, which President was able to write with both hands at the same time, one hand in Latin and the other in Greek? Which one of the founding fathers called the vice-presidency "an unnecessary position" during the drafting of the constitution and later ended up as - you guessed it - vice-president? Which President put out biscuits in the Oval Office every evening for a family of mice that paid him a regular visit at dusk? Which President actually died as a result of the medical efforts to save is life? Which two of the above four men are actually the same person?
The follies of this or any other Presidential campaign season remind us that so much has gone before. Read all about it in this latest masterpiece from Bill Fawcett.
(Disclaimer here: I have known Bill for more than 20 years and consider him and his wife Jody to be good friends. But I DO believe both of them are really good authors.)
Although it is a worthy successor of the earlier works he edited such as It Seemed Like a Good Idea and You said What?, this work is different in two respects. First, it is largely Fawcett's own work instead of being a compilation. Second, the vignettes are usually much shorter ... typically only a paragraph or two, instead of the two to four pages that characterized his earlier works. There are a few chapter-length sections in the book written by other people such as Frank Resnick and Douglas Niles. When you realize that this book runs almost 350 pages, you can see just how much juicy information is packed into this new work.
History and trivia buffs will have a field day with this book. For example, which President was able to write with both hands at the same time, one hand in Latin and the other in Greek? Which one of the founding fathers called the vice-presidency "an unnecessary position" during the drafting of the constitution and later ended up as - you guessed it - vice-president? Which President put out biscuits in the Oval Office every evening for a family of mice that paid him a regular visit at dusk? Which President actually died as a result of the medical efforts to save is life? Which two of the above four men are actually the same person?
The follies of this or any other Presidential campaign season remind us that so much has gone before. Read all about it in this latest masterpiece from Bill Fawcett.
(Disclaimer here: I have known Bill for more than 20 years and consider him and his wife Jody to be good friends. But I DO believe both of them are really good authors.)
April 11, 2010
Fun to read, and it's especially good for those who'd love to know more about what really went on in our Presidency's past. Who knew Thomas Jefferson wore old, smelly coats, or that Teddy Roosevelt made dignitaries go through obstacle courses of his own making? I also think it'd be a great book for younger people, to get them interested in American history as well. George Washington seems a lot less boring when you learn he was 6 feet tall and liked his Madeira.
October 5, 2008
The humor is clever, and it made me cackle more than a couple of times. That's what this book is though, just a cackle. Irrelevant presidential info is what you'll get in this book. There is a good description of the different wars our country has been part of, short, but to the point.
December 6, 2012
An entertaining and fascinating compendium of Presidential facts. This is a great recommendation for people just starting to take an interest in learning about American history, but is just as enjoyable for the American History buff. Bill Fawcett's books are always a hit with me.
January 31, 2015
Pretty interesting collection of quirky presidential facts. A bit scattered in terms of content, though. I wish it had more flow to it. And I noticed a couple of typos, which was annoying. But, an interesting read for anyone who likes US history.
July 30, 2008
Interesting factoids about all the presidents, some were rather disturbing! For example JFK was constantly treated for STDs and Nixon would sign notes to his daughter and wife "From The President".
April 11, 2011
Moderately interesting collection of random presidential facts. Not the best in the bunch and I wish I had read a real bio instead.
July 8, 2015
Considering I am not aware of how the US political system works, I am not sure why I read these types of books.
That aside, I like this book, it was a interesting read
That aside, I like this book, it was a interesting read
August 26, 2015
there were a lot of interesting facts though
Read
July 11, 2016Fun easy read
May 1, 2015
intersting read about the presidents,lots of odd facts & stories!
Displaying 1 - 12 of 12 reviews