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Title: Great Presidential Wit...I Wish I Was in the Book: A Collection of Humorous Anecdotes and Quotations by Bob Dole ISBN: 0-7432-0392-5 Publisher: Scribner Pub. Date: 20 January, 2001 Format: Hardcover Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 3.77 (13 reviews)
Rating: 4
Summary: Anecdotes and witticisms that add a human touch
Comment: After the success of "Great Political Wit", Senator Dole followed up with this book. It is a book full of witty sayings of and anecdotes about our Presidents. He has grouped the Presidents from the wittiest descending to the point of having good stories about those Presidents that weren't particularly funny. Mr. Dole even provides his own ranking of the Presidents as wits from #1 - Lincoln down to #41 - poor Millard Fillmore.
These stories and witty sayings are generally quite good. Some you will want to remember. He even has a last section on George W. Bush and Al Gore. You will remember some of these from your own reading of the news and watching Letterman and Leno.
What I like about these little stories is the human touch they add to the too often formal and impersonal view we have of our Presidents. We see their pictures, memorize a couple of dates and maybe some key legislation or war during their time in office and that will be it. We seldom get to know them as people. These stories, in just a few sentences, show their character and view of themselves, their time, and the world in which they lived. Sure, too much can be made of them. But they do add something useful and a chuckle or two never hurt anyone's day.
This is a bit larger volume than the first book, but it doesn't read long. And, like the first one, it is fun to just dip into now and again.
Rating: 4
Summary: Who knew Silent Cal was such a funny guy?
Comment: I really enjoyed reading Senator Bob Dole's entertaining look at the humor of the American presidents from George Washington to the present. While this book is certainly entertaining, it is also instructive in its own little way. Some former presidents seem to exist in name only, if that, in today's world, and Dole's little collection of quips and stories actually brings a little life into these important men of history. While Dole does not explore the agendas and politics of each president, the sense of personality that comes through in the case of even the most inscrutable of our top public servants is often rather informative. A sense of humor, while far from a qualification for the office, can be a great aid to any president, and Dole emphasizes the point that our greatest presidents have possessed both a funny bone and backbone. Each president gets his own little section of the book, wherein Dole has assembled a number of presidential quotes and stories alongside a number of comments made by politicians and humorists about each president in turn. I can't say that every reference here is funny, but there are some amazingly good zingers included, and I, as a whole, found this book highly entertaining. Dole is a pretty funny man in his own right, and his sense of humor shows in these pages.
Dole goes so far as to rank the first 41 (counting Grover Cleveland only once) elected leaders of the free world in terms of their humor, and the fact that the top ten consist of five Democrats and five Republicans is evidence of the total lack of partisanship Dole brings to this endeavor. Topping the list is Abraham Lincoln, and rightfully so; there are plenty of pages detailing the wit of our sixteenth President, a man who said "I laugh because I must not try" during the terribly difficult days of the War Between the States. Second place goes to Ronald Reagan, the Great Communicator and master of the one-liner. Third and fourth place go to Franklin and Theodore Roosevelt, respectively. These top four really stand a world apart from their White House cohorts. Fifth place goes to none other than Calvin Coolidge. Now, this came as something of a surprise to me, but as Dole demonstrates, Silent Cal was indeed quite a jokester and humorist; in fact, the funniest episode recorded in this book, at least in my opinion, is attributed to Coolidge. Kennedy, Truman, Lyndon Johnson, Hoover, and Wilson round out Dole's top ten. As one proceeds through the book, the material for each president significantly decreases; there just isn't a lot of humorous material to work with for those presidents ranking at the bottom of Dole's charts: Taylor, Harding, Van Buren, Buchanan, William Henry Harrison, Pierce, Benjamin Harrison, and poor Millard Fillmore who seems destined to bring up the rear in just about every kind of presidential survey one can devise. If these men ever said one thing funny, Dole includes it, but there are definitely slim pickings here. As for other presidents who may be of special interest to readers, George Bush (number 41) is twelfth, Washington fifteenth, Jefferson sixteenth, Clinton seventeenth, Carter twenty-second, and Nixon twenty-fifth. Since the results of the 2000 election were not known when this book went to the publisher, Dole has included a final chapter devoted to both George W. Bush and Al Gore.
Basically, Great Presidential Wit is one of the few politics-related books that both conservatives and liberals can both enjoy equally and civilly, as laughter knows no political party affiliation.
Rating: 4
Summary: It Takes One To Know One
Comment: Bob Dole is really funny! A few weeks ago the Doles and Clintons gave speeches in Washington D.C. and I happened to hear them on C-span. Dole's dead pan humor and hilarious one liners actually made me laugh out loud! Later that day I purchased this book which is quite good.
After researching all the American presidents, Dole rates them from the funniest to least funny. Some of the best lines are from prominent people other than the president. There is a saying (not in this book) "Blessed are they who can laugh at themselves, for they shall never cease to be amused"!Some of our presidents, fortunately, have been likeable, intelligent and quite witty. This fine collection of humorous quips and anecdotes makes an excellent gift for all ages. Bob Dole's remarks are right on!
My reason for the 4 star rating is for one reason only: Since most of us remember the faces of only a few past presidents, a small picture of the president being quoted at the beginning of each chapter would have been a nice touch. Dates are included which is helpful as we relate to each presidential term while reading.
The introduction to this book is entitled " Backbones and Funny Bones" In this intro, Bob Dole expresses his views on presidential humor with rare insight and he provides us with his "Dole poll of presidential wit and humor" in a non-partisan way. 41 presidents are rated as humorists along with a brief discription of why. This is a gem.
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Title: Great Political Wit : Laughing (Almost) All the Way to the White House by Robert Dole ISBN: 0767906675 Publisher: Broadway Books Pub. Date: 01 August, 2000 List Price(USD): $9.95 |
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Title: Presidential Anecdotes by Paul F. Boller ISBN: 0195097319 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: March, 1996 List Price(USD): $15.95 |
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Title: Presidential Campaigns by Paul F. Boller ISBN: 0195097300 Publisher: Oxford University Press Pub. Date: April, 1996 List Price(USD): $16.95 |
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Title: Congressional Anecdotes by Paul F. Boller ISBN: 0195077067 Publisher: Oxford Press Pub. Date: September, 1992 List Price(USD): $14.95 |
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Title:The War Room ASIN: 1573624578 Publisher: Vidmark/Trimark Pub. Date: 24 September, 1999 List Price(USD): $8.99 Comparison N/A, buy it from Amazon for $8.99 |
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