Harold Holzer is the recipient of the 2015 Gilder Lehrman Lincoln Prize. One of the country's leading authorities on Abraham Lincoln and the political culture of the Civil War era, Holzer was appointed chairman of the US Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Commission by President Bill Clinton and awarded the National Humanities Medal by President George W. Bush. He currently serves as the director of the Roosevelt House Public Policy Institute at Hunter College, City University of New York.
“[The Presidents vs. The Press] gives us a panoramic survey of the
most contentious president-on-press brawls from the past two and a
quarter centuries, providing both the scholar and the general
reader with valuable perspective on the current bout between Trump
and reporters.”—The New York Times Book Review
“A lively, deeply researched history of the roller-coaster
relationships between presidents and journalists, from George
Washington to Donald Trump . . . Holzer recounts all
this and much more in considerable colorful detail.”—The Washington
Post
“A perceptive and readable account.”—The Wall Street Journal
“An immensely informative account of the perennial struggle between
presidents and the fourth estate.” —Minneapolis Star
Tribune
“A shrewd history of the fight to convey and repress objective
truth.”—Kirkus
“A lively and informative work that will appeal to anyone
interested in American history, politics, and journalism.”—Library
Journal
“While this fascinating book doesn’t ease the pain and anxiety of
witnessing the elevated battle between Trump and reporters, it does
provide an essential historical perspective.”—Booklist
“Timely and informative.”—Washington Independent Review of
Books
“Harold Holzer has brought us a sweeping, groundbreaking, and
important history of the conflict between American presidents and
the press, and it could not arrive at a more crucial
moment.”—Michael Beschloss, NBC News presidential historian
and New York Times bestselling author of Presidents
of War
“Harold Holzer’s fascinating new book beautifully narrates the long
history of contention between the press and the White House, but it
does more than that. Presidential politics were born at the dawn of
popular newspaper writing, and the fighting, seducing, and
conniving on both sides has continued ever since. Presidents and
reporters can’t really exist without each other, and Holzer, a
historian of the presidency with the eye of a reporter, expertly
explains why.”—Sean Wilentz, Pulitzer Prize finalist and author
of The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln
“Harold Holzer is a master in telling us exactly what we need to
know—no more, no less—on a critical and obsessive relationship
spanning 200 years. With a gimlet eye, Holzer shows how some of our
best presidents—from George Washington to Abraham Lincoln to Barack
Obama—were the most resistant to press scrutiny.”—Jonathan
Alter, New York Times bestselling author of His Very
Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life
“Not surprisingly, George Washington was the first president to
protest ‘the malicious falsehoods’ and ‘violent abuse’ he’d
suffered from the press. In this vivid, anecdotal history, Harold
Holzer, himself a shrewd veteran of political press relations as
well as a fine historian, chronicles the ways in which Washington
and eighteen of his most important successors have sought to seduce
and cajole, defy, and sometimes conspire with the men and women who
cover them. No one interested in the presidency—or in the long
history of ‘fake news’—should miss it.”—Geoffrey C. Ward, New
York Times bestselling author of A First Class
Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt
“From George Washington railing against ‘infamous scribblers’ to
the ravings of Donald Trump against ‘fake news,’ there is an
inherent tension between presidents and the press. Harold Holzer
brings this centuries-long struggle to life in a brisk, enjoyable
and authoritative book that offers valuable perspective on the art
of governing while shining a light on how the free press is still
the ultimate guarantor of freedom.”—John Avlon, CNN Senior
Political Analyst and author of Washington’s Farewell: The
Founding Father’s Warning to Future Generations
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