Biographies of the Presidents of the United States

Although I'm generally somewhat skeptical of video reference materials (often a pain in the butt to use), I try to keep an open mind. Unfortunately, the five-tape Biographies of the Presidents of the United States has problems that go beyond mere ease of access to the information. I watched the final volume, which I dubbed "sneaky to sleazy" since it covered our 37th President (Nixon) through our 42nd and current President (Clinton). Given the fact that most of the material on the tape post-dates the widespread acceptance of television, you might reasonably expect to see moving images used in these 5-10 minute profiles, but no, the tape plays like a transferred-to-video filmstrip with one image dissolving into the next. In addition to the endless parade of static images (some of which are repeated and--in a chronological overview--therefore wrongly placed), the overlaid narration features some audio dropouts and awkward hesitations (i.e., the programs are not narrated by professionals). Not recommended. A far better and far less expensive choice here would be Questar Video's much richer 3-volume Portraits of the American Presidents (VL-1/93), which was produced by NBC News, covering 41 of the 42 chief executives. [Note: Phoenix Multimedia has a related series, First Ladies of the United States Presidents (5 vols.), also available.] Aud: I, J, H, P. (R. Pitman)