The Ultimate Guide to the Presidents

This eight-episode History-aired miniseries features a sublimely simple but brilliant concept, tracing U.S. history through a timeline of all 43 presidents since George Washington, with input from authors, historians, and academics (H.W. Brands, Jonathan Alter, Libby O'Connell, Barry Parris), Capital historians (Richard Norton Smith, Kenneth Kato), journalist-witnesses (Nancy Gibbs, John Seigenthaler), and descendants (Clifton Truman Daniel, Lynda Johnson Robb). Addressing the faults as well as the glories of each man, the script makes perceptive, time-hopping ties between James Monroe and Dwight D. Eisenhower, Harry S. Truman and George W. Bush, and Calvin Coolidge and Ronald Reagan (the Great Communicator idolized Silent Cal). Some luster is restored here to the hardworking but uncharismatic James Polk (whose wife originated "Hail to the Chief") and the strong civil rights and social-advancement agenda of Lyndon Baines Johnson, a rare president born into poverty. The last four presidents are breezed over (Obama media love-fest and all), as if the filmmakers felt that recent history must wait a while for a proper perspective. A running sidebar relates how the White House itself underwent transformations over the years. Extras include bonus footage with additional trivia, such as the fact that the slang term "O.K." was tied to President Martin Van Buren, who was nicknamed “Old Kinderhook,” a nod to his New York hometown. Highly recommended. Aud: H, C, P. (C. Cassady)