Amity Shlaes reclaimed a misunderstood president with her bestselling biography Coolidge.
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Now she presents an expanded and annotated edition of that presidentâs masterful memoir.
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The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge is as unjustly neglected as Calvin Coolidge himself. The man caricatured as âSilent Calâ was a gifted writer. The New York Times called him âthe most literary man who has occupied the White House since 1865.â One biographer wrote that Coolidgeâs autobiography âdisplays a literary grace that is lacking in most such books by former presidents.â
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The Coolidge who emerges in these pages is a model of character, principle, and humilityârare qualities in Washington. The autobiography offers great insight into the man and his philosophy. Calvin Coolidgeâs leadership provides urgent lessons for our age of exploding debt and government power.
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Shlaes and coeditor Matthew Denhart, president of the Calvin Coolidge Presidential Foundation, underscore those lessons in an enlightening introduction and annotations to Coolidgeâs text.
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This handsome new edition is the first to appear in nearly fifteen years. It includes several of Coolidgeâs greatest speeches, more than a dozen photographs, a timeline of Coolidgeâs life, and other new material.
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This autobiography combats the myths about one of our most misunderstood presidents. It also shows us how much we still have to learn from Calvin Coolidge.
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