THE HIGHEST CALLING

A look at the American presidency stressing the diversity of those who have held the office.

Businessman and philanthropist Rubenstein’s new book follows in the path of his previous ones (The American Story, 2019, etc.): It’s a collection of interviews, this one with experts on U.S. presidents, plus four with former presidents. The goal, he writes in an introduction, “is to remind readers how truly different our presidents have been in their backgrounds, personalities, goals, and perspectives, and how these differences can really shape, for the good or bad, the country and the world.” It’s a fairly self-evident thesis, and for the most part the interviews yield little by way of surprises. In an interview with George Washington scholar Douglas Bradburn, Rubenstein asks questions such as, “Did he enjoy being president?” and “How did Washington die?” The questions sound even more contrived when Rubenstein inquires of historian Annette Gordon-Reed, regarding Thomas Jefferson and the enslaved Sally Hemings, “Why couldn’t they just get married? It was against the law?” He knows the answers, of course, so this rhetorical interview technique is jarring in print. Rubenstein fares better when he talks to actual presidents, including Bill Clinton (along with Hillary Rodham Clinton) and Joe Biden, but it would be a stretch to say there’s much new in those either. Rubenstein comes across as genial and enthusiastic, but it’s unclear exactly whom this book is for, besides would-be presidential history buffs who are just now learning about the subject.

Entry-level sketches of former leaders of the free world: sometimes awkward, only occasionally interesting.