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Pre-eminent historian David McCullough and noted artist Adam Van Doren unite for an excursion to the celebrated homes of fifteen American presidents, past and present.
About the author
Adam Van Doren received a Master's in architecture from Columbia University and has been a Visiting Artist at the American Academy in Rome. He teaches at Yale University and has exhibited at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., among other institutions. His work is included in the collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, The Wadsworth Atheneum, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
Summary
“An utter delight...it opens windows into the history of this country by showing how some of this country’s makers and shapers lived.”—Wall Street Journal.
From Teddy Roosevelt’s estate, Sagamore Hill, on Long Island to Harry Truman’s humble home in Independence, Missouri, here are the homes—inside and out—of 15 American presidents through an artist's eyes. Adam Van Doren has a deep appreciation for architecture and the ways people shape their environments. About Mount Vernon: “Subtler touches, like the cupola, the faux rustication, and the red roof are all evidence of Washington’s refined sense of how to transform an ordinary farmhouse into a stately manor.” At Franklin Roosevelt’s Hyde Park home, Van Doren emphasizes its accommodations for F.D.R.’s wheelchair. From Monticello in Virginia to Wheatland, the Pennsylvania home of James Buchanan, to Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas – plus the White House, where all but the first president lived – Van Doren records each home’s style and heritage. All giving the reader a fresh look at America’s presidents and their lives and times.
