Authors Ridings and McIver polled more than seven hundred historians and academics to determine who were the best, the worst, and even the most mediocre presidents. Each survey participant was asked to rate every president from highest to lowest in five separate categories: Leadership Qualities - Franklin Roosevelt rates highest; Harding lowest. Accomplishments and Crisis Management - Lincoln rates highest; Buchanan lowest. Political Skill - Franklin Roosevelt rates highest; Andrew Johnson lowest.

Appointments - George Washington rates highest; Harding lowest. Character and Integrity - Lincoln rates highest; Nixon lowest. Between these peaks and valleys of presidential achievement lie forty-one fascinating portraits of power won and power squandered, of fateful events, decisive action or executive dithering. Students, professors and armchair historians of every stripe will love Rating the Presidents.

Was Franklin Roosevelt a greater president than George Washington? Could any of the presidents between Jackson and Buchanan have prevented the Civil War? Would Lyndon Johnson have been a truly great president if he had avoided the quagmire of Vietnam? Why does John F. Kennedy, a president of few tangible achievements, still rank so high? Was Ronald Reagan a great president or merely a charming personality? How kind will history be to Bill Clinton?

Rating the Presidents is sure to be a prized and often-thumbed-through reference book for years to come.