Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies After the White House
by Mark K. Updegrove

An interesting read about the post-presidential lives of our heads of state, starting in depth with Harry Truman and ending with Bill Clinton. The book adopts an anecdotal and humanist view on eight of the men who were both loved and hated by constituents during their tenure in the White House. This is a must read for the political junkie, especially in the turbulent partisan atmosphere of Washington today, simply because the legacy of the president you hated in office might change with Updegrove’s short biographies.

thediamondmind:

Hair-Portraits of the presidents. From left to right: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Abraham Lincoln, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S. Grant, Rutherford B. Hayes, James Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison, Grover Cleveland, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, Woodrow Wilson, Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, Herbert Hoover, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama.

“Hair to the Chief”

Unlisted Explanations for the Banning of Several Musicians Included on this List, Part I

1. The Sex Pistols
The Sex Pistols go on Holidays in the Sun as a result of their self-described “reasonable economy,” which alludes to the basic capitalist economic model.

2. The B-52’s
The B-52’s are living in their own Private Idaho. Ownership of private land is a distinct characteristic of the bourgeoisie.

9. Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden is not Iron Butterfly. The Union of Youth thought they were getting In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida and were disappointed when they received Iron Maiden’s eponymous album instead.

11. AC/DC
AC/DC are considered neo-fascists because they only salute those who are about to rock, a subset of the population who are well-known members of the bourgeoisie. They have also used their powers over industry to skew the effects of rock ‘n’ roll on the environmental problem of noise pollution.

20. Talking Heads
Talking Heads burned down a house built on state-owned property, thus causing a significant disruption in homeland security.

29. The Ramones
In their ballad of a spoiled child, The Ramones say that the young lady is going to join the “Ice Capades,” an extremely violent and militant revolutionary group who kidnap and brainwash young people in the United States in the name of communism, impeding the spread of non-violent communism by giving it a bad name.

34. Village People
The Village People’s vision of a mighty and strong Macho Man, which, from the way they describe, sounds like worship of deity.

This has been a public service announcement.

Headlines from a newspaper I found in my grandmother’s stuff.

Photo number nine I found in my grandfather’s stuff.

Photo number eight I found in my grandfather’s stuff.

Photo number seven I found in my grandfather’s stuff.