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The presidents : portraits of history
2019
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Kirkus Review
In order from Washington to Trump, a gallery of big, full-face presidential portraits done in exuberant strokes and spatters.Less venturesome in subject matter than her woman-focused Limitless (2018) and characterized by the same legibility issues, this is a step sideways rather than forward for Tinari. More style than substance, it's unlikely to achieve her stated intent (except in the most literal sense) to "add some splashes of bold, bright color to our US story." That color comes largely in isolated highlights of purple, red, or another single color added to the broadly brushed grayscale portraits. The sparse snippets of fact that are lettered or lightly stenciled around each portrait or printed on facing pages are too scattershot to reveal much about each president's public or private character. Along with leaving Jefferson off Mount Rushmore while identifying the other three carved there, for instance, the author lets out that he "popularized French fries and ice cream" and "owned over 600 slaves." While she mentions (but neglects to unpack) the confusing claim that Andrew Johnson "WAS impeached but WASN'T removed from OFFICE," for Bill Clinton she notes only that he presided over "1 of the longest periods of peace and economic expansion in American history." The closing table of additional facts has a similarly arbitrary air.For all that it's up to date (for now), of more artistic than historical merit. (Informational picture book. 7-10) Copyright Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Summary
Acclaimed artist and author of Limitless Leah Tinari offers a spectacular collection of portraits that celebrate the iconic and inspirational presidents of the United States.

Fine artist Leah Tinari, turns her formidable and singular talents to the presidents of the United States. Each engaging portrait--and the accompanying facts--paint a powerful and playful picture of the presidents, introduce readers to the personable side of these leaders and make them more relatable, approachable, human, and even fun! Before these forty-four men (over forty-five presidencies; Grover Cleveland served as the twenty-second and twenty-fourth president) were elected to the highest office in the land, they experienced rich and varied lives: they had childhoods and mothers and fathers and favorite foods. They were brothers and sons and had hobbies and pets.

Did you know that James Buchanan (number fifteen) had one brown eye and one green eye? Or that William Henry Harrison (number nine) was the only president who studied to be a medical doctor? Or that Teddy Roosevelt (number twenty-six) could walk on stilts and George W. Bush (number forty-three) paints portraits?

Meet the wrestlers, revolutionaries, writers, and radio stars as Tinari brings bold color to our presidents and our remarkable US story.
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