Recarving Rushmore: Ranking the Presidents on Peace, Prosperity, and Liberty Updated Edition

This is a game changer like no other Presidential book ever written. First, it comes from the mind of Ivan Eland, himself a highly educated member of the "Independent Institute." His prose and stylings reveal that Mr. Eland is indeed "independent." 2nd: He establishes a new and simple way to rank the Presidents; the P,P & L scale. This stands for Peace, Prosperity and Liberty. These qualities are what this country is supposed to be about and these are what the US Presidents are allegedly supposed to be pursuing for the country as a whole. 3rd: He is not affected by hype, mythology or historical spin. Eland meticulously researched each and every President and provided a dispassionate review of each based on what they did, how their actions jived with the constitution, how their actions related to the P, P & L scale and how they affected this country and others. Be forewarned: Your sacred cows are probably skewered in this tome. Presidents that nobody cared about in school growing up are considered among the best while the "popular" "best" Presidents most of the time don't measure up and Eland tells you why and why not with impeccable logic. Great Book. I re-read sections of it all the time. Highly recommended.

I enjoyed reading this book and found it very interesting. I did not agree with all of the opinions of the Presidents, but also learned a lot about the President’s that I did not know before.

This book (IMO) doesn't take into account timing and perspective. Things are different at all points of history and I don't believe it's well understood, hard to walk a mile in someone else's shoes and/or recognize the accomplishments and/or failures of all of these (mostly) great men.

Interesting read in spite of our dissagreements on his list.

I purchased this for my husband for Christmas and he is really enjoying this eye opening evaluation of the each President. Very informative and nicely written!!

I majored in history in college, and have read history extensively throughout my 71 years. I first became interested in presidential history in elementary school. How the author can rate John Tyler the best president is inconceivable to me, as it is how he can rate all the top presidents as bad or poor. He thinks the best presidents were the do-nothings who led from behind -- hence his high opinion of Barack Obama and Rutherford B. Hayes. The Constitution is a guide and a framework, and is not chiseled in stone. All of the really best presidents found that they had to act in the country's best interest, sometimes not strictly within Constitutional limits. The examples are too numerous to list here, but any serious reader of history knows of these examples, how they benefitted the country, and the disastrous outcomes that these presidents avoided.

What a fantastic book! Since it is in chronological order, its a great primer for American history...

This book should be in history classes everywhere. It will make you wonder why we have a Constitution when the executive branch doesn’t follow it. Before reading this book, I’ve read where Lincoln was the biggest violator of the Constitution and took the presidency to a dictatorship. What surprised me is that Lincoln wasn’t the lone violator! Just about 3 out of 4 presidents were violators. What I got from this book is me believing the anti-federalists (Brutus 1) were right on the money. Yes, Patrick Henny DID smell a rat!

I have given a one star only as I have only browsed the book and have yet to read it in detail