An impressively presented guide to the 47 incumbents who have held the highest-ranking political office in the United States government. • An analysis of the politicians, statesmen and private individuals, and their lasting legacies that have helped shape the course of history • An insightful guide to the role of president from that envisaged by the Founding Fathers of America to the extensive executive powers of the political office today • Each president is presented within the context of major social, political and economic events and developments that have helped to shape the course of world history • Feature boxes present all the facts about each president, including their social, political, and religious backgrounds • Contains more than 460 stunning photographs, fine art paintings, contemporary sketches, artworks and maps This unparalleled reference book is a powerful guide to the 44 incumbents who have held the highest-ranking political office in the United States’ government. An amazing collection of photographs, paintings, sketches, election posters and documents illustrate this authoritative volume. Opening with George Washington, the book provides an in-depth analysis of each US president. Many presidents have shaped world history – Abraham Lincoln and the abolition of slavery, Roosevelt and the Panama Canal, the assassination of Kennedy. Key facts about every president, their term in office and their life stories are presented in domestic and international context. About the Author Professor Jon Roper became head of the Department for American Studies at Swansea University in 1996 and is now Director of Internationalisation in the School of Arts and Humanities. He is the author of The Contours of American Politics (Polity Press), The American Presidents: Heroic Leadership from Kennedy to Clinton (Edinburgh University Press), and Democracy and Its Critics:Anglo American Democratic Thought in the Nineteenth Century (Unwin Hyman).