The turbulent and unpredictable presidency of Donald Trump has intensified public and scholarly attention to the personalities of presidents. Profiles in Power approaches the presidency as a personal affair that is shaped, in part, by the character of the occupants of the Oval Office and their attempts to craft public personas. In ten biographical essays that focus on individual presidents and on one First Lady, the authors in this volume build on a renewed interest in presidential studies that emphasizes individual agency. As such, the book seeks to bring the personal aspect of the presidency back into U.S. political history.

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