Synopses & Reviews
Calvin Coolidge, who served as president from 1923 to 1929, never rated highly in polls. The shy Vermonter, nicknamed "Silent Cal," has long been dismissed as quiet and passive. History has remembered the decade in which he served as a frivolous, extravagant period predating the Great Depression. Now Amity Shlaes, the author known for her riveting, unexpected portrait of the 1930s, provides a similarly fresh look at the 1920s and its elusive president. Shlaesshows that the mid-1920s was, in fact, a triumphant period that established our modern way of life: the nation electrified, Americans drove their first cars, and the federal deficit was replaced with a surplus. Coolidge is an eye-opening biography of the little-known president behind that era of remarkable growth and national optimism.
Although Coolidge was sometimes considered old-fashioned, he was the most modern of presidents, advancing not only the automobile trade but also aviation, through his spirited support of Charles Lindbergh. Coolidge's discipline and composure, Shlaes reveals, represented not weakness but strength. First as governor of Massachusetts then as president, Coolidge proved unafraid to take on the divisive issues of this crucial period: reining in public-sector unions, unrelentingly curtailing spending, and rejecting funding for new interest groups.
Perhaps more than any other president, Coolidge understood that doing less could yield more. He reduced the federal budget during his time in office even as the economy grew, wages rose, tax rates fell, and unemployment dropped. As a husband, father, and citizen, the thirtieth president made an equally firm commitment to moderation, shunning lavish parties and special presidential treatment; to him the presidency was not a bully pulpit but a place for humble service. Overcoming private tragedy while in office, including the death of a son, Coolidge showed the nation how to persevere by persevering himself. For a nation looking for a steady hand, he was a welcome pilot.
In this illuminating, magisterial biography, AmityShlaes finally captures the remarkable story of Calvin Coolidge and the decade of extraordinary prosperity that grew from his leadership.
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"Amidst today's economic hardships and an uncertain future, Amity Shlaes illuminates a path forward -- making Coolidge a must-read for policymakers and citizens alike." < b=""> Paul Ryan <>
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“Coolidge is a welcome new biography of a great American president. Amity Shlaes shines fresh light on a leader of humble persistence who unexpectedly found himself in the presidency and whose faith in the American people helped restore prosperity during a period of great turmoil. Amidst todays economic hardships and an uncertain future, Shlaes illuminates a path forward -- making Coolidge a must-read for policymakers and citizens alike.” < b=""> Paul Ryan <>
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“To read Amity Shlaess well-crafted biography is to understand why Reagan so admired the famously reticent man whom Shlaes calls ‘our great refrainer.” < b=""> George F. Will <>
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“Amity Shlaess new biography carries a different and highly relevant message. . . . Read Coolidge, and better understand the forces bearing on the President and Congress almost a century later.” < b=""> Paul Volcker <>
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“Amity Shlaess extraordinary biography describes how a single politician can change an entire political culture -- a story with plenty of echoes today. Alice Roosevelt Longworth, doyenne of the Washington salons, first disdained Coolidge, then admired him. After reading Coolidge, every reader will, too.” < b=""> Anne Applebaum <>
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“A marvelous book that is in many respects as subtle and powerful as Coolidge himself. Shlaess masterly command of economics, policy, and personal portraiture illustrates the times, talents, character, and courage of the consummate New Englander.” < b=""> Mark Helprin <>
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“History has paid little attention to the achievements of Coolidge because he seemed to be unduly passive. Yet Amity Shlaes, as his biographer, exposes the heroic nature of the man and brings to life one of the most vibrant periods in American economic history.” < b=""> Alan Greenspan <>
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“Timely and important. . . . The research is exhaustive, and the political and economic analysis sound.” < b=""> < i=""> The Wall Street Journal <> <>
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“Shlaes has assiduously researched Coolidges life. . . . She has not written a fiery polemic, but a stylistically assured narrative.” < b=""> Jacob Heilbrunn, < i=""> The New York Times Book Review <> <>
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“With a deft finger on todays conservative pulse, Shlaes portrays Calvin Coolidge as a paragon of a president by virtue of his small-government policies.” < b=""> < i=""> The New York Times Book Review <> -- Editor's Choice <>
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“Amity Shlaess rich new biography reminds us that Calvin Coolidge must not be forgotten in our era of staggering government deficits and poisoned political rhetoric. . . . A finely muted drama.” < b=""> < i=""> USA Today <> <>
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“Americas 30th president has been much misunderstood. . . . Shlaess biography provides a window onto an unfairly tarnished period. It deserves to be widely read.” < b=""> < i=""> The Economist <> <>
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“Shlaes impresses readers with the single-mindedness of Coolidges pursuit. . . . For the next decade or so, it may be Amity Shlaes who has custody of Coolidges reputation.” < b=""> Thomas Mallon, < i=""> The New Yorker <> <>
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“Amity Shlaess new biography ushers in a long-overdue rehabilitation of the 30th president. . . . Coolidge is a compelling, endlessly rewarding, and persuasive contribution to historical scholarship.” < b=""> < i=""> The Weekly Standard <> <>
Synopsis
Amity Shlaes, author of The Forgotten Man, delivers a brilliant and provocative reexamination of Americas thirtieth president, Calvin Coolidge, and the decade of unparalleled growth that the nation enjoyed under his leadership. In this riveting biography, Shlaes traces Coolidges improbable rise from a tiny town in New England to a youth so unpopular he was shut out of college fraternities at Amherst College up through Massachusetts politics. After a divisive period of government excess and corruption, Coolidge restored national trust in Washington and achieved what few other peacetime presidents have: He left office with a federal budget smaller than the one he inherited. A man of calm discipline, he lived by example, renting half of a two-family house for his entire political career rather than compromise his political work by taking on debt. Renowned as a throwback, Coolidge was in fact strikingly modern—an advocate of womens suffrage and a radio pioneer. At once a revision of man and economics, Coolidge gestures to the country we once were and reminds us of qualities we had forgotten and can use today.
About the Author
Amity Shlaes writes a syndicated column for Bloomberg View and directs the Four Percent Growth Project at the George W. Bush Presidential Center. She is the author of the New York Times bestsellers The Forgotten Man and The Greedy Hand. Shlaes chairs the jury of the Manhattan Institute's Hayek Book Prize and has won both the Hayek and the Bastiat Prize for Journalism. She is a trustee of the Calvin Coolidge Memorial Foundation.