KENNETH WHYTE is the author of The Uncrowned King: The Sensational Rise of William Randolph Hearst, a Washington Post and Toronto Globe and Mail Book of the Year, and a nominee for four major Canadian book awards. He is a publishing and telecommunications executive and chairman of the Donner Canada Foundation. He was formerly editor in chief of Maclean's magazine, editor of the monthly Saturday Night magazine, and founding editor of the National Post. He lives in Toronto.
“An exemplary biography—exhaustively researched, fair-minded and
easy to read. It can nestle on the same shelf as David McCullough’s
Truman, a high compliment indeed.”—Edward Kosner, The Wall Street
Journal
“Outstanding…. Whyte makes a convincing case for the reassessment
of our 31st president…. This well organized, thoroughly researched,
and smoothly written biography persuasively demonstrates that its
subject’s place in history should be elevated far beyond its
current status.” —Talmage Boston, Washington Independent
Review of Books
“Whyte’s account is the most full-fleshed and three-dimensional
Hoover readers have yet encountered” —Steve Donoghue, The
Christian Science Monitor
“Whyte details how Hoover was up against worldwide economic forces
that he had no way of controlling and points out that the hard
times continued long into Roosevelt’s presidency. Just as
interesting, however, are Whyte’s accounts of Hoover’s early life,
from his rise from orphanhood to world-traveling problem solver,
and his post-presidency attempt to restore his image and regain his
place among the 20th century’s most admired people.” —Keith
Herrell, BookPage
"Summons us to see Hoover as a human personality, more than just a
walking embodiment of Great Depression studies.... In the unceasing
ideological quarrying of the American past, this great man and
execrated president has proven himself useful again. To understand
Hoover’s life, career, and his legacy in full, this rich new
biography will certainly prove indispensable.” —David Frum,
The Atlantic
"Monumental.... Important, and irresistibly interesting.... Whyte
serves as a learned but inviting tour guide to this extraordinary
life, bringing a fresh eye and fresh perspective.... [He] shows us
a man of impatience, insensitivity and impolitic behaviour, though
balanced with great confidence and competence.... Over all, the
Hoover story—and the Whyte book—is a distinctly American tale:
persistence, ambition, grand plans (all covered with a shellac wash
of overweening pride and overwhelming arrogance), played out over
five continents and marked by three economic crises. The result is
an astonishing alchemy of soaring achievement and deep
disappointment." —David Shribman, Toronto Globe and
Mail
"Hoover was doomed to be remembered as the man who was too rigidly
conservative to react adeptly to the Depression, as the hapless
foil to the great Franklin Roosevelt, and as the politician who
managed to turn a Republican country into a Democratic one….
Hoover...helpfully lays out a long and copious résumé that doesn’t
fit on this stamp of dismissal." —Nicholas Lemann, The New
Yorker
“[A] comprehensive and accessible study…. Whyte’s work
contextualizes Hoover as a man of his times…. In seeking to
understand rather than judge Hoover throughout the entire
trajectory of his life, Whyte succeeds in creating a positive
overview of the leader’s long prepresidential
service.” —Frederick J. Augustyn Jr., Library Journal
“A well-executed reexamination of the character and career of a
gifted, unjustly maligned leader.… In this comprehensive and
generally sympathetic biography, Whyte reminds us that both before
and after his single term as president, Hoover compiled a record of
extraordinary achievement…. Whyte stresses Hoover’s remarkable
drive and even ruthlessness, qualities he brought to public service
during WWI when he organized crucial food-relief efforts throughout
Europe.” —Jay Freeman, Booklist
“A great biography…. Hoover lived a life of adventure and
accomplishment, and Whyte captures that spirit in engaging,
readable prose…. Whyte doesn’t gloss over Hoover’s flaws, nor his
failed efforts to right the economy during the Depression. But he
makes it clear that Hoover’s presidency is not the only—or
best—measure of his service to his country and
world.” —Rob Cline, The Gazette (IA)
"A thoughtful resurrection of a brilliant man who, aside from the
Founding Fathers, did more good before taking office than any other
president in American history." —Kirkus (starred review)
"A clear-eyed, sympathetic portrayal of the American president best
remembered for his inability to pull the U.S. out of the Great
Depression.... [He] doesn’t shy away from [the] seedier aspects of
Hoover’s life, but nor is he judgmental.... With adept explanations
of the Depression's complexities and a refreshing sense of
objectivity regarding Hoover's approach to combatting it, Whyte
portrays a figure to be neither pitied nor reviled, but better
understood." —Publishers Weekly
"Often ranked as one of our worst presidents—his very name evokes
Depression-era shantytowns—Hoover gets a reconsideration here that
sweeps over his entire career… [Whyte] charts Hoover's rise from
childhood poverty to business mega-success, then reminds us of
Hoover’s large-scale humanitarian works during World War I and
after the 1927 Mississippi floods and his efforts (however
thankless) to combat the Great Depression. And he was tasked by
President Harry Truman himself with aiding European refugees after
World War II, which not everyone knows. Get reading." —Barbara
Hoffert, Library Journal, "Barbara’s Picks"
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