I received an advance reading copy of this book from Netgalley.com. This was an interesting idea--a non-fiction book about the hardworking people who cooked for the presidents starting with George Washington. I found the stories and the people totally fascinating. George Washington's cook was a black slave named Hercules who was a kind of dandy. I had never heard of him before--like most of the people in the book. I am glad that someone took the time to tell their stories. My only complaint is that the book seemed a bit scattered. We might be talking about Thomas Jefferson on one page and then FDR on the next. This book also humanized the presidents--revealing how they treated their staff. It gave another side to those men who held the highest office. Cooking at the White House is definitely not for the faint of heart. Not only must you be a fabulous cook, but you must also have the personality to deal with the politics. The writing itself was good and the stories very entertaining, but the structure was lacking. Instead of skipping around, the author could have stayed within a time period before moving on to the next. If you are interested in American History, you will like this book. All in all, I liked it and would recommend it.