Confronting the Presidents: No Spin Assessments from Washington to Biden was a surprising read, in more ways than you might expect. For one, it's catnip for history buffs, replete with the sort of factoids and anecdotes that make the presidency so fascinating. I would have never expected to find Andrew Johnson, Franklin Pierce or Millard Fillmore so interesting, but this book underscores how the presidency has long been a fraternity of men who are each varying degrees of eccentric, passionate, and mentally ill (literally: chronic depression is noted with alarming frequency among the many presidents and first ladies chronicled here). Confronting the Presidents is also strangely soothing at times, reminding us that the country has managed to weather far greater setbacks than we are facing now. Election campaigns were getting ugly as early as 1800, election integrity has always been questioned, and many former Commander in Chiefs openly despised each other, with a few even refusing the attend their successor's inauguration. Yet still, the country got on.

This book also grants us a peek into the mind of Bill O'Reilly, and the changing nature of mainstream conservatism. O'Reilly takes on a Glenn Beck-style approach to antiracism, referring to slaves as "the enslaved," decrying the racism of past presidents, and focusing on the positive gains of the Civil Rights Movement. He does not shy away from the questionable sexual mores of someone like Grover Cleveland, who married a woman he'd known since she was an infant and he an adult, and who was credulously accused of sexual assault years earlier. O'Reilly is populist enough now to praise Theodore Roosevelt as the paragon of the Republican Party and credit Obamacare for expanding healthcare coverage to millions of Americans, but still enough of a neoconservative not to question Woodrow Wilson's foreign policy.

Whereas the first forty-four presidents are each allotted a chapter on their life and legacy, O'Reilly and his co-author, Martin Dugard, take a different approach to Trump and Biden, neither of whom have yet finished their tenures in office. Instead, the authors cover the two most recent presidents in first-person essays, detailing their actions up until the time of publication and making only vague suggestions as to how they think the men will be judged by history.

O'Reilly is undoubtedly a controversial figure, known mainly for his many years as a news anchor on Fox News. This will likely prevent some potential readers from picking up this book, but it shouldn't. While I can't claim that O'Reilly and Dugard never let their opinions poke through, as someone in the history field, I found Confronting the Presidents largely fair and well-balanced in its analysis. At the very least, it is a great source of information for anyone looking to learn more about what the presidents are like as people, not just politicians.

I have always loved reading books from the writing duo, O'Reilly - Dugard. However, I was a little disappointed with this one. There were several facts that were incorrect. I gave it listen while on my family's vacation and even my twelve year old son was quickly correcting the authors. After finding mistakes in the authors' research, I was not able to take the rest of the book as fact. I would recommend the authors to go back to make this book more factual than fiction. Two stars.

This was a pretty fun way to learn about the presidents. I would recommend this book and would buy it for home listening.

I found this book very helpful and interesting. It tells many stories with enough details to feel like you’re getting a good perspective without getting bogged down. I really appreciated the tone that felt informative and neutral the vast majority of the time and I love hearing history narrated in an engaging way. I enjoyed getting a bird‘s eye perspective on how the role and job of President has developed through the centuries without having to do individual research on each president and his tenure. Really enjoyed this read.

This book is written in true O'Reilly form. It is co-authored with Martin Dugard, who also has a solid history as an author. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially since I've been reading the U.S. Presidents' stories in order. This book gives a great synopsis of each of the U.S. Presidents up to and including information on Biden. It is accurate and provides great insights. I listened to the audiobook which is well narrated.

If you enjoyed O'Reilly's other "Killing..." books, this book is for you. This book is a non-fiction that is easy to read. I highly recommend it. I certainly enjoyed it!

I received a complimentary copy of this book through NetGalley, and I'm very grateful to read it. Thanks to the publisher, MacMillan, and the authors for the privilege to read this advanced copy. Opinions expressed in this review are completely my own.

Another great book by Bill O’Reilly. Confronting the Presidents is an overview of all of 46 presidents. I learned so much about each president, what their strengths, weaknesses, accomplishments and or failures were while they were in office. This is a great overview that gives the reader a glimpse into each president from an unbiased point of view. The last chapters are written by O’Reilly and Martin Dugard and give each authors opinion of Trump and Biden.
I think this should be a required reading for every American.
Thank you NetGalley and Macmillian Audio for my advanced audio version of the book.

I loved this book!!! I am fascinated about Presidential trivia and history. This book is perfect for anyone that likes the presidents. Mr O'Reilly goes through all the presidents telling us some things we already might know but also sharing some new information. This was particularly helpful for those "middle" presidents that you might not know much about. After Abraham Lincoln they just become a jumble. They are still a jumble but you know a little more about them. Almost all presidents had some kind of scandal during their presidency. Just some were bigger than others. I really think this would be a great way to introduce some of the presidents to children. I will be listening to this book again.

Thank you to NetGalley and the Publisher for giving me access to this audiobook

First a disclaimer, I am a big fan of Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard's books, so I may have a slight bias

This was a book I'd been looking forward to for awhile. It's a decently long book, but it does not seem like a long book. Each chapter focuses on a President, in chronological order. Each chapter talks about not only things the President did while President, such as policy, and events, but it also delves a little into their personal lives as well. A way to give you an insight to not only them as President, but them as people and what might be bothering them outside of the Presidency

The narrator was very good. He wasn't slow, or fast, nor was he monotone in his delivery. He did a very good job at keeping you engaged

Overall, if you're a fan of Bill O'Reilly's "Killing" series, you'd probably like this. Or if you're a fan of Presidents, or just a fan of history, you'll probably really enjoy this book

I received a free ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

I love all the history books that O'Reilly and Dugard do. They are so well researched and a great way to learn. They always flow well and don't drag. I learned a lot about the presidents that I didn't know. It also made me more interested in the first ladies. A great read!

I really liked the narrator. I think he has narrated some of their other books as well. He has a good voice for history reads.

I've listened to all of this authors books in the "Killing" series but this one wasn't good at all. I'm sorry but I won't be recommending this one to anyone.

I want to thank the authors, the publisher, and NetGalley for the opportunity to review an early release audiobook of this title. I attest my review is original and unbiased.

Confronting the Presidents is the latest in a series of works authored by Bill O'Reilly and Martin Dugard., and narrated by Robert Petkoff. This is very different from the well-known "Killing" series by the authors. This book looks are every president from Washington to Biden, offering a quick glimpse of each of the presidents.

The content is engaging, and the narrator does a good job in pacing the content. I'm sure the print version contains some photos which were not available in this version. I was surprised at the detail presented in discussing some of the presidents, one example being William Henry Harrison, who was only in office for a month. Yet, his story is as long as some of the other presidents.

Most Americans know a bit about Washington, Jefferson, Lincoln, and Roosevelt (both TR and FDR), but after reading this book you will know a lot more facts about each president. Their profession, their wives, their children, how and where they died, and their contributions to the Presidency.

There are some variations in the individual stories., and some unevenness in the presentation. The authors do show their bias on some of the more recent presidents as might be expected.

An interesting way to look at the presidents and learn some new things. If you want a good overview of the presidents consider adding this to your library.

This book was an interesting look into all the presidents from the beginning of the founding of the United States of America, to today. I enjoyed hearing a little about some of the things that aren't generally told in a basic biographical blurbs. Hearing what each president had for breakfast a fun and interesting tidbit to include. In general the authors kept their opinions out of things, other than in the essays covering Trump and Biden, which can be hard to do.

I listened to the audiobook and the narrator was very good for the content. His speaking was clear and easy to follow.

I received an advanced copy of this audiobook from Netgalley. All opinions are my own.

Thanks to NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the audiobook ARC!

Having read a few of the "Killing" series books written by O'Reilly and Dugard, I was very comfortable with the conversational style and readability of this book. If you're looking for 'hard' or 'serious' history, these are not your guys. But that being said, if you're looking for approachable, readable history, with some interesting and salient anecdotes, this book is for you. I really enjoyed a lot of the footnotes, which contained many of these anecdotal nuggets. I look forward to more "Confronting" books from this powerhouse duo.

I was delightfully intrigued with this book from the very first page. Contrary to my initial assumptions, I found this book to be unbiased and fact filled, giving us insights to the historic events that shaped our Presidents and the historic legacy of each, until you got to Trump and Biden, who history hasn't decided on yet. Reading this book in an election year was especially enlightening, as it is easy to assume that what is happening in each election is the only time some of the nonsense has occurred and disaster is imminent, but this book has enlightened me to the fact that nothing is new and so far, our country has survived it all. I never read a. book twice, and when I finished this one I promised myself I will read it again.So much rich information and historic concept is here, one time through does not do it justice.

I loved this book. It tells little vignettes about each President. Some of them I have heard of, some were brand new to me; all I enjoyed. This book would be for the person wanting to know more about the Presidents, but the scholarly ones may enjoy too.

Very interesting read, informative, thought provocative and insightful. The narrator does an excellent job of transporting the reader to the history while also being neutral in a way befitting the non fiction genre. His voice and intonation was very pleasant and relaxing.

This newest volume from O'Reilly and Dugard is a culmination of biographies of the entire line of U.s. Presidents. This is approached in the same style as the 'Killing' books. I'm not nutty about the style in creating the 'Killer' books. In this case, it works very well. There's just enough to bring the reader to learn bits they not likely not knew and intriguing enough to have the reader want to search for more resources to learn more.

Each president is handled evenly. There are a couple tacked with extraneous gossip that might've been best left out. Otherwise, the lot are well worth reading and learning from. Taking the book in it's entirety really brings to the reader how American life has altered over the centuries. Further, it demonstrates the will and wants of the American people from president to president to president.

I heard o'Reilly state readers could read of the presidents they wanted or jump from one to another. I believe best to read this as a whole to get a true perspective of the time span involved and the great span of presidents the United States has experienced due to voting by the American people.

This book was listened to in this case. I usually can't get through audio books well. Again, the presentation worked for me to listen. The audio version was made avialble via netgalley in exchange for a review.

Bottom line: I recommend this book. 10 out of ten points.

Thank you NetGalley and Macmillan Audio for the advanced copy.

Wow. I am blown away by the amount of facts I have learned reading this book. I wasn’t sure if there would be any biased opinions on the Presidents, but there were not. The facts were just that, facts, and there were positives and negatives towards both parties.

If you appreciate our nation’s history and want to learn more about our leaders, I highly recommend this book.

I cannot believe how great this book is. Every chapter was informational and not remotely boring. I highly recommend this book to ANYONE for an unbiased history of our president's.

Fantastic book! O'Reilly takes a break from the "Killing" series but doesn't abandon his historical approach. Confronting the Presidents give a look into the lives of the Presidents and sheds light on what made some of them great and some of them not so great. I have always enjoyed O'Reilly's writing style...it is very readable and engaging. History is fascinating and O'Reilly makes sure its not boring. Another sure bestseller here that should be read by all Americans.