The author does a good job of describing the man before he became President and when he became President. To the point of or at least you would have thought he would have had a hold or grip on what was happening and a solution or at least some type of solution when everything started crashing down but he did not. For a man who worked in Europe during the food crisis after World War One, he was not able to come up with anything after the market crash and was not able to work with people from both parties to find a solution. So it was understandable that FDR was able to come in and take over as he did.
A good book does not go into the cause of the crash which has many factors but looks at his time in the White House and how he failed their work with people when he should have been able to start finding or coming up with solutions. When he did it was too little too late. Worth the read.

Common historical fact that Herbert Hoover was an incompetent president who did nothing as the Great Depression spread across the country. Charles Rappleye paints a different picture of Herbert Hoover in the White House that is more complex and complicated, but overall not more reassuring.

Herbert Hoover was a very intelligent man, but with that intelligence came several weaknesses (as it relates to being president of the United States that is.) He could make decisions, but often agonized over them for long periods of time, he was not particularly comfortable with people and dare I say the presidency itself. He alienated members of his own political party and the press. On rare occasions, when he attempted to communicate something it ended up lost in translation, and he had a tendency to rage at the very people he needed to get his agenda through and hold rather petty grudges.

If you want a different portrait of Herbert Hoover then read Hoover in the White House for a more nuanced, if less than reassuring viewpoint.

I have been reading biographies of all he president and when I saw this one on Hoover I thought that it would be perfect for me, however, I found that it was slowing in the beginning and a bit too detailed as to his motivations and action at trying to be the Republican nominee in 1928 and the future President after Calvin Coolidge. There was sporadic information regarding his qualifications (education, etc.) and I felt that the author didn't really care for the man. I wonder why he wrote this book.