Bob Deitrick

I was surprised with the results of Deitrick's and Goldfarb's delving into the connection between political parties and the economy. I had always assumed that the economy fared better under a certain political party, but if their data is correct, my assumptions were totally wrong.

I found the short bios of each president and how the economy flourished or stalled during each President's term in office both interesting and informative. I have to admit I'm a little skeptical of some of the results however, because I feel that some Presidents who did not fare well on their lists inherited some economic messes which were difficult to reverse. Also, a President is only one man and doesn't control the economy on his own. I know that they included in their PRES Rules the fact that a President needs to 'lead as a statesman, not as a partisan, but even the best intentioned man can do only so much if he has a Congress that will not work with him.

Overall though, I really liked this book. I feel that it is a good thing to review history and economic history is an especially important area that all Americans should study if they want to survive financially in an economy that is constantly changing.… (meer)

I agree with the reviewer who noted that the e-book format makes this book a difficult one to read and understand. When the graphs are such that they take up two adjacent pages, but you can only see one at a time, it renders them virtually worthless as an illustration of the material the authors are trying to convey. I could only make it through the first few chapters and did not finish the book. Therefore, I will refrain from any review of the content and leave it as a review of the format of the book as an e-book.… (meer)