U.S. Presidents Unplugged

As America lies suffocating in this age of obfuscation and deception, the concept of a constitutional democracy is evaporating more quickly than weapons of mass destruction. It behooves Americans to look back at our history with a critical and humorous eye. Enter Akashic Books – the publisher has just launched its U.S. Presidents Series, which focuses on brief, little-known writings of U.S. Presidents from George Washington to eventually, George W. Bush. The first three slim, pocket-sized paperbacks will be released in September, and three will follow every season after that. “I think it’s a good time [to publish this series] because of the Presidential elections, given how divided the country is right now,” said Akashic publisher Johnny Temple.

“Some publishers have done Presidential books, and have been reverential and respectful, very conservative,” said Temple. “We wanted to be less conservative and more playful.” The series provides an opportunity to learn from the founding fathers while examining the writings through a historical perspective while asking hard questions, an art that seems to have disappeared. “It’s o.k. to be critical, [of our leaders], you can be critical in a nuanced way,” said Temple. Irreverant and powerful introductions to each slim volume are provided by heavy-hitters like Adam Haslett, Percival Everett and Neal Pollack.

The first volume, George Washington’s The Rules of Civility is a Miss Manners-like list of proper behavior written by French Jesuits in 1540, which President Washington copied in adolescence as a penmanship exercise. In his introduction, Adam Haslett finds the rules applicable to present day society in more ways than one, as his acerbic notes throughout attest: “79. Be not apt to relate news if you know not the truth thereof. In discoursing of things you have heard name not your author always. A secret discover not. Note: When trying to bully the international community into war by scaring them with evidence of a nuclear weapons program, you might want to avoid knowingly using forged documents.”

In John Adams’ A Defence of the Constitutions of Government of the United States of America, Adams espouses the notion that government has a moral obligation for the well-being of its citizens; he thought education could make many things possible. Neal Pollack finds present-day America a hollow echo of Adams’ ideal: “Americans are currently living through the beginning of the age of De-Enlightenment. …If the De-Enlightenment was merely about the political corruption in the Bush Administration, it could and will be easily corrected. But the Administration is merely a powerful offshoot of larger forces. Bush will be gone eventually. It won’t be so easy to stop the deterioration of the American mind.”

Thomas Jefferson, known as the author of the Constitution and as the founding father who had a life-long liaison (and several children) with one of his slaves, conveniently wrote his own version of the Bible, which is, given his personal life, very brief. Everett’s introduction to The Jefferson Bible includes a hilarious transcript of a mock-conversation between the two during which Everett asks Jefferson to explain his theory of the inferiority of African-Americans: TJ: Blacks…are dumb, slothful, and bestial. Your kind respond to sensation rather than out of reflection. PE: then how do you account for my remaining seated instead of attacking you? TJ: The slothful part.

During a time when criticism of public officials is called unpatriotic and individual rights are disappearing like so many puffs of smoke, these slim volumes offer a refreshing dose of what should be. “I hope people are entertained and that they learn something, [from these books]” said Temple. One can only hope.