Offers a interpretive synthesis filled with intriguing insights into the presidency's evolution during America's rise to global prominence. This title traces the decline of the party system, the increasing importance of the media and its role in creating the president-as-celebrity, and the growth of the White House staff and executive bureaucracy.

A contribution to the debate over the portrayal of history in film. Focusing on movies released since 1985, including "Braveheart" and "Nixon", Robert Brent Toplin argues that critics often fail to recognize the unique ways in which fictional films communicate important ideas about the past.