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 classic on the politics of leadership, now expanded to include a new chapter on the Obama presidency. Examines the typical political problems that presidents confront and how they assert their authority in the service of change.

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.