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Reviews tagging 'Murder'
Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford by Clint Hill
2 reviews
lazy_raven's review against another edition
dark
informative
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
Great audiobook. From the point of view of one of the secret service men that protected. Eisenhower, Kennedy (and his wife), Johnson, VP Agnew, and Ford
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Medical content, and Murder
Moderate: Death and Gun violence
Minor: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, Infidelity, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Medical trauma, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and War
martinezmichael21's review against another edition
challenging
informative
reflective
slow-paced
4.5
This book’s strengths and weaknesses both lie in its inability to be categorized easily. It’s at times a biography, a history, a memoir, and sometimes all three. You’re unfortunately unable to get a detailed sense of the individual President like you would in a biography on any of these 5 presidents however, this is definitely backstage access and a unique perspective of the office and the position. Put together you can compare and contrast the personalities and how they operate day-to-day. There is unfortunately a lack of context on many historical events and presidential policies but the observed details by the secret service are numerous. I would not use this to teach/learn firsthand about these presidents or events occurring during their presidency but it absolutely provides rich coloring to the personalities and puts you in the room with decision-makers as a fly on the wall. Clint hill had unparalleled access to many important and influential individuals, including but not limited to, being first to react to President Kennedy’s assassination. He does well to remain apolitical and simply describe the presidents by their personalities and the events unfold as they happened according to him. I was pleasantly surprised to learn small details like Jackie O’s multilingual fluency, or that Ford’s son went to the high school from Remember the Titans. All in all a must read for history buffs who want a break from textbooks or biographies but still need something history-adjacent. And that’s what Clint Hill was for many years, with his eyes on those who had the eyes of the world on them.
Content Warnings
Minor: Gun violence and Murder
The assassinations of JFK, Bobby Kennedy, MLK, and more
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