Under This Roof: The White House and the Presidency--21 Presidents, 21 Rooms, 21 Inside Stories

How many times have you been in an old building and have said to yourself, “If only these walls could talk?”

Well, apparently, day after day, the walls of the White House talked to one of its current residents, award-winning White House Press Corp reporter Paul Brandus.

And Paul wrote it all down, added some tantalizing tidbits of behind-the-scenes American History that occurred between these walls, and published this ‘can’t-put-it-down’ inside story of one of America’s greatest icons, The White House.

Behind its solid façade, The White House has been one of America’s greatest fixer-uppers.

Right from day one and given a choice between affairs-of-state and home-repair, American Presidents have always chosen the former.

Many Americans living today only know Jackie Kennedy’s White House, a beautiful showcase to the grandeur and history of the American Presidency.

But the White House walls told Paul a different story, of John Adams freezing and coughing in a smoke filled shell of an unfinished building that was heated by poorly ventilated fireplaces and located in an otherwise empty swamp, while his wife hung his underwear and the rest of the wash in the East Room to dry.

Of Dolly Madison, home alone, escaping with as much as she and her staff could pack into wagons, as the White House burned during the War of 1812. It seems that her husband had decided that the British would not attack Washington and had left the White House undefended.

And then there are Harry Truman’s unsuspecting guests who were unaware that the upper floors of the White House could collapse on them at any moment.

Not since Nixon and his White House taping system, has there been so much to tell about goings on inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

Not wanting to write ‘just another history book’, Paul masterfully makes the reader a ‘fly-on-the-wall’ during daily life at The White House. It’s a view of history only seen by White House insiders, until now.

And there is much more to tell. Under This Roof: The White House and the Presidency--21 Presidents, 21 Rooms, 21 Inside Stories is a very readable and enjoyable book. Thanks Paul!

And one final comment. Watch what you say in your home, because Seri may be listening!

Like many books before it, this work follows a familiar pattern. Stepping through the various US Presidential administrations, it devotes a few pages to each, and highlights some of the major successes or failures of each one. The big difference in this book, though, is the inclusion of the history of the physical White House. That turned out to be a fascinating topic.

=== The Good Stuff ===

* Paul Brandus writes well. He avoids the long paragraphs and obscure vocabulary of “academia”, and produces a fun-to-read and easily flowing text. And while I often find books written in this format to be somewhat fatiguing to read, this one was an exception. I ended up reading it in a single day, and it held my attention throughout.

* The book is more an entertainment than a serious history. Brandus picks and chooses what Presidents he chooses to include and the criteria seems to be “Which ones are fun to read about”. The author skips entire administrations, and there is no overriding thesis to the work.

* While I am a bit of a history buff, quite a bit of the information was new to me. For example, I knew Warren Harding was a bit of a scoundrel, but his exploits make some more recent presidents look like a poster-children for marital fidelity. Nor was I aware that Harding gambled away a set of White House china in a poker game. The book is full of these sorts of revelations. I never realized that after her husband suffered a stroke, Edith Wilson took over many of his duties.

* Brandus concentrates about a quarter of the book on the White House itself, and this was the best and most interesting content. I was aware of numerous renovations to the White House, but never realized how close to collapse, or demolition, it had come. I was surprised at how much shoddy construction and haphazard design the building has endured. Even more amazing was that some of the Presidents (and their wives) who did the most to change or remodel the White House were the ones you would least expect. Everyone knows that Jackie Kennedy did a lot to restore the grandeur of the mansion, but Pat Nixon made equal, if not greater, contributions.

=== The Not-So-Good Stuff===

* The book screams out for diagrams and drawings. While it is easy enough to find the current architecture of the White House online, past versions are a bit more problematic.

* I would have liked to see more details of the struggles behind the scenes of major renovations. The front façade of the White House is one of the most recognizable modern structures on the planet, and it has been changed significantly over the years. I cannot imagine that there were not tremendous battles between architects, politicians and historians over even the slightest changes, let alone adding entire floors and porticos. This conflict is only minimally discussed in the text.

* I would have preferred a stronger focus to the book. It should be either a history of the physical building with a few “human-side” morsels thrown in, or a history of the Presidents/First Ladies, with some details about the ever-changing configuration of the building. I would have preferred the former, but instead the book anguishes between these two scenarios.

=== Summary ===

This was a fun book to read, and was rewarding in that it covered information that I had not previously been aware of. The history of the White House itself was fascinating, and I wished more text was devoted to that portion of the book. However, some of the details of the Presidents themselves were also interesting and novel, and I am glad they were included.

I would recommend the book to anyone with an interest in US History, especially of the personal habits and tastes of the US Presidents. Architecture buffs might be disappointed with the level of detail, but even so, the history of the building and its constant construction was fascinating.

=== Disclaimer ===

I was able to read an advance copy of the book through the courtesy of the publisher and NetGalley.

I've been following Paul Brandus @WestWingReport on Twitter since 2011. I've enjoyed his daily supply of current Washington news, with a heavy emphasis on the White House and Capitol Hill, and his daily supply of Presidential Trivia. Paul has an engaging style that invites you in. He also calls 'em as he sees 'em - which means that frequently he has the extreme ends of both sides of the aisle up in arms - which is a good thing.

Under This Roof is an accumulation of the lesser known facts of the residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and the edifice itself.
Told in Paul's direct and engaging style, it is well worth the read. It humanizes some of our larger than life figures of American History - which is a very good thing - it reminds us that they were human beings, fighting their own demons just as we are. The extended lesson is that, if they could achieve the greatness that they did, so can we achieve some greatness in our lives, too.

I enjoy following Paul Brandus and his reporting as West Wing Reports and was really was looking forward to his book, "Under This Roof". He did not disappoint. Brandus brings his wealth of knowledge of presidential history to the table and is a masterful storyteller. He really makes history come alive. I have read a lot about our presidents and l earned so much more in his book. The chapter on Polk was laugh out loud funny and the chapters on Adams, Jackson, TR and Harding were my favorites. Each chapter can be a jumping off point to further learn about our country's chief executives. "Under This Roof" is the kind of history book that should be read by all. Hoping there are more history books to come from Mr. Brandus.

This book is a clever idea that worked. It recounts stories and histories involving different rooms of the White House in the context of the lives and times of the people who lived in the mansion. This book is wonderful because even history buffs will find fascinating, intriguing details that they had never known before—in every chapter. I even learned something new in the preface!

If you like history and personal stories involving historical figures, you’ll enjoy this book.

“Under This Roof” met the two elements that every book should meet to make it worth your time. It’s entertains, forcing me to turn the page to see what’s next, and it tells me things I didn’t already know. The second may be the most important speaking as someone who reads a lot of politics and history. This is incredibly rich with anecdotes that tell you who these presidents and first ladies were on a personal level.
The book, written by a veteran White House reporter, gives vivid descriptions of 21 rooms in the White House and the significance to 21 different presidential families.
One of the gossipier aspects included the relationship with the Lincolns. But that same chapter reminds us of the larger meaning by the Gettysburg Address.
The same mix is found in chapters throughout the book.
The book details Woodrow Wilson’s courtship and marriage followed by the fraud perpetrated on the American public that the near-incapacitated president was still ably running the country.
There’s also presidents we don’t bother thinking a lot about such as Rutherford B. Hayes, who excluded booze from the White House, but added a greenhouse and William McKinley, who managed the Spanish-American war.
But it’s mostly presidents we care, starting with Adams and Jefferson, ending with Reagan and Obama. I might have liked to read about the White House of Bill Clinton and Bush 43, but this book was about the house and the impact various presidents had on a particular room.
The stories of Ronald Reagan’s favorite movies in the White House movie theater was intriguing personal side of one of the most endearing president who started in Hollywood and went on to win the Cold War. For Obama, who had few achievements that weren’t polarizing, the focus was on the single achievement that united the country behind him – the Situation Room and the killing of OBL.
Ultimately, this book demonstrates you can’t fully tell the story of a presidency without telling the story of where they work and live.

This is an interesting book full of historical anecdotes about the Presidents, the first ladies and the White House. It's amazing how many times the White House has been remodeled, renovated and re-decorated. At least until you consider how old it is. Author Paul Brandus tells us the historical significance of how things in the White House came to be the way they are today. And he throws in some juicy scandals from past administrations.

What an amazing book. Filled with stories that I have never heard before and also some that gave more light to other stories. The book is an easy read and kept me interested throughout and made it a quick read. I hope Mr. Brandus has more books in the works.

Even if you're just a little interested in the rich history of the White House and the U.S. Presidency, you will thoroughly enjoy this book. It is a very well written series of stories about the incredible history of our white house, and the presidents that occupied it. In addition, there is also a lot of interesting information about the families of the presidents, and the wide variety of First-Ladies, and their impact on the building while they lived there. After reading the book, it made me thirst for even more information on the presidents and U.S. history in general, and that's a sign of a good writer. Highly recommend!

Excellent Historical Book!!! I Learned a lot of historic facts and enjoyed attending the author's lecture!!!