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

by Paul Brandus (Author) Format: Kindle Edition

4.3 428 ratings

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“Like taking a tour of the White House with a gifted storyteller at your side!”

Why, in the minutes before John F. Kennedy was murdered, was a blood-red carpet installed in the Oval Office?
If Abraham Lincoln never slept in the Lincoln Bedroom, where did he sleep?
Why was one president nearly killed in the White House on inauguration day—and another secretly sworn in?
What really happened in the Situation Room on September 11, 2001?

History leaps off the page in this “riveting,” “fast-moving” and “highly entertaining” book on the presidency and White House in Under This Roof, from award-winning White House-based journalist Paul Brandus. Reporting from the West Wing briefing room since 2008, Brandus—the most followed White House journalist on Twitter (@WestWingReport)—weaves together stories of the presidents, their families, the events of their time—and an oft-ignored major character, the White House itself.

From George Washington—who selected the winning design for the White House—to the current occupant, Barack Obama—the story of the White House is the story of America itself, Brandus writes. You’ll:

Walk with John Adams through the still-unfinished mansion, and watch Thomas Jefferson plot to buy the Louisiana Territory
Feel the fear and panic as British invaders approach the mansion in 1814—and Dolley Madison frantically saves a painting of Washington
Gaze out the window with Abraham Lincoln as Confederate flags flutter in the breeze on the other side of the Potomac
Be in the room as one president is secretly sworn in, and another gambles away the White House china in a card game
Stand by the presidential bed as one First Lady—covering up her husband’s illness from the nation—secretly makes decisions on his behalf
Learn how telephones, movies, radio, TV changed the presidency—and the nation itself

Through triumph and tragedy, boom and bust, secrets and scandals,Brandus takes you to the presidential bedroom, movie theater, Situation Room, Oval Office and more. Under This Roof is a “sensuous account of the history of both the home of the President, and the men and women who designed, inhabited, and decorated it. Paul Brandus captivates with surprising, gloriously raw observations.”

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[A] fast-moving and well-written history of the presidency." ---Del Quentin Wilber, author of Rawhide Down

About the Author

Paul Brandus, an award-winning independent member of the White House press corps, founded West Wing Reports in 2009. He is a contributing columnist for MarketWatch and a frequent speaker on presidential leadership and history.

A veteran voice artist, Tom Zingarelli has produced and narrated many audiobooks in the last several years. He has also recorded books for the Connecticut State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped. His voice was featured on the popular PBS children's television program Between the Lions.

Product details

ASIN ‏ : ‎ B018IMJQT2
Publisher ‏ : ‎ Lyons Press; Reprint edition (September 29, 2015)
Publication date ‏ : ‎ September 29, 2015
Language ‏ : ‎ English
File size ‏ : ‎ 8682 KB
Text-to-Speech ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Screen Reader ‏ : ‎ Supported
Enhanced typesetting ‏ : ‎ Enabled
X-Ray ‏ : ‎ Not Enabled
Word Wise ‏ : ‎ Enabled
Sticky notes ‏ : ‎ On Kindle Scribe
Print length ‏ : ‎ 297 pages

Best Sellers Rank: #471,919 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #147 in Landmarks & Monuments
- #393 in Biographies of US Presidents
- #588 in Political History (Kindle Store)

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4.3 428 ratings

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Paul Brandus

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A frequent speaker at presidential libraries around the United States, social media innovator, columnist and longtime White House correspondent, Paul Brandus is the author of the acclaimed Under This Roof: A History of the White House and Presidency and the upcoming This Day in the Presidency (Bernan/Rowman & Littlefield). An award-winning member of the White House press corps since 2008, he is the founder of West Wing Reports ® (Twitter: @WestWingReport), and provides reports for of television and radio outlets around the United States and overseas. He is also a columnist for USA Today and MarketWatch/Dow Jones. His work has appeared in a wide variety of publications and platforms, such as CNN, Fox News, Real Clear Politics, National Review and The Week. For The Week, he moderated panel discussions in Washington and around the U.S. on topics like cybersecurity, energy and infrastructure. He has spoken at schools such as the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism and served as Executive-in-Residence at Washington & Lee University.

Brandus's Twitter account is one of the biggest among all accredited members of the White House press corps. In 2011, he won the Shorty Award for "Best Journalist on Twitter," sponsored by the Knight Foundation. His career spans network television, Wall Street and several years as a correspondent based in Moscow, where he covered the collapse of the Soviet Union for NBC Radio and the award-winning business and economics program “Marketplace.” He has traveled to 53 countries and has reported from, among other places, Iraq, Chechnya, China and Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Brandus has served on the Board of Governors of the Overseas Press Club of America, serving as its Washington, D.C. representative. He is also an early stage venture capital investor and as an entrepreneur once purchased the Russian rights to the Super Bowl from the National Football League – becoming the first person to show the championship game in Russia.

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Pete M.

White House Walls dish on famous residents to award-winning White House reporter

Reviewed in the United States on October 6, 2015

Verified Purchase

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!

19 people found this helpful

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Judith

Mostly about Presidents, not the House

Reviewed in the United States on February 23, 2017

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I bought this book because I thought it was going to be mostly about the White House, the building. It turned out to be much more about the Presidents, but I enjoyed it all the same. I've read lots of books about the Presidents, but this book did contain quite a lot of interesting facts that I never knew. For instance, I had no idea Warren Harding was considered to be a heartthrob. Really! Google his picture; he is not my idea of a matinee idol, but in his day, he was. There is some information about the WH, but not as much as I wanted. Also, I marked it down a star, because I wished for more pictures of the interiors. Be aware that although the book is in chronological order, it skips a lot of Presidents.

7 people found this helpful

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Kim C.

Excellent!

Reviewed in the United States on September 30, 2015

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Under This Roof is a wonderfully written history of America's most famous home. Details about the White House itself are often neglected in historical accounts; Paul Brandus fills this void and paints a vivid picture of the mansion throughout the years. The reader can easily visualize what the mansion looked like when John Adams first stepped inside in 1800, or when Harry Truman was faced with a White House about to collapse on itself. Brandus truly acts as a White House tour guide, showing the various rooms, furnishings, additions and changes during the last two centuries. A fun and fascinating read filled with lots of interesting tidbits about the home, as well as many of the Presidents and families that resided there.

As a loyal reader of Brandus' Twitter feed for several years, I knew that his passion for Presidential history would carry over to this book. It's clear that he greatly enjoys telling these stories. Under This Roof is a must for anyone interested in the history of the Presidency.

One person found this helpful

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GAIL E MORGAN

I've enjoyed his daily supply of current Washington news

Reviewed in the United States on September 6, 2015

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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.

8 people found this helpful

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Cleveland Customer

Informative and interesting read.

Reviewed in the United States on November 8, 2018

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I found the book very interesting for the most part, but lacked in interesting and informative stories about the presidents from JFK on. The author also smiled over many presidents. I'm assuming either the author find not interesting or informative stories on them or just didn't feel like including them. Something on President James Buchanan would have been interesting since during his administration the gap between the North and South widened giving rise to the civil war.

One person found this helpful

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Diane Amerault

Great Read!

Reviewed in the United States on November 1, 2020

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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!

One person found this helpful

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wanvk

Good start but poor ending

Reviewed in the United States on March 16, 2018

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Enjoyed the first chapters. However the Arthur presidency and the Harrison presidency were skipped over. Both wanted to take the house down or refurbished dramatically. They should have been part of the book in my opinion

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