Combing Through the White House
Hair and Its Shocking Impact on the Politics, Private Lives, and Legacies of the Presidents
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- $17.99
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- $17.99
Publisher Description
Discover a fascinating and novel look at the U.S. presidents, the first families, and American history—all through the lens of hair. With meticulous detail, engaging storytelling, and full-color visuals, encyclopedia editor Theodore Pappas combs through American history, teasing out long-forgotten and little-known ways that hair has influenced the presidency and the public and private lives, personal scandals, and tragedies of the men and women who have occupied the White House.
Go deep into the history of such topics as:
Abraham Lincoln's famously ridiculed appearance and the surprising role hair played in both his presidency and assassinationJohn F. Kennedy's connection to James Bond and how hair factored into his vast image-making and infidelitiesThe lush tradition of collecting hair as a way of honoring leaders, remembering our loved ones, and preserving their memoriesScientific hair analysis and how DNA has been used to solve long-standing presidential mysteriesThe connection of hair to the lives, loves, scandals, and tragedies that shaped presidents, first ladies, and the nation at large
This unique window into the past shines entertaining new light on the decisions, relationships, and tragedies that have shaped the role of the president and the place of the U.S. in the world. Whether you're interested in presidential trivia or historical mysteries, Combing Through the White House personalizes the past through an element of life we can all relate to—hair—giving us new glimpses into our country and even ourselves.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
"Few tools for understanding the human animal... can match or surpass the vast... and multidimensional power of our tresses," asserts Pappas (True Grit), executive director of the Encyclopedia Britannica, in this silly account of presidential locks. Sifting through the history of the presidency, Pappas unearths moments when hair was somehow germane—which mostly involve death or publicity. Beginning the account with the famous photograph of a young Black boy touching Barack Obama's hair, Pappas meanders through a series of hopelessly unrelated events: George Washington opted for hair powder instead of a wig because that's what the English wore; hair DNA was used to determine that Andrew Jackson did not die from lead poisoning from the bullets lodged in his body, like many thought; Abraham Lincoln was known for his "shaggy-haired homeliness" in life, and in death that very same messy hairdo "masked the bullet that had shocked the world." Pappas's tone veers between dead-serious and obviously tongue-in-cheek ("Hair was critical to the cover-up," he writes of Grover Cleveland's secret operation to remove a tumor in his mouth, the aftermath of which was hidden by his mustache), making it unclear if the "shocking impact" of the title is meant as a joke. It's wacky and weird fun, if a touch exasperating.
