Book Review of
First Friends

Lynn's Review

First Friends by Gary Ginsberg was published in 2021. It is nonfiction and has 359 pages.

First Friends was an impulse buy on a recent visit to a bookstore. As soon as I saw the topic I knew that I wanted to read it. 

I have read quite a few books about U.S. Presidents. The books I enjoy most though about presidential history are not biographies and autobiographies. 

The books that I love are the ones about first families, the White House, and about the people who shaped them and helped them become president. Those types of books present a fascinating look into the lives of presidents. 

That is exactly what the book First Friends does. You learn about U.S. Presidents through their friendships. It is a creative way to share presidential history. 

First friends was not a dry or boring book about history. It was well written. It made history interesting by sharing it from an unusual viewpoint. 

In the book you learn about the friendships of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison, Franklin Pierce and Nathaniel Hawthorne, Abraham Lincoln and Joshua Speed, Woodrow Wilson and Colonel House, FDR and Daisy Suckley, Harry Truman and Eddie Jacobson, JFK and David Ormsby-Gore, Richard Nixon and Bebe Rebozo, and Bill Clinton and Vernon Jordan. 

The people around us impact who we are and how we act. In reading the stories in First Friends you learn how important friendships are, especially for leaders and people in power. This book is full of examples of friends helping and at times hurting. This book was a reminder to choose your close friends wisely. 

If you want to learn more about presidential history, but do not want to pick up a 500 plus page biography, this is a great read. And if you enjoy presidential history I think you will enjoy this look at the presidents from a slightly different viewpoint.