The House Tells the Story

An utter delight...it opens windows into the history of this country by showing how some of this countrys makers and shapers lived.Wall Street Journal. From Teddy Roosevelts estate, Sagamore Hill, on Long Island to Harry Trumans humble home in Independence, Missouri, here are the homesinside and outof 15 American presidents through an artist's eyes. Adam Van Doren has a deep appreciation for architecture and the ways people shape their environments. About Mount Vernon: Subtler touches, like the cupola, the faux rustication, and the red roof are all evidence of Washingtons refined sense of how to transform an ordinary farmhouse into a stately manor. At Franklin Roosevelts Hyde Park home, Van Doren emphasizes its accommodations for F.D.R.s wheelchair. From Monticello in Virginia to Wheatland, the Pennsylvania home of James Buchanan, to Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas plus the White House, where all but the first president lived Van Doren records each homes style and heritage. All giving the reader a fresh look at Americas presidents and their lives and times.