About the presidency: Introduction
Presidency and how it grew: George Washington and John Adams
White House: Building and its history: Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
Powers of the president: Executive branch in government: James Monroe and John Quincy Adams
White House traditions: Easter eggs, state dinners, and presidential portraits: Andrew Jackson
From sea to shining sea: Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, and John Tyler
Vice presidents: Leaders just a heartbeat away: James K. Polk, Zachary Taylor, and Millard Fillmore
Pathways to the presidency: Campaign strategies and party politics: Franklin Pierce and James Buchanan
New birth of freedom: Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Johnson
U.S. political parties: Two-party system: Ulysses S. Grant and Rutherford B. Hayes
Presidential landmarks: From log cabins to libraries: James A. Garfield, Chester A. Arthur, and Grover Cleveland
Presidential facts and comparisons: Look at the stats: Benjamin Harrison
America takes center stage: William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt
Kids in the White House: At home in the spotlight: William Howard Taft
Presidents and the Supreme Court: Legacy that lasts: Woodrow Wilson
Presidents at war: Serving as the commander in chief: Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover
Seeking stability in the atomic age: Franklin D. Roosevelt
First ladies: Partners, hostesses, and advocates: Harry S. Truman
Pollsters and polling: Sizing up public opinion: Dwight D. Eisenhower and John F. Kennedy
Presidents who died in office: Mysterious twenty-year curse: Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Gerald R. Ford
Electoral college: Gatekeepers on the presidency: Jimmy Carter
Footprints on the global frontier: Ronald Reagan and George Bush
In the president's shadow: Security, the media, and presidential perks: Bill Clinton and George W. Bush
Election 2008: History in the making: Barack Obama
Former presidents: Serving as elder statesmen
Chart of presidential election results
Index/resource guide/bibliography
