Doug Wead has written the definitive book on presidential children and it is a doozy, a real page turner.

Kirkus describes it as a "well written gossipy narrative… Light enough for a dentist's waiting room, but substantial enough to amuse and inform White House watchers and students of political history."

This monumental work shows clearly the common pathology for sons and daughters of presidents and how they repeat the same patterns, generation after generation.

Of course what makes it especially timely is the fact that one of those children is now in the White House, the most powerful man in the world, and is repeating some of those same patterns.

This is a must read for anyone curious about the father-son relationship and Saddam Hussein! In this account, Robert Todd Lincoln sometimes comes off positively ghoulish. On the other hand, stories of Medal of Honor winner Webb Hayes, behind enemy lines, are breathtaking and heroic. And oh the romantic entanglements of those White House ladies. Letty Tyler sees a flirtatious twenty-four year old rival steal her place as white house hostess, steal the affection of her presidential father and become the first lady.

Years latter, when her father is long dead in the grave, she sees that same rival steal the affection of her own husband! Sometimes these pages sizzle.

This is an especially intriguing book for parents…. for the same mistakes that the president's make with their kids, we all make. (Well not all. Eleanor Roosevelt apparently tied the hands of her three-year-old daughter, Anna, to the bedposts so she couldn't masturbate.)

And still some of these kids overcome all of this trauma and stress to triumph! This book finally gets the dates and places right, a persistent irritant for those of us who have researched the subject, only to find Pulitzer prize wining authors giving out the wrong info and even misspelling the names of the children. This book will clearly have a long shelf life and be a favorite of libraries, if only because of that fact alone.

So here it is finally. And it was worth the wait! A fascinating glimpse of the children of presidents and what happens to them after they have left the national stage.