Books in Print 2018

BOOKS IN PRINT FALL 2018

To order visit shop.whitehousehistory.org Questions contact books@whha.org

NEW RELEASE

The Step phen

DEC CATUR T R HOUSE U

James Ter e tius de Kay Michael Fazio Osborne Phinizy Mackie and Kattherine Malone-France PRINCIP AL PHOTOGR APH Y B Y Bruce M. White

A HIST TORY

THE STEPHEN DECATUR HOUSE: A HISTORY

By James Tertius deKay, Michael Fazio, Osborne Mackie, and Katherine Malone France

celebrity for his heroics in the Barbary Wars and the War of 1812, Commodore Stephen Decatur built his home in 1818 within sight of the President’s House with prize money awarded to him by Congress for his military victories. He commissioned Benjamin Henry Latrobe, America’s first professional architect, to create a home “fit for fine entertaining” and the resulting three-story square townhouse constructed with red brick in the Federal fashion is known as Decatur House today. His time in the house was cut short in 1820 when he was mortally wounded in a duel. His widow rented the house to such prominent figures as Henry Clay, Martin Van Buren, and Edward Livingston, and ultimately sold it to John Gadsby. In 1872, General Edward Beale purchased the house and created a fashionable Victorian home. In 1956, Marie Beale bequeathed the house to the National Trust for Historic Preservation; and in 2011 the White House Historical Association became a co-steward of the historic site. This volume chronicles the history of the house and its occupants in four parts—a biography of Stephen Decatur and his naval accomplishments by James Tertius de Kay; an architectural history by Michael Fazio; a study of the fine and decorative arts collection by Osborne Mackie; and an essay on the evolution of the house from private home to historic site by Katherine Malone-France.

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“Few houses have witnessed the color, glory, and tragedy of American history as that which took place at Decatur House. This is the whole story for the first time in one volume.”—William Seale, American Historian 2018 • 9" x 11" • 460 pages • Nearly 400 images • Casebound with dustjacket 978-1-931917-70-4

NEW RELEASE

n December 1962, Leonardo da Vinci’s Mona Lisa set sail from Paris to New York for what was perhaps the riskiest art exhibition ever mounted. The driving force behind the undertaking was First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy who overcame the fierce objections of art officials who feared the journey would ruin the world’s most celebrated smile. Sealed in a temperature-controlled, bulletproof box, the fragile painting traveled like a head of state accompanied by armed guards and constant surveillance. As “Mona Mania” swept the nation, nearly two million people attended exhibits at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Jacqueline Kennedy had succeeded in igniting a national love affair with the arts. Acclaimed biographer Margaret Leslie Davis tells the story of this tantalizing saga filled with international intrigue and the irresistible charm of Camelot and its queen.

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MONA LISA IN CAMELOT How Jacqueline Kennedy and da Vinci’s Masterpiece Charmed and Captivated a Nation

by Margaret Leslie Davis

“A little gem of a book.”— Good Morning America “Meticulously researched . . . a delightful story.”— Boston Globe “An intriguing sketch of Jackie— a woman as enigmatic as the Mona Lisa herself.”— Newsday 2018 • 6" x 9" • 274 pages • Casebound with dustjacket 978-1-931917-84-1 • SRP $29.95 • SKU 1045

NEW RELEASE his book is about the walls of the White House and the stonemasons from Scotland who created the finest stone carving in eighteenth-century America. The walls of the President’s House are not silent if you look beneath the paint that makes them white and focus your attention on their placement, marks, scars, floral carvings, and varied shapes.

Down the Potomac River, the Aquia quarry from which the stones came remains.

Abandoned and apparently left as it was two centuries ago, it yields volumes to the eye about how hundreds of men transformed the raw outcroppings into building blocks. The stone walls they created are all that is left of the original White House. They remember great moments and the full succession of presidents.

No one knows more about the White House than William Seale. His extensive knowledge gives form to the living history of the monumental building.

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A WHITE HOUSE OF STONE Building America’s First Ideal in Architecture

By William Seale

The Edinburgh masons, in their grandest act, seem to have made a labor of love carving the 14-foot swag above the North Door . . . Double Scottish Roses, acorns, fruits, and oak leaves fill this abundant garland . . .

It is unquestionably the finest stone carving in eigh-

teenth-century America.—W I L L I A M S E A L E

2017 • 10¼" x 9¼" • 164 pages • Casebound 978-1-931917-77-3 • SRP $49.95 • SKU 613

NEW RELEASE t may have been First Lady Dolley Madison who first suggested the annual public egg roll that children enjoyed on Capitol Hill for decades until they wore out their welcome in 1876. In 1878 President Rutherford B. Hayes came to the rescue and invited the children to roll their Easter eggs on the White House Grounds. With its sloped South Lawn and more than 18 acres of parkland, the grounds remain a perfect setting for what has become the Annual White House Easter Egg Roll. As the celebration has grown beyond the traditional rolling of brightly dyed hardboiled eggs to include such activities as “egg ball” during the Grover Cleveland administration; maypole dances during the Herbert Hoover era; a petting zoo during the Jimmy Carter years; autographed eggs during the Ronald Reagan administration; a special event for military families during the George W. Bush presidency; and storytime with the first lady during the Donald Trump administration. But one thing remains the same—guests enjoy a wonderful day full of fun and merriment with the first family.

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THE WHITE HOUSE EASTER EGG ROLL: A History for All Ages

By Jonathan Pliska Illustrations by John Hutton There could not be a more perfect spot for this time-honored tradition than the president’s backyard. Newly commissioned illustrations incorporating scenes of the evolution of the White House grounds reveal how each administration since President Rutherford B. Hayes has staged the annual event.

2018 • 8" x 6" • 80 pages • Flexbound 978-1-931917-86-5 • SRP $14.95 • SKU 1043

R ECENT R ELEASE eginning with George Washington, this book details the musical ceremonies and performances at the White House as well as musical interests of the presidents and their families. First published in 1986, the title received a Deems Taylor Award for Outstanding Books in the Field of Music from the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). This new edition is expanded to include the role of music during the administrations of Presidents Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, William J. Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama as well as the first months of the Donald J. Trump Administration.

Newly commissioned photography includes never-before-published images of sheet music, archival documents, and instruments played at the White House.

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MUSIC AT THE WHITE HOUSE From the 18th to the 21st Centuries

by Elise Kirk Foreword by Jessye Norman

There is a special feeling of grace and pride in knowing that the leaders of our nation continue this grand tradition of music in the People’s House. That the doors have been opened to Leontyne Price’s singing of Tosca’s great aria “Vissi D’Arte”. . . as well as the foot-stomping rhythms of Stevie Wonder. All are a part of the glorious musical mosaic that shows us who we are and what we strive to be: One nation.

—JESSYE NORMAN

2017 • 9¼" x 11¼" • 424 pages • Casebound with dust jacket 978-1-931917-69-8 • $75.00 • SKU #614

CLASSIC REFERENCE

THE PRESIDENT’S HOUSE: A HISTORY

by William Seale Intensely human, prodigiously researched, and gracefully told, this is, in so many ways, Our Story—the narrative of a nation as embodied in a house and its occupants . . . Nobody knows more about the White House than William Seale and no one can match his gift for making America’s House come alive through centuries.—

resented in two elegant volumes, this authoritative history chronicles the continuum of the White House through American history and the human story of the White House as home to the presidents and their families. From President George Washington through President George H. W. Bush, the reader experiences the many colorful facets of life in the seat of presidential power: the etiquette, politics, architecture, décor, landscaping, cuisine, and more. A winner of five national awards, this is a treasury of the people, the plans, and the purposes that have shaped the White House from the very beginning.

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RICHARD NORTON SMITH

2008 • Slipcase: 5"w x 6½"d x 9¾"h • 2-volume set • 1350 pages • Casebound with slipcase 978-1-931917-02-5 • SRP $59.95 • SKU #516

he President’s Neighborhood is not totally presidential, but at its high mark, it seems so, for one is continually aware of this highest official when there. But beyond being home to the head of state, the White House neighborhood is one of the most historic neighborhoods in the nation.

Vigorous life has gone on here for two centuries, warmed by the proximity to the great power represented in the White House.

Winner of three gold medals, this new title presents a contemporary view of the city through nearly 200 never-before-published photographs captioned with the words of American presidents and first ladies. We see the neighborhood as the president sees it, from the White House to the surrounding parks, historic homes and landmarks, hotels, government and commercial architecture, and city streets.

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AT HOME IN THE PRESIDENT’S NEIGHBORHOOD A Photographic Tour

by Bruce M. White With historical commentary by William Seale

I believe that the importance of Lafayette Square lies in the fact that we were not willing to destroy our cultural and historic heritage but that we were willing to find means of preserving it while still meeting requirements of growth in government.— P R E S I D E N T J O H N F. K E N N E D Y

I am a strong advocate for the public to have access to the public parts of the building. . . . I think there is ample room for everybody.— PRESIDENT GERALD R. FORD

2016 • 11¼" x 11¼" • 320 pages • Casebound with dust jacket 978-1-931917-46-9 • SRP $49.95 • SKU #234

wo grand houses were under construction in the young Federal City in 1816: one, the President’s House, undergoing reconstruction after it was burned by the British in 1814, and the other, Tudor Place, an elegant mansion rising on the heights above Georgetown. Little more than two miles apart, each survives as a national architectural landmark. The builders of Tudor Place were Thomas Peter and his wife Martha —Martha Washington’s granddaughter. While the White House is perhaps the most well known building in the world, Tudor Place remained a family home until 1983 and very private, although the Peters welcomed some of the nation’s foremost leaders as their guests and were themselves guests at the White House.

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T UDOR P LACE America’s Story Lives Here Introduction by Joseph Ellis Architectural essay by William Allen

Now a historic house and garden museum, the house remains as the Peters lived in it, preserving spaces and belongings of many eras while adapting their home and landscape to contemporary fashion and functions. As Tudor Place celebrates its bicentennial, this lavishly illustrated book, the first definitive history of the house and its collection, takes us into the house to explore its rooms, gardens, archival collections, and such rare artifacts as one of only three surviving letters from George to Martha Washington.

2016 • 9¼" x 11¼" • 304 pages • Casebound with dust jacket 978-1-931917-56-8 • SRP $49.95 • SKU #236

or the presidents, a basic component of official entertaining has always been the dinner table. To enhance each White House event, table settings—china, silver, linens, and flowers—are elegantly designed to convey the ultimate in diplomacy, national pride, and hospitality. Documenting more than two centuries, this book features the elegant china used for official White House entertaining and private dining that survives as a touchstone of the American presidency. As this book conveys, assembled together, the presidential china in the White House comprises a museum collection of unequalled historic significance. First released in 1974, this new edition, the first to be published by the White House Historical Association, is greatly expanded and redesigned with 85 new illustrations. The three china services most recently added to the collection, those of the William Jefferson Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama administrations, are highlighted for the first time. Personal reflections on the design and significance of these services are shared by First Ladies Michelle Obama, Laura Bush, and Hillary Clinton.

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OFFICIAL WHITE HOUSE CHINA From the 18th to the 21st Centuries

by William G. Allman

The sets of elegant china featured inside these pages serve as a timeless representation of White House history and American diplomacy through the ages. — F O R M E R F I R S T L A D Y

MICHELLE OBAMA

Every piece of White House china tells the story of a gracious home and of the times a First Family says to their guests, “Welcome, join us for dinner!”

— F O R M E R F I R S T L A DY L AU R A BU S H

The White House and its history belong to the American people, and that history includes the exquisite collection of historic sets of fine china. — F O R M E R F I R S T L A DY H I L L A RY C L I N TO N

2016 • 9¼" x 11¼" • 320 pages • Casebound with dust jacket 978-1-931917-63-6 • SRP $49.95 • SKU #258

he White House, the official residence of the president, is also seen as the people’s house, its grounds, the people’s grounds.

This duality of ownership was apparent from the beginning, when President Thomas Jefferson first weighed the merits of presidential privacy and the right of any citizen to visit the White House for a stroll upon its green grass. Today, safety and security concerns justifiably limit access, creating an 18acre refuge for the president and first family.

The White House grounds, contained within an iron fence, are the oldest continually maintained ornamental landscape in the United States—and their history extensive.

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A GARDEN FOR THE PRESIDENT A History of the White House Grounds

by Jonathan Pliska Foreword by Dale Haney Change is as constant in the garden as is the daily routines that have been carried on for more than two hundred years, undertaking ambitious projects, planting with the seasons, caring for the trees, and ensuring that the green grass that serves as a presidential stage is always green. — DALE HANEY, GROUNDS SUPERINTENDENT, THE WHITE HOUSE

Heavily illustrated with historical images and newly commissioned photography, A Garden for the President explores not only the relationship between the White House and its landscape but also the evolution of its design; the public and private uses of the grounds in peace and wartime; and the cultivation of the grounds with a focus on the specimen trees, vegetable and ornamental gardens, and conservatories.

2016 • 12" x 9"• 300 pages • Casebound with dust jacket 978-1-931917-55-1 • SRP $49.95 • SKU 235

G ENERAL I NTEREST THE PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA his Special 2017 Inaugural Edition tells the important stories of the lives and administrations of each of the American presidents including our 45th president, Donald J. Trump. The presidential biographies are illustrated with the official presidential portraits that hang in the State Rooms, West Wing, and public and private spaces of the White House today.

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2017 • 6½" x 9½" • 100 pages • Quality paper 978-1-931917-04-9 • SRP $9.95 • SKU 606

THE FIRST LADIES OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA his Special 2017 Inaugural Edition introduces First Lady Melania Trump and profiles the many women who have preceded her in maintaining the traditions of White House hospitality. The first ladies are brought to life with portraits in the White House collection.

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2017 • 6½" x 9½" • 100 pages • Quality paper 978-1-931917-05-6 • SRP $9.95 • SKU 607

THE WHITE HOUSE: AN HISTORIC GUIDE his award-winning guide offers an intimate room-by-room tour of the interior of the White House, with photographs and descriptions as well as a walking tour of the exterior, with a key to its architectural elements and grounds. Visitors viewing the White House from the streets of Washington, D.C.—and armchair tourists at home— can enjoy and appreciate the house that belongs not just to the president, but to all the American people.

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2017 • 7" x 10"• 240 pages • Quality paper 978-1-931917-82-7 • SRP $18.95 • SKU 743

THE LIVING WHITE HOUSE he Living White House opens the gates to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, presenting the more than 200-year history of life in the most famous house in America. This new edition features illustrated text with both historic and modern images of the president at work in his office, state occasions, public celebrations, the first family at home, pets, children, weddings, and White House workers, visitors, and daily routines.

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The Living White House Betty C. Monkman

2017 • 8" x 10"• 225 pages • Quality paper 978-1-931917-81-0 • SRP $18.95 • SKU 1103

the white house historical association

COOKBOOKS or five years, the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge, part of First Lady Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! initiative, invited 8 to 12year-olds across the nation to create a healthy, affordable, original, and delicious lunch recipe.

Winners representing all U.S. states, territories, and the District of Columbia were selected each year to attend a Kids’ “State Dinner” at the White House hosted by Mrs. Obama and more than 270 of their winning appealing and creative recipes are compiled here and represent the “farm to table” ideal of health conscious America taken one step farther: “From farm to State Dining Room table.” Introduced with a letter from First Lady Michelle Obama.

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THE WHITE HOUSE KIDS’ “STATE DINNER” COOKBOOK Winning Recipes from the Healthy Lunchtime Challenge Over the years we received 6,000 recipe submissions and were blown away by the energy, imagination, diversity and culinary skills reflected in each and every one.— F O R M E R F I R S T L A DY M I C H E L L E O B A M A

2016 • 8” x 10"• 320 pages • Casebound 978-1-931917-74-2 • SRP $39.95 • SKU 362

A SWEET WORLD OF WHITE HOUSE DESSERTS

by Roland Mesnier n this memoir, Roland Mesnier, pastry chef to five presidents, recalls the stunning desserts he created for White House State Dinners, formal events, and family celebrations. The famous gingerbread White House, a frequent State Dining Room holiday showcase, grew out of the simple models he crafted for the first family’s Christmas celebrations. This illustrated book features full-color images of these one-of-akind creations, and Chef Mesnier’s stories about the people and places that inspired them.

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2011 • 8¾” x 11¼” • 144 pages • Casebound with dust jacket 978-1-931917-10-0 • SRP $35.95 • SKU 789

THE WHITE HOUSE IN GINGERBREAD: MEMORIES AND RECIPES

by Roland Mesnier with Mark Ramsdell n this memoir and cookbook, Roland Mesnier, executive pastry chef to five presidents, tells the story behind each of the holiday gingerbread houses he created for display in the White House State Dining Room.

Chef Mesnier also provides step-by-step instructions and templates for constructing and decorating a gingerbread house in the home kitchen. More than thirty of Chef Mesnier’s White House favorite holiday recipes are featured including cookies, traditional holiday recipes, cakes and soufflés, meringues, mousses, fillings, frozen desserts, and fresh fruit.

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2015 • 111⁄4” x 111⁄4”• 208 pages • Casebound with dust jacket 978-1-931917-47-6 • SRP $39.95 • SKU 524

SPECIAL INTEREST

THE WHITE HOUSE: THE HISTORY OF AN AMERICAN IDEA

by William Seale richly illustrated reference on the evolution of the architecture of the White House, this volume offers rare glimpses of the long-vanished interiors and the discarded contributions of such giants of American architecture and design as Benjamin Latrobe, Thomas U. Walter, Louis Comfort Tiffany, and Charles McKim. Illustrations include documents from the Historic American Buildings Survey as well as a large selection of historical plans, prints, and photographs never before brought together in one volume.

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2018 • 9½"x 12½" • 354 pages • Casebound with Leather Spine 978-1-931917-85-8 • SRP $49.95

THE WHITE HOUSE: ITS HISTORIC FURNISHINGS AND FIRST FAMILIES

by Betty C. Monkman he White House has been home to every president and his family beginning with John and Abigail Adams, and each family endeavored to make it a comfortable home and to acquire furniture and decorative art to fulfill the White House’s role as a nexus of ceremony and entertaining. As a result, the furnishings in the White House include a wide range of periods, all rich with historic association. This award-winning book includes chapters on period styles and State Rooms of the White House as well as a catalog of illustrated objects in the White House collection.

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2014 • 9¾" x 12" • 320 pages • Casebound with dust jacket 978-0-7892-1179-8 • SRP $39.95 • SKU 976

SOMETHING OF SPLENDOR omething of Splendor, by White House curators William Allman and Melissa Naulin, highlights objects from the 2011 exhibition at the Renwick Gallery of the Smithsonian’s American Art Museum.

Included are selected works from the exhibition and the story of the history and furnishings of the White House.

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2011 • 9" x 9" • 96 pages • Quality paper 978-1-931917-13-1 • SRP $10.00 • SKU 772

THE NIGHT THEY BURNED THE WHITE HOUSE n 2004, The White House Historical Association commissioned Tom Freeman, one of the most prolific painters of historical subjects in the United States, to paint a panoramic representation of the White House in flames at the hands of the British on August 24, 1814. Ten years after the original commission was made, as the bicentennial of the burning approached, the popularity of the painting inspired the association to return to the artist with a new commission—to expand his storytelling with pencil, paper, and a touch of watercolor in the orange flames. The result is a commemorative account of The Night They Burned the White House.

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2014 • 9¼" x 7¾" • 48 pages • Quality paper 978-1-931917-42-1 • SRP $15.95 • SKU 511

AMERICA UNDER FIRE: MR. MADISON’S WAR & THE BURNING OF WASHINGTON CITY bicentennial symposium hosted by the White House Historical Association in partnership with the U.S. Capitol Historical Society and James Madison’s Montpelier featured papers exploring the causes of the War of 1812; the British burning of public buildings; President James Madison’s interpretation of the Constitution in a time of war; Dolley Madison’s role as partner and heroine; the impact of invasion on civilians; and the aftermath of fire and war. These papers are published in this volume.

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2014 • 8"x 10" • 205 pages • Quality paper 978-1-931917-14-8 • SRP $19.95 • SKU 512

FOR C HILDREN

he holiday season at the White House is a very magical time of year. The house is beautifully decorated from top to bottom, and for nearly fifty years a one-of-a-kind gingerbread house has been the centerpiece of the White House Christmas decorations. The Gingerbread White House: A Pop-Up Book invites you to enjoy this beloved tradition in your own home. Discover fanciful decorations, presidential pets in marzipan, and inside stories from pastry chefs Roland Mesnier and Mark Ramsdell. Children of all ages will enjoy the recipes included in the booklet and playing with the paper punch-outs, including the president’s limousine, a Secret Service agent, Santa on his sleigh, and a chef serving pastries.

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THE GINGERBREAD WHITE HOUSE A Pop-up Book Illustrated by Chuck Fischer Booklet by former White House Pastry Chefs Roland Mesnier and Mark Ramsdell

SCRATC & SNIFFH IN S ID E !

Pop-up closed: 13¼" x 12" • Pop-up opened: 26¾" x 12" • Booklet: 5½" x 7½" 978-1-931917-65-0 • SRP $24.95 • SKU#237

his award-winning book tells the story of the historic Treaty Table, a real object that remains in the White House collection today.

The history of the table, from its construction in 1869 to its use as a Cabinet Room Table, as a setting for the signing of important peace treaties, and as a presidential workspace is illustrated. The author speculates on whether the presidents’ children may have also left their fingerprints on this historic object.

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FINGERPRINTS ON THE TABLE: The Story of the White House Treaty Table

By Connie Remlinger Trounstine Illustrated by Kerry P. Talbot

Upstairs in the White House there is a long table. The fingerprints of all who touched it are part of its story.

2013 • 9" x 12" • 48 pages • Casebound 978-1-931917-14-8 • SRP $18.95 • SKU 952

AWAY FROM THE WHITE HOUSE: Presidential Escapes, Retreats, and Vacations

by Larry Knutson

ong years have passed since an American president, taking his cue from the customs of the diplomatic community, abandoned the White House for most of the summer to go home and take care of his personal business—then nearly always a farm, such as Jefferson's Monticello. Today the presidency is year-round.

Time away from the White House must be fitted into the great puzzle of his overall responsibilities, and is inevitably shorter than in the distant past. Away from the White House: Presidential Escapes, Retreats, and Vacations presents a lively and interesting slice of the presidency that most of us know little about: how and where the presidents have relaxed away from the White House.

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2013 • 9¼”x 12” • 440 pages • Casebound with dust jacket 978-1-931917-40-7 • SRP $39.95 • SKU 505

T O B E R ELEASED O CTOBER 23, 2018

OFFICIAL RESIDENCES

AROUND THE WORLD

BY Abby Clouse-Radigan

INTRODUCTION BY Stewart D. McLaurin

OFFICIAL RESIDENCES AROUND THE WORLD

by Abby Clouse-Radigan Introduction by Stewart D. McLaurin

uring the last decade of the eighteenth century, one of the most famous buildings in the world today was rising. Completed in 1800 in the new City of Washington, the White House, like its European predecessors, would be a home, an office where state business was conducted, and the setting for official functions, ceremonies, receptions, and entertainments. The White House is an unusual hybrid—but is it unique? That question inspired this book, which begins to put the White House in a global perspective by surveying the official residences and offices of some fifty nations, with a look at their histories, their spaces, and their functions. These national landmarks represent nearly one thousand years of building and renovating. An official residence is the home of that person defined in law, written or traditional, as head of state or government—otherwise it is simply a building. Each of these landmarks is symbolic of a nation’s history and each, it turns out, is unique.

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2018 • 9”x 11” • 224 pages • Casebound with leather spine 978-1-931917-87-2 • Contact books@whha.org for ordering information