William Henry Harrison by Gail Collins

I really like this "American Presidents" series of books.  The volumes are short enough biographies to not feel overwhelming, but they are big enough to include all of the information most of us will want to read.

This is a great, easy to read effort from Gail Collins.  She covers Harrisons life, family, and brief time in the White House.

After reading this book, I kind of feel like Harrison is the underdog President, who, in some ways, really wasn't a Presidential contender type, but he came in to the picture and barely got in- briefly.

Harrison lost many smaller elections, and tried to get significant political jobs, but often it just never worked out.  When he ran for President in 1840 it seemed that his best qualification was that he was not the unpopular incumbent president, Martin Van Buren.

During this time, Harrison presented himself as a humble frontiersman from a log cabin (somewhat of a play on an insult by the opposing democrats) which worked for him, though it was inaccurate.  He also was one of the first candidates to openly and aggressively campaign for himself.

I enjoyed reading about Harrisons dealing with Indians during his earlier political life.  Tecumseh is a fascinating foe for Harrison.  I would expect any person interested in the career of the 9th President would develop an interest (and probably an admiration) for the Native American leader.

There is more to William Henry Harrison than just his brief time as President (the shortest time in the White House ever) and his all time longest inaugural address.