Prayers of Our Presidents

Just in time for election season comes this compendium of prayers from the nation's presidents, appearing in mostly chronological order by administration. MacGregor and Prys cull the prayers from personal journals, letters, inaugural addresses, speeches and other writings in the presidents' papers. Most are short, such as a lovely prayer that Rutherford and Lucy Hayes are said to have recited together every day when he was in office in the late 1870s. President Kennedy is represented by a Thanksgiving prayer of gratitude, while Teddy Roosevelt makes an appeal for justice and charity that is marked by his characteristic emphasis on those""virtues that make for manliness and rugged hardihood."" The editors follow the prayers with a brief""life and times"" section about each leader, mini-biographies that are remarkably free of partisan swagger. They also include little-known facts about each president, some of which deal with religion. Less successful are the questions for reflection and personal prayer that follow each presidential prayer; this book works better as a Christian history and introduction to American presidents than it does as a guide to individual spirituality.