Interview with Forrest Tower, author of Successes and Failures
Interviewer: Who would be interested in reading your new book, U.S. Presidents: Successes and Failures?
Forrest: Truly, anyone interested in American history will find the book interesting, easy to read, and educational. The book is designed to provide readers with insights into presidential decision-making, how they worked out, and explore historical events they may never have heard of or thought about for a long time. The format is a micro-learner's dream come true—quick, concise, and relevant today.
Interviewer: What was the central argument or idea that first sparked your decision to write this book, and how did that initial concept evolve as you conducted your research?
Forrest: First of all, I have been very interested in American history throughout my whole life. Even though I was a science major, I took a number of American history courses in college. If I had to point to one thing that sparked my interest in writing the American history in a nutshell series, it was a little book by what I call the two Allisons, Alison Rattle and Allison Vale. They wrote a very interesting book called “American History In Bite-Sized Chunks”. In this short book, they summarize all of the major events in the history of the United States, each on a single page. They wrote each profile in an easy-to-understand way, making the reader comfortable and curious about what’s next. After drafting my first manuscript, U.S. Presidents: Decisions of Consequence, I thought not only about the decision itself but also whether it was a success or a failure. This ledd to the research, analysis, and writing of U.S. Presidents: Successes and Failures.
Interviewer: In a field as vast as history, what gap in the existing literature does your book specifically aim to fill? What new perspective or evidence are you bringing to light?
Forrest: I think all the information found in this book can be found in history books. What makes this book different, however, is twofold. First, while history books will tell you what happened (frequently in high detail) , reading this book puts it in perspective with the other decisions, successes, and failures so the reader can tell the relative difference.
Second, the microlearning format allows for quick reading and rapid information absorptiond.
Interviewer: Which do you think is the greatest success and failure?
Forrest: It is entirely possible that had John F. Kennedy allowed nuclear missiles in Cuba, we would have had a nuclear war. So, I consider that the greatest success. Jimmy Carter’s handling of the Middle East is the greatest failure of a U.S. President. His failure to blunt the Islamic Revolution in Iran has led to more misery, militarily and economically than any other event I can think of. We have spent trillions of dollars and thousands of lives in the War On Terror which probably would never have occurred if the Middle East had been stabilized.
Interviewer: You're dealing with real people from the past. How did you balance the need for rigorous, evidence-based analysis with the human desire to tell a compelling story, especially when sources were scarce or biased?
Forrest: Although I have been reading about American history my entire life and knew many of the stories told in the book, I relied heavily on internet research to gather the facts for each president. I then used artificial intelligence sites (Perplexity, Copilot, Meta, Gemini) to help me determine which of the many successes and failures each president made was the most consequential. I then conducted additional research on the context leading up to that decision and its impact.
Interviewer: Your book is published today. What connection or lesson do you hope modern readers, who live in a very different world, will draw from the history you've detailed?
Forrest: To a great extent, history repeats itself. There are definitely recurrent themes throughout the history of the United States. Some of these include the political polarization, which actually started way back with the tremendous animosity between John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, after George WA decided not to run for a second term. American expansionism is another theme where several presidents, either deliberately or incidentally, expanded the reach of the country. For example, following the Spanish-American War, we first became a global power. Another theme is the use of tariffs and tax adjustments to shore up the economy. Even today, we are seeing the Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798 being employed by current politicians.
Interviewer: What is the one major takeaway you hope lingers in the mind of a reader long after they’ve finished the final chapter?
Forrest: I think the biggest takeaway is that Presidents are human beings making decisions that have consequences domestically and abroad. Nonetheless, we must remember that there successes and failures are not only the result of the decisions they make, but also on how they are executed.
Interviewer: What differentiates your books from other American History textbooks?
Forrest: First, they are written is a style that is easy to read. Second, they are quick reads so anyone who has five or ten minutes can read a few pages and learn about a couple of
presidents. Third, they all come with additional downloadable materials free of charge available on my website—things like discussion guides for book clubs and classes, bookmarks, further reading recommendations, and other useful content of value are available to download.
Interviewer: Now that the book is out, what is the next historical question or era that is calling to you, and might it be the subject of your next project?
Forrest: I’m glad you asked. American History In A Nutshell is a series of books I am writing to entertain and inform anyone interested in learning about the nation’s history, using quick-read, microlearning format.
U.S. Presidents: Decisions of Consequence is actually the first of five books that I have already written. The first three are about U.S. Presidents and include:
“Decisions of Consequence”
“Successes and Failures”
“Quotes of Consequence”
The fourth is a book that looks at how the United States came to be and which profiles not only the famous founders, which everyone knows about, but also many of the other men and women who had a significant part in the American Revolution and the founding documents, the Declaration of Independence, Articles of Confederation, and the U.S. Constitution. The book is called “The American Founders: Leaders of the Revolution”.
The fifth book takes a fascinating look at the Supreme Court of the United States. My co-author and I looked, in great detail, at each of the seventeen Chief Justices and the Landmark cases that they presided over. We took a different twist by writing in the first person, as if each Chief Justice were telling his own story and then his take on each case. All of the books use the same quick, easy-to-read style, although “The Supreme Court of the United States: Decisions of Consequence” is a bit more in-depth than the others
I hope that if you like one of my books, you will read the others.
They are available at all of the major online booksellers, my website, and many retail bookstores.