How to Fight Presidents: Defending Yourself Against the Badasses Who Ran This Country Paperback – Illustrated, March 18, 2014

I bought this book when it first came out and have read through it multiple times due to making me laugh and the knowledge of the presidents in it. I recommend it and hope that you enjoy yourself.

Dan O'Brien does a wonderful job of blending presidential fact with presidential hilarity in this fun and entertaining read. I've never read a book on beating up presidents quite as fast as I read this book. On a scale of one to ten, I give this book a resounding "YES!" Apparently the American presidential apple doesn't fall far from the American tree, because our presidents have as violent and badass a past as America itself. Read this book if you want to understand why America is the greatest country in the history of the solar system. Read this book if you want to understand why the president is the hardest job in the country (and no, it's not just because you have to submit your resume on albino zebra parchment paper written in the blood of a virgin american bald eagle).It's because it take a special person to run America: the biggest ego on the planet.This book is a great freaking read.

I wish this book had been in my high school history class reading list. I wish it had been in my college reading lists. I wish that at some point in my life, someone had told me, "Hey, did you know American History can be not only interesting, but totally and completely badass? Like, Bruce Willis walking away from an exploding fireworks factory kind of badass?"That is what this book does. Daniel O'Brien (who is an amazing and hilarious editor/contributor/actor on Cracked.com and has tons of funny crap to read, seriously, go look him up) has a passion for the presidency. Seriously, I don't think I've ever met a man more informed, opinionated, and truly passionate about American Commanders in Chief. This book is funny, well-researched, and totally worth the time and money. My only reason for the 4 stars rather than 5 is that occasionally his bias towards certain presidents (and I do not believe I've ever met a man with such powerful biases outside of political punditry) means that he gives little to no information, just writes out a series of (amusing but historically unverifiable) insults and then moves on. So if you're a Millard Filmore fan, watch out.Daniel O'Brien, you are one of the best things to happen to online nerd comedy, ever.

I picked this up as a gift for my BIL. He loves it and got a great laugh from everyone.

I've long been a fan of Daniel O'Brien's articles on Cracked, so when I saw that he was coming out with a book about going mano-a-mano with the Misters President, I put my money down and preordered the darn thing.It showed up at my house yesterday night. I read it straight through, and immediately wrote him a fan letter praising the hell out of it. And now I'm writing this review, because it was that damn good.With an entry for every one of our deceased presidents (no living president gets an entry, which seems appropriately respectful), O'Brien delivers amusing anecdotes and bizarre facts about our Commanders-in-Chief while never failing to point out their varying levels of dangerousness, ferocity, and badassitude. There's something notably funny and interesting in each brief chapter, and the accompanying illustrations are alternately amusing, terrifying, and complementary without ever being a distraction from the text (with the possible exception of Rutherford B. Hayes' goddamn soul-killer eyes), which is a testament to Winston Rowntree's skills as a cartoonist.It's the funniest book I've read in a very long time, and I'm actually holding back on loaning it out to any friends in order to better push them to buy it. It's just fantastic.

I finished reading this book last night, and, I would recommend it to anyone. Daniel O'Brien is one of the senior editors at Cracked.com, and you don't get and keep that position without being both a) funny as hell, b) a really great writer, and c) great at doing your research and fact-checking.I read this a lot on a series of round-trip flights to St. Louis, and it kept eliciting spontaneous chortles and smirks that got me a few wary looks from passengers who likely weren't nearly as comfortable flying in a little twin prop plane as I was. Chapters are 6-8 pages long, which means it's easy to find a stopping point (though I found the book hard to put down), and, Winston Rowntree has a technically brilliant art style married with a sense of humor that's a match made in heaven for the text - he absolutely deserves that front cover mention for his illustrations, and I wish to subscribe to his newsletter (if he has one).The premise of the book - teaching you how to win, or at least survive, in a fight with our former presidents (except Teddy... you're going to lose, because he's -Teddy Roosevelt-) - is hilariously absurd. O'Brien has done a great deal of biographical and historical research on our nation's past leaders to put together a battle plan for his readers. I smiled, I chuckled, I laughed out loud, and I learned more about some of the most fascinating (and certifiably crazy) men in US history than I did in actual US history courses from kindergarten all the way through receiving my bachelor's degree.

Si estás familiarizado con el autor, su trabajo como escritor y guinista y sus videos de humor en YouTube de seguro disfrutarás este libro.Lleno de humor y referencias pop, te harán reír o al menos sonreír en cada página.

voilà ce que nous devrions apprendre sur nos chers présidents dans nos livres d'école.Drôle et très intéressant, ce livre nous permet de regarder nos présidents d'un nouvel oeil :)Je le recommande à tous!Je regrette qu'il n'y ai pas de traduction française...

This book is full out hilarious from start to finish. My only complaint is that it wasn't longer. If this was the sort of presidential history they taught in school (or at all in Canada) I would have been a better student.We need to fund a kick starter for O'Brian to do one of these books for every country in the world

Such a great book. Remarkably it balances humor, information and awesomeness perfectly, something I didn't expect from it. This book has taught me most of what I know about American presidents and it has been a fantastically awesome read. Each president has been researched thoroughly and many incidents from their lives are brought up giving you insight into their character and how best to beat them up should you ever come face to face with them (via a time machine). There are many presidents you should just run away from (Washington, Roosevelt, Quincy Adams). Lots of people will appreciate the humor in this book, but you may just want to check some of the author's articles on Cracked.com to check if your sense of humor matches his. However, overall I really recommend this book.

Excellent book, very light reading but also very engaging and entertaining. This isn't the kind of book you'd be citing in a college essay, but if you just want to learn some interesting tidbits about each of the American presidents in an interesting and funny format then this is certainly the right book to buy