Book Summary

Tevi Troy's book takes the reader chronologically through the Presidents of the United States, examining how they each interacted with the pop culture "technologies" of their day. Troy starts and ends his book referring to the current president, Barack Obama, providing a sort of capstone to the piece that feels most relevant to the reader.

While it is is clear how Obama's interaction with pop culture is connected to how we understand the word 'technology'--he carries a mobile device, watches modern television, and uses online media--this word is also applied to the earlier presidents. As explained by James Beniger in his chapter "The Control Revolution," the word 'technology' means "in a more general sense [...] any intentional extension of a natural process [...] equivalent to that which can be done"(54).  Troy picks up on this use of the word, exploring how books  represent one of the earliest form of an information technology, and states that the "founders lived in something of an Information Age, thanks to the printing press, faster travel, and expanding freedom"(2). The early chapters are then spent exploring how our early presidents interacted with books.

Troy then moves to exploring the middle presidents and their interaction with emerging technologies such as the radio, television, theater, and movies. He discusses how, through these mediums, the presidents not only communicate directly with their citizens, but they also use them to partake in popular culture for entertainment and a means to learn about their people. And while he discusses several anecdotal examples of the presidents' use of these technologies, Troy continues to bring reading and books back into the conversation, stressing that modern presidents do still read--though maybe not as much and not the same material. 

As stated earlier, Troy ends the main section of his book by devoting an entire chapter to Obama, who he states "has worked more aggressively than any other president to establish his preferred image through a variety of media— not only books, television, and movies, but new media such as Twitter, Reddit , and Google"(228). Obama is described as the culmination of the last 200 years of the presidents interaction with pop culture technologies. 

The book ends with a tidy conclusion that summarizes and then warns of the danger of a president who is focused more on his image than his policies.An appendix follows, which provides a 'how-to' for aspiring politicians, listing several rules for how they should manage this pop culture interaction. 

To hear Troy discuss the book himself, check out the interview below.