Updegrove, Mark K.

PERSONAL:

Male.

CAREER:

Writer and business executive. Yahoo! Inc, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, vice president and head of sales. Worked previously with Time as a manager and as president of Time Canada, and as a publisher of Newsweek.

WRITINGS:

Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies after the White House, Lyons Press (Guilford, CT), 2006.

SIDELIGHTS:

Mark K. Updegrove is an executive with Yahoo! who worked previously as the president of Time Canada and as publisher for Newsweek. In his first book, Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies after the White House, he traces the post-White House careers of American presidents from Harry Truman to Bill Clinton. Updegrove writes that the expectations of former presidents have changed considerably since the early decades of the twentieth century, when outgoing presidents received no pension and no guarantee of financial security. This is contrasted to more recent presidents who are sustained financially by book deals and speaking engagements, and who are involved with humanitarian issues around the world. Washington Post reviewer Peter Baker commented that the book's stories "peel back the curtain a bit on the lives of our former leaders in an entertaining and illuminating way." Jay Freeman remarked in a Booklist review that "Updegrove writes with a breezy, easily digestible prose." The "engaging narrative," wrote Library Journal contributor Karl Helicher, includes "lively accounts" taken from live interviews with several former presidents. A Kirkus Reviews critic found that Updegrove's "introduction effectively instills the historical mood" and his writing is "revealing in detail and context."

BIOGRAPHICAL AND CRITICAL SOURCES:

PERIODICALS

Booklist, August 1, 2006, Jay Freeman, review of Second Acts: Presidential Lives and Legacies after the White House, p. 35.

California Bookwatch, December 1, 2006, review of Second Acts.

Campaigns & Elections, December 1, 2006, review of Second Acts, p. 110.

Kirkus Reviews, August 1, 2006, review of Second Acts, p. 776.

Library Journal, July 1, 2006, Karl Helicher, review of Second Acts, p. 91.

Publishers Weekly, June 26, 2006, review of Second Acts, p. 41.

ONLINE

Washington Post Online,http://www.washingtonpost.com. (October 10, 2007), Peter Baker, "Out of the Oval Office but Still in the Loop," review of Second Acts.