Taft 2012: A Novel

By Jason Heller

HE'S BACK.
AND HE'S THE BIGGEST THING IN POLITICS.

He is the perfect presidential candidate. Conservatives love his hard-hitting Republican résumé. Liberals love his peaceful, progressive practicality. The media can’t get enough of his larger-than-life personality. And all the American people love that he’s an honest, hard-working man who tells it like it is.

There’s just one problem. He is William Howard Taft . . . and he was already president a hundred years ago. So what on earth is he doing alive and well and considering a running mate in 2012?

A most extraordinary satire, Jason Heller’s debut novel follows the strange new life of a presidential Rip Van Winkle: a man who never even wanted the White House in the first place, yet finds himself hurtling toward it once more—this time, through the media-fueled madness of 21st-century America.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Quirk Books
• Release date: Jan 31, 2012
• ISBN: 9781594745560

Book preview

Author

"T he Bigness of the job demands a man of Taft’s type. He is thoroughly prepared for the task.… Never has there been a candidate for the Presidency so admirably trained in varied administrative service. Creed and color make no difference to him; he seeks to do substantial justice to all. There isn’t a mean streak in the man’s make-up. No man, too, fights harder when he thinks it necessary—but he hates to fight unless it is necessary."

—President Theodore Roosevelt, explaining why he endorsed William Howard Taft to follow him in office, 1908

To be a successful latter-day politician, it seems one must be a hypocrite.… That sort of thing is not for me. I detest hypocrisy, cant, and subterfuge. If I have got to think every time I say a thing, what effect it is going to have on the public mind—if I have got to refrain from doing justice to a fair and honest man because what I may say may have an injurious effect upon my own fortune—I had rather not be president.

—President William Howard Taft, two years into his term, 1910

December 6, 1912

Dear President Taft.

I am sorry you lost your election. My daddy says Wilson is a lousy so & so. When you are not busy being President any more you can come visit me at my house because I am from Cincinnati too. I would like a Teddy Roosevelt bear for Christmas. Thank you for reading my letter. Liberty & justice for all.

Signed, Irene O’Malley, age 6

The Washington Herald

Editorial column

March 5, 1913

The Herald editorial board would like to add a final note to our exclusive reportage of President Wilson’s inauguration.

This newspaper has certainly had its disagreements with William Howard Taft during the four years he resided at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, and we have not hesitated to point out the many occasions upon which Big Bill failed to live up to his predecessor Mr. Roosevelt’s fine example: for instance, his shameful treatment of that American institution, U.S. Steel. His refusal to sign legislation that would have sensibly restricted immigration to the literate. His un-American love for taxing businesses at the exorbitant rate of an entire percent of their annual income. This editorial board could go on at length!

But, for all these faults, we must acknowledge that Mr. Taft usually managed to approximate the personal behavior of a civil gentleman while president, a fact that leaves us all the more scandalized by his behavior yesterday. After saying his good-byes at the White House door in the morning, Big Bill subsequently did not bother to show up at all for resident Wilson’s swearing-in. A more egregious snub, a more unpresidential breach of propriety, can hardly be imagined!

Thus, having been granted no opportunity for a final interview with the twenty-seventh president of the United States—and, we might point out, the tenth president to be denied a second term by an unhappy American people—the Herald editorial board must deliver our parting words here upon this page: Shame on you, Mr. Taft. We surely don’t know what errand you could possibly have found so much more important than handing the reins of American democracy to your successor. Did you imagine Ohio could not wait another twenty-four hours to have its biggest success back? Or could you simply not bear to face a crowd of 250,000 people most eager to cheer your victor?

In any case, we have no doubt that the American people will see Big Bill again soon. After all, how could we fail to see him? The man is so large, he had to be pried loose from the White House bathtub. A proud legacy indeed, sir.

ONE

Dark.

It had been dark for so long. Dark and warm and wet and heavy. And silent.

So silent.

But not entirely so. He could hear things sometimes. A low hum of machines. A distant peal of laughter. A soft patter of either rain or tears.

He could feel things, too. The settling of the soil. The tickle of roots. The stately migration of the seasons.

And hunger. Good lord, the hunger.

He gnawed at the loam sometimes as he dreamed. He imagined he was buried under an avalanche of roasted chicken and brown gravy and custard. All he need do was eat his way out.

Instead, he slept.

That is, until the lights came.

It was a twinkling at first. They flashed intermittently, these lights, and then they quickly disappeared. He felt the dull thud of concussion, too, but knew not from where. But each flash and each thud brought him, bit by bit, out of his slumber.

Damnation, was he hungry.

With the hunger came memories. They lasted only as long as the flashes of light. First was a vision of a woman. A thin, pale woman. She spoke with difficulty, but she was happy, and she was strong-willed and alive. Even from this distance of space and time and consciousness, he drew from that strength.

Then there were children. Small ones and grown ones. There was a house, white as though carved from ivory. There was a man: bespectacled face round and beaming, voice so much louder than his own.

Then there was a smell. O glorious smell! The memory of it alone was almost enough to quell his ravenous, belly-clawing hunger. It was cherry. Cherry blossoms. The specter of the cool, sweet scent crept across his soul like a song. It came and went, but each time it faded, he clutched at it as if it were his own life’s blood.

Then, one day or minute or millennium later, he didn’t simply dream of the cherry blossoms. He smelled them.

The scent washed over him as he bolted upright. Other smells filled his nostrils too: rain and smoke and the familiar tang of roses. The cherry was faint, but it was there.

He had to find it. He ignored his hunger, ignored his pain, and pulled himself out of the infernal pit in which he’d found himself. He knew he was slathered in mud. No matter; he’d had mud slung at him before.

Groaning, his voice horribly coarse, he staggered into the light rain, looking for his beloved cherry blossoms. But there were none. It was autumn. The blossoms were long gone.

So instead he ran toward the sanctuary. The place where his one true friend slept.

The fountain.

But before he could make it there, he heard screams. He answered them in kind. He kept running.

That’s when he heard a crack like thunder and felt a fire like lightning in his leg.

He fell. His waking dream had passed.

When he woke again, water was running down his face. He could feel it stripping the mud from his skin and dripping from his mustache. He looked up. Hovering over him were men and women with brightly lit machines perched on their shoulders.

In the distance, a man ran toward them. He held what looked like a gun. He opened his mouth. Words came out.

Hey, turn off those cameras! Back away! Oh, my God—that face. That’s impossible. Holy shit.

CLASSIFIED

Secret Service Incidence Report

WHG20111107.027

Agent Ira Kowalczyk

At approximately 1042, an oversized mammalian figure covered in mud appeared behind the White House South Lawn Fountain, approaching the press conference in progress on the lawn. It was unclear to me for several seconds whether the intruder was a man or a large animal as it lurched toward the crowd while moaning loudly. As the closest perimeter guard, I drew my firearm and ordered the intruder to halt while the executive guard secured POTUS. The intruder bellowed louder and attempted to proceed past the South Lawn Fountain in the direction of POTUS and the press corps. I discharged my weapon once, striking the intruder in the leg, and he collapsed against the fountain. I approached and saw that the water from the fountain, along with the morning drizzle, was washing the mud from the intruder’s body. He was a very large man, over 6 feet tall, probably 300 pounds, wearing a formal tweed suit. He had white hair and a handlebar mustache. My first thought was that he looked like some sort of deranged presidential history buff dressed up as William Howard Taft.

From Taft: A Tremendous Man, by Susan Weschler:

I’ll never forget the moment I first saw him on the television screen. Not a picture—him. There was no mistaking him. I’d been studying the history of the man who owned that plump, jowled, puffy-eyed face my entire professional life:

Taft.

William Howard Taft. Twenty-seventh president of the United States. Weighed in at 335 pounds. Worked with unceasing devotion to the job for four years—but was so honest a politician, he ended up infuriating every single interest group that had ever supported him. Lost his 1912 reelection bid in a miserable, crushing defeat. And then just disappeared the morning of March 5, 1913, the day his successor, Woodrow Wilson, was inaugurated. Taft was never seen or heard from again; his last known words, spoken right outside the White House just hours before Wilson took the oath of office, were: I’ll be glad to be going. This is the loneliest place in the world. After that sad utterance, Taft never showed up for the ceremony. Or anything else. Ever.

Which meant the chaotic footage they kept replaying on CNN couldn’t be real. Couldn’t be him. How could he be here now, a century later, stumbling mud-covered into the midst of an unsuspecting White House press conference?

And yet that was clearly no fake girth, no Halloween mask. It was either the oddest terrorist attack in history, the stupidest reality-show prank imaginable … or it was Taft.

Like some sort of jolly were-walrus, he sat on the edge of the South Lawn Fountain, blinking and grinning. He was still filthy, but the rain had finally uncovered most of the man. He wore a great wool overcoat, a suit so stuffed that it strained at the buttons, and a huge filthy mustache that swirled and twirled and bristled across his upper lip. Beneath his feet, the water of the fountain had turned faintly red. He appeared to be in shock—and then he spoke. His voice was much higher and more melodious than you’d expect from such a giant of a man as he uttered the words that now live forever in the annals of history: I will gladly grant a Cabinet position, of your choice, to the first upright citizen who brings me pudding cake and a nice lobster thermidor. Then, of course, he collapsed.

TWO

He had slept, and woke, and slept again. Doctors had come and gone. So had men in black suits. Both had asked a great many questions. One or the other had drawn blood from the crook of his elbow and even had the unmitigated gall to clip a bit of hair from his mustache. The hair had been quickly sealed in a small transparent bag, but he felt scarcely strong enough even to wonder what that was all about, much less ask. Through it all, peculiar electrical devices whirred and pinged, and he faded in and out of consciousness.

Finally, after his third or fourth doze, he sat up, lucid, hungry. Alone. He was in a well-appointed bedroom suite; under the bed sheets, he was naked and clean. Draped over an armchair lay a fresh gray suit that looked to be close to his size, though for some reason it included neither waistcoat nor hat. He climbed out of bed and found that the suit was impeccably tailored, but it was still difficult to squeeze into, particularly his left leg, the upper half of which was swathed in an ungainly bandage.

Taft didn’t recognize the room, but he knew the smell of the place. It had filled his nostrils much as it had saturated his soul over the past four years.

He was in the White House.

No sooner had he spit-shined his shoes and curled the ends of what remained of his mustache, a knock came at the door.

Yes, by all means, come in!

The door creaked open, and a tall, thin man in a suit—also missing its waistcoat!—walked in. He crossed the room, smiled, and offered Taft his hand.

Mr. Taft, please. Don’t try to get up. You’ve been through a lot in the last twenty-four hours.

It appears I have! And who might you be? Are you here to bring me my meal? You will be my eternal hero if you could run down to the kitchen and fetch me a ham or two.

The man closed his eyes for a brief moment before smiling again. Dinner will be coming soon. First, I need you to listen. It may not seem like you were sleeping for long, and Lord knows we have no idea how or why this happened. But you went missing from the White House … quite some time ago. This is not exactly the world you remember.

Taft laughed. Not the world I remember? Why, I’d have to agree with you there. Today I’ve been shot, assaulted with strange machines, and spoken to in riddles. I appear to be in a world where the president of the United States can be condescended to like a child. By a manservant such as yourself, no less.

Mr. Taft, the man said, I need you to keep an open mind here, today and in the coming days. There is a lot you’re going to need to adjust to. First of all, I am the president of the United States. Not you. Not Woodrow Wilson. Me.

Before Taft could counter him, the man raised his hand and pressed on.

"You’ve been missing and presumed dead—one of America’s great mysteries—for a very long time. Don’t worry, the United States is still strong, still proud, still prosperous. But— He hesitated. Well, I’d better just say it. You’ve apparently been asleep for almost ninety-nine years. Today is November 8. The year is 2011. Mr. Taft, welcome to the twenty-first century."

Transcript, Raw Talk with Pauline Craig, broadcast Nov. 9, 2011

PAULINE CRAIG: A giant beast of a man bursts into a presidential press conference, is shot by Secret Service, and now, two days later, the White House is telling us that this befuddled intruder in a carnival mustache really is the missing former president William Howard Taft. Almost a hundred years after he vanished. I’m used to the government telling whoppers, but come on, now! Well, one way or another, it’s history in the making, folks. You’re living it. And Raw Talk is here to break it all down for you. Our first guest today, with us via satellite, is Director of National Intelligence James Mackler. Director Mackler, you’ve come on Raw Talk, much to our amazement, to back up the president’s outrageous claim earlier today that the man who stumbled onto the White House lawn has turned out to be the real William Howard Taft.

JAMES MACKLER: Thank you, Pauline. Under normal circumstances, an ongoing national security investigation wouldn’t be something we’d publicly comment on so quickly. But with Monday’s bizarre incident happening live in front of cameras, and—and with the startling facts we’ve uncovered, the president wants to get the information out to the public as quickly as possible, to minimize confusion and head off any worries about possible terrorist threats. So, here it is. Let me first explain—there are many levels of government security. There’s secret, and then there’s top secret—

PAULINE CRAIG: And then there’s SCI, sensitive compartmented information, which is the very highest top secret.

JAMES MACKLER: Yes. We compartmentalize the most extreme federal security information. And in the very smallest compartment—the information that, until now, no one outside the tightest, most secure handful of officials has even needed to know even existed, much less known what it is—is the identification code every president since the Civil War has memorized to protect the government against infiltration by a presidential impostor.

PAULINE CRAIG: In case something like—well, something like this

Reviews for Taft 2012

[bookishtexpat · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

The premise of this book was interesting but it just fell flat and felt predictable. I was expecting a bit more attention around how Taft emerged after 100 years - maybe some science fiction type stuff - but it didn't even touch that aspect of the story. It was also a bit disappointing that of course Taft's relative was a politician, and that they would team up. It was a cool idea but unfortunately executed poorly.

[kisigler_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

There were things I really liked about this book, and other things I didn't think worked too well. The premise of the book is that after losing his reelection bid to Woodrow Wilson, William Howard Taft disappeared. Then, in 2011 he reappears, not knowing where he's been for the past 100 years. The book alternates between narrative and "primary source documents", like letters, news articles, cable news transcripts, tweets, etc. This could have been gimmicky, but I thought it was an effective way to tell the story.I knew very little about Taft going into this, and in fact I have to admit that I mostly read this book because I love the cover. The parts of the book that dealt directly with Taft, as a man and President, were very interesting. Partway through, I stopped to look him up on wikipedia and discovered that after being President, he went on to become the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court, which is pretty cool and definitely something I will be looking into more. Where the book fell apart a bit for me was in the plot. When a seemingly grassroots "Taft Party" (loosely modeled on the current Tea Party) starts to gain momentum and Taft returns to politics as their leader, the author's critiques of our current political situation got heavy handed. Taft's reflections and misadventures adjusting to the 21st century would have been enough to get the point across. The political manipulators and evil corporate scion were unnecessary.

[miken32 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Remember on The West Wing when they came up with Alan Alda's character Arnie Vinnick as the ideal fantasy Republican? I was reminded of that while reading, with the turn-of-the-century president and his honest apolitical views representing a change from the author's presumable disenchantment with the current polarized political scene that exists down in the USA. Interesting idea for a novel and a very quick read. Worth giving a shot.

[myrlton · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I like this book. Normally, time-travel books don't interest me, but this one did. The writing was good and didn't go over-the-top when discussing the mechanics of Taft's time-shifting.This was a good-natured, humor-filled and family friendly story that is a perfect summmer-at-the-beach read. Enjoy!

[themythicalcodfish · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An engaging read with good characterization, but with some plotholes that could have stood to be expanded (and thereby would have lengthened the book). This novel is most notable for the fact that its socio-political commentary is focused primarily on the food industry, food consumption, and pure food and drug standards as they have evolved over the past century, and is worth reading for that alone, if nothing else. All in all, a quick, fun read with an interesting locivore-supportive message, but the plot flaws place it firmly in the category of a beach book.

[sarah_buckley-1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I really, really liked this book. I felt it was unique and inventive, with only a few minor issues that can probably be blamed on it being the authors first novel. This is definitely one I will re-read, and will lend to others to read!

[big_bang_gorilla · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This novel posits that a rather bedraggled William Howard Taft, dead for decades, crashes a news conference on the White House lawn, only a little the worse for wear after a century away from the Oval Office. This is a fascinating premise which is carried out fitfully at best. Most of the first half of the book veers between being a variation on the Rip Van Winkle theme--very old man offers droll observations on the brave new world in which he finds himself--and a rather disturbing picaresque which sends Taft and his bodyguard on a road trip which throws them into a number of implausible situations. The second half of the book, where he flirts with renewing his political career, is more focused, but I felt too often that Big Bill was functioning as a sock puppet for the author's own socio-political views. It must be said that the surprise ending is not only a delight but, for once, a surprise, and that the book is a quick, easy read. Those are not inconsiderable merits, but the book ultimately is memorable, if at all, as a primer on how to fumble a strikingly brilliant premise.

[kybunnies · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

This book was a goodreads.com first read contest win.

While I really wanted to like this book I had a hard time finishing it. To me so much of the book needed re-editing. The little bits of conversation between the chapters was very distracting. This book just seemed more of a sci-fi novel than anything related to normal fiction.

Please be aware that this review is my own opinion and not reflected on the book or author. Please read the book yourself and express your own opinion.

[mrlzbth_1 · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

I thought this book had a great premise--Taft mysteriously disappeared in 1913 and reappears almost 100 years later to affect the current presidential election--but the execution was not very inspired. A lot of fat jokes about Taft's size and a lot of Taft serving as an obvious mouthpiece for the author's own political views, regardless of whether the actual historical Taft would believably think or feel that way.

[poindextrix · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Fun, quick read.

[agnesmack · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I received my copy of Taft 2012 from the publisher, and it was definitely a book I was really looking forward to. Did I enjoy it overall? Yes, I did. However, I can't help but feel that it could have been better executed.The story is that of William Howard Taft, former president, who wakes from a 100 year slumber to discover that politics as usual are not quite what they were when he was in office. It's no surprise that the media jumps all over the story, which leads to Taft touring the country and offering a much needed perspective.Obviously the premise is unique, and the way in which the story was told was quite unique as well - which turned out to be both the best and worst thing about this book. About half the book is written in a 'normal' novel format, but it's interspersed with transcripts of pundits discussing his return, Twitter conversations about Taft, snippets from speeches, and other innovative storytelling devices.While I enjoyed the idea of these techniques being used, in the end I didn't feel they were used quite effectively. They felt somewhat gimmicky and in many cases didn't have a lot of substance. Occasionally they did add to the plot, but most of the time they felt slapped in amongst the narrative.I'd certainly be interested in reading future books by this author because I do think there was quite a lot to like in this book, but I was left feeling a little underwhelmed and disappointed that it didn't live up to what it could have.

[iambookish-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

What a treat to read a book that is pure fantastical fun! An imaginative plot with a satirical twist that had me finishing it in one sitting.
President William Howard Taft has returned in 2012 after mysteriously disappearing at his successor, Woodrow Wilson's, inauguration. He hasn't aged a bit and the citizenry of the United States falls in love with Taft and his political honesty.

Coming in an election year with our current parade of buffoons, I myself wish President Bill Taft would show up and come to our rescue!

[slmr4242 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Very fast read. This was thinly-veiled political commentary, but I don't object to that, even when I don't entirely agree with the conclusions. I found it intriguing that Heller has been able to find a very vital problem in politics today and the disgust that many feel when considering an election. Taft 2012 was an interesting address of this frustration. I wish more people would read it.

[jwarren42 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I've been using the same two words to describe this book to people since the second I finished reading chapter 1: utterly charming. This is a charming novel, by which I mean to say it's cute, but not sickeningly so, and witty, but not overly wrapped up in wordiness. Heller's writing here reminds me of Spinelli when he's hitting on all cylinders (which is 98% of the time). In fact, were it not for a semi-racy after-sex scene, and a single f-bomb, I'd say this was a perfect middle-grades novel. HIGHLY recommended, even for people like me (who aren't necessarily politics-heads or history buffs).

[abbeyhar · Rating: 2 out of 5 stars]

i really wanted to like this.

[surlysal_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

You can't help yourself but laugh at the humorous yet distressing take on our current state of political affairs and wonder if Taft really is our answer. The books was a quick read that will probably have you asking "Is that it?" once you get to the end. At first I thought the sidebar gray pages were a distraction but quickly realized I was looking forward to the "bonus" material that gave more detail into the storyline. An overall enjoyable read and has me looking forward to his next novel Ocean of Bone.

[melydia_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

William Howard Taft disappeared on the day of Woodrow Wilson's inauguration in 1913, and reappears suddenly on the White House lawn in 2011. Don't get too bogged down in how/why this happened, because really this book is about what would happen if this largely forgotten president showed up in time to affect the 2012 election. It's interesting to see how people pick and choose Taft's historic stances - as well as the historic events he lived through but did not necessarily endorse - to support whatever political narrative they see fit. The more things change, the more they stay the same, as it were. There were a few more fat jokes than I'd hoped, with repeated references to Taft's appetite, and the over-the-top Evil Corporation was a bit much, but all in all it was a light and pleasantly different read. Oddly, I did not leave it wanting to learn more about the real Taft. A decent diversion but probably of more interest to people who view elections as spectator sport.

[alexann_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

When former president William Howard Taft awoke, he found that his world had changed. He had slept for 99 years! All of his friends were gone--instead there were Secret Service Agents (most specifically Agent Kowalczyk who was assigned to "Big Boy" to keep him safe), family members he'd never known (including his great-granddaughter Rachel , currently a US Representative from Ohio), and Irene Kaye who, as a little girl, had written him a note after the 1912 election when he lost the presidency.Big Bill took the country by storm, and soon a political party had been formed, The Tafties, supporting a double-Taft slate for the 2012 presidential election, Bill for president, and Rachel for his VP. Although based on a clever concept, and at times downright amusing, in the end this novel didn't hold together all that well. Perhaps the author couldn't decide if he was writing a political novel or a farce. For me, it didn't quite hit either mark. If you really love politics you might get a kick out of Taft 12, but I don't, so didn't!

[lizphoto_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

" Taft 2012 started off as a really good book but lost it somewhere in between the middle and the end. The idea of a former President returning to life and politics is a very intriguing idea but it just didn't work for me with Taft. I honestly was not to informed about the history of Taft and still really don't care. The book left out some critical information like how Taft survived all those years( that he is a medical miracle), his sudden jump in to the year 2011 and his eventual run for presidency in 2012. The characters could have had a little more background and detail to them. I was disapointed in the end of the book which I saw coming from the middle of the book.Don't get me wrong I did like the book and I do enjoy the writing of Jason Heller but "Taft 2010" is just missing something. Maybe if the president was some else like J.F.K or Lincoln, I would have enjoyed it more. I will recommend "Taft 2012" to certain readers.

[sdobie_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

An alternate history novel where President William Howard Taft mysteriously disapperared on the day of Woodrow Wilson's inauguration, and reappears on the grounds of the White House in late 2011. Taft's political positions don't really align with those of the modern parties, so he soon becomes the focus of a group which calls itself the "Taft Party" and soon convinces Taft that he should run again in the 2012 election.This is a lightweight, fairly amusing book as Taft works to adjust to life in the 21st century. The chapters are interspersed with excerpts from social media about Taft which are also interesting. Where the book fails is in not having any particular viewpoint. The only position Taft is seen to take is opposition to processed foods, which doesn't make the campaign portions of the book very interesting.

[clerdly · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Honestly, I was a little nervous about this one. However, I was pleasantly surprised. This book was delightful! The Taft character was lovely. I would have been satisfied with an entire book consisting only of the adventures and misadventures of the reincarnated William Howard. If I had a single complaint it was that it cut short. There could have been more development of secondary characters and expansion of the plot re: the campaign.

[westcott_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I've read a decent amount of Heller's writing on avclub.com , one of my favorite websites, so I was looking forward to this. In addition, I help teach an American studies class and have learned bits and pieces about Taft enough to realize he's a pretty interesting person and could make a pretty interesting character. I was right; he does. Heller's portrayal of Taft himself is the best part of the book. Heller gets into some aspects of his real personality and some of the emotional effects of his waking up after 100 years of disappearing and dealing with history's portrayals and dismissals. I think that a lot of what Heller has to say about modern politics is probably accurate, but when he gets overly specific about his criticisms, it gets a little clunky and borderline preachy, but it's not a bad message. It's a nice quick read and I'm glad I read it.

[jbd1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Taking counterfactual history to a whole new level, Jason Heller's satirical novel presumes that William Howard Taft mysteriously vanished on the morning of his successor's inauguration in 1913, only to suddenly reappear on the White House lawn in the fall of 2011. Find out how a thought-long-dead behemoth ex-president rockets onto the contemporary political scene, adjusts to life in the 21st century, and finds himself an unlikely standard bearer for a divided nation.Hilariously funny at times, but also a serious look at American political system. Recommended.

[mrmapcase · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This book could be considered a satire on politics, or the intense 24 hour media scrutiny of pretty much everything in the news, or a call against overly processed foods. To me it was just a fun look on how a person from the early 20th century reacts to life in the 21st century. The one thing that I didn’t like was the constant sidebars about TV shows or Twitter; they kept interrupting the flow of the story. All in all though it was an enjoyable story.

[tottman_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Taft 2012 is a quick, quirky, funny and surprisingly touching little book. Jason Heller creates a world in which Taft disappeared nearly a hundred years earlier, only to reappear in the White House garden in 2011. He quickly gets up to speed on what has changed while he was away and before he knows it, becomes swept up in the 2012 presidential race.The book maintains a light touch throughout. It is consistently humorous while also being poignant and sometimes very insightful. Taft takes you back to a time when presidents were held in higher regard and sometimes even had the principles that modern-day politicians only pretend to have. Taft comes from a time when presidents really were larger than life, and in his case, quite literally so. In a time where people want to be inspired, Taft is a figure who can inspire them.Looking through the eyes of someone who hasn’t seen the gradual changes the world has gone through in the last 100 years is eye-opening for the reader. The political aspects here are accessible and designed not to offend persons of any political stripe, or at least if they do, offend persons at all points along the political spectrum equally.Perhaps the greatest thing I can say about this book is that the fictional Taft has given me a new-found respect for the real one. The writing is clever and entertaining and often moving. I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes a little politics with their humor, or vice-versa. I was fortunate to receive an early review copy of this book.

[susiebookworm · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Even my rather conservative mother agrees that Taft 2012 is hilarious! (Actually, she read it in one day - an unheard-of feat for her - while it took me four.) Heller's satire is light-hearted, great for those of us who, like me, don't quite 'get' politics in the first place. I was very pleased that the author attacks American society and government as a whole, not specific people. He could have said a lot about Obama, but the name is never even explicitly said. Aside from a few details, the current president and any other key figures in the book could be just about anyone.I also enjoyed the fact that Taft 2012 is not just about politics, but also about the media and part of America's food supply. William Howard Taft's discovery of such inventions as Twitter and some of the nastier of processed foods ("Didn't Teddy Roosevelt pass an act against this stuff a century ago?") are too good to put down. Though, I must say, I felt sorry for Taft at a few points. One hundred years after the presidency he never really wanted, he's resurrected to run again - and all America thinks about is his enormous appetite, wide girth, and signature mustache.

[timbazzett · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A very quirky book, to say the least, from Philadelphia-based Quirk Books, TAFT 2012 is the kind of novel I am tempted to label as "an entertainment." Was it Graham Greene who called one or two of his own books that? In any case, Jason Heller's first novel is certainly entertaining. What should it be called? Fantasy? Humor (because it IS funny)? Satire? I certainly thought immediately of Joseph Heller and his classic CATCH-22, which so famously skewered and satirized the absurdity of war. But the two Hellers are not related. I found this out by a quick check on the internet. I also found myself checking out the book's protagonist, U.S. President William Howard Taft, on the internet. Because the central premise of the book is Taft suddenly showing up again one hundred years after his unsolved "disappearance" in 1913, when he failed to show up for President Wilson's inauguration. That's how believable Heller makes this central conceit. But I was able to go ahead and "suspend disbelief" and enjoy the ride. And it was a most enjoyable ride, I must say, filled not just with fantasy, but also with plenty of historical facts and tidbits. For example, did you know that Taft and Teddy Roosevelt were close friends and that Taft was hand-picked by TR to succeed him in office, but then wished he'd run himself, and they became enemies for a while. Lotsa stuff like that in here, and it all really works well too. There is some rather heavy-handed political commentary here on current issues. The spontaneously formed Taft Party (think "Tea" here) and the way these "Tafties" latch onto the unexplainably resurrected Taft and claim him as their own, a perfect candidate to unseat the sitting president. Obama, by the way, is never mentioned by name here. However, at first meeting the President, "Big Bill" Taft mistakes him for a "manservant" and asks him to "run down to the kitchen and fetch me a ham or two."But this newly risen Taft turns out to be an eminently decent man who quickly embraces many of the positive changes of the past hundred years and almost as swiftly recognizes the negatives, as he catches up on his US and world history, aided by a dedicated female Taft expert, his Secret Service bodyguard, and his great-granddaughter, an Ohio congresswoman.There are many political hot potato issues seamlessly introduced into the narrative - the endless political posturing, the importance of education, big business influence, and, particularly, problems created by agribusinesses and the food industry. This last seems most appropriate given the immense girth of President Taft and his love of food and eating. And Heller exercises just the right amount of restraint here, keeping the "fat jokes" to a minimum.I think this book will be a real treat for both fantasy fans and political junkies. (Tweets, blogs and pundits punctuate the narrative throughout.) But what the heck - I'm neither of those, and I enjoyed the book tremendously. It is, in short a quirky and most entertaining read.

[mclane_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Taft 2012 by Jason Heller was an enjoyable, if somewhat quirky, read. It is more of a polemic than a novel, commenting on the state of American society and politics in the second decade of the 21st century. In this alternate history, William Howard Taft suddenly appears on the White House lawn 100 years after he left the White House and disappeared in 1912. He naturally attracts immense media and public attention, and a grassroots Taft Party springs up to draft him for the presidency in 2012. But all is not as it seems, and this new version of a "T party" has secrets of its own. While the author does provide some interesting ruminations on life today as opposed to life in the past, Taft 2012 is pretty flat and does not take advantage of its opportunities for satire or wit. Overall, it's too preachy and the ending is forced.

[karieh_2 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I am a big fan of “what if” type novels….and “What if long dead President Taft appeared as part of 21st century life?” certainly seemed to fit that bill.I was disappointed in “Taft 2012” however…because so many of the elements that tend to make this kind of book enjoyable (seeing today’s world through the eyes of someone used to 1913, seeing how long/how hard it is for them to adapt, seeing how the world is changed because of him, etc.) just weren’t that interesting.Taft, upon waking from some sort of hundred year hibernation, just doesn’t seem to have much of a reaction to the modern world despite the millions of changes between his time and now.“Taft didn’t flinch. What a novel development. Clearly, a white man and a Negro woman sitting together in a restaurant was of no matter in the twenty-first century. He was less surprised than perhaps he should have been.”That was true all through the book. Taft, born in the nineteenth century, is always less surprised than he should have been by computers, cell phones, modern dress, landing on the moon, etc. There was so little of the wide-eyed shock/surprise/amazement that I had expected – it made the book a bit dull.And his views of our modern society only rarely made me stop and think. “If there is a problem with America today – as I see it – it is that we look for self-worth in consumption, rather than in the pursuit of personal achievement.” Or, “We Americans are a good people – a very, very good people – but one of our weaknesses is an assumption, justified by a good many miracles that have saved us from egregious mistakes in the past, that we should always expect America to be healthy and strong on its own, because we believe that God looks after children, drunken men, and the United States!” True, but hardly shocking.I wasn’t sure what the central message of the book was, either. It touches on corporate greed, inequality, mass marketing, big Agra, mass media, organic foods… I just couldn’t put my finger on what the author was trying to convey using this president and this premise.

[hairball_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

An amusing read that takes pokes at all of the usual suspects in an election cycle. Can be read more quickly than the average Republican debate. The story is interspersed with little bits of social media, craigslist postings, television transcripts, and my personal favorite, an etsy listing for a clip-on Taft mustache.Taft 2012 won't remain pertinent after this election cycle, which is kind of sad, considering how much research probably went into this slim volume.