It can be tempting to look at historical figures as either wholly good or wholly evil; as heroes or as villains. This perspective contains elements of truth, but also ignores the more complicated and compelling reality that both good and evil reside within us all. With our book "Rethinking heroes and villains in the White House," we hope to break down the good-evil binary by revising and re-evaluating the lives of some notorious heroes and villains of American politics.