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American history, biographies, Carlo D'Este, Dwight Eisenhower, Evan Thomas, Fred Greenstein, Geoffrey Perret, Jean Edward Smith, Jefrey Frank, Jim Newton, Peter Lyon, presidential biographies, Presidents, Stephen Ambrose
During the past 1,400 days I’ve journeyed back through time to witness some of the most dramatic moments in American history.
I’ve observed the struggle to draft a constitution, watched as the young nation almost tore itself apart, and looked on as millions of Americans struggled through the Great Depression.
After 33 presidents, 167 biographies and over 80,000 pages I’m two-thirds of the way through this great adventure. And yet nothing about it has grown stale, tired or even remotely mundane.
That’s why I can begin my journey through the biographies of Dwight Eisenhower with more than a modicum of optimism. From a distance he seems detached, humorless and a bit uninteresting. But I know from experience that most presidents are far more complex (and fascinating) than their two-dimensional caricatures.
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I’m beginning with Jean Edward Smith’s 2012 “Eisenhower In War and Peace.” This is my third presidential biography by Smith; his biographies of Grant and FDR were my favorites of those two presidents so my expectations are high!
Next I’ll be reading Carlo D’Este’s 2002 “Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life.” This biography has a solid, scholarly reputation and appears to be comprehensive and exhaustive. His 1995 biography of Patton remains extremely popular.
“Eisenhower” by Geoffrey Perret was published in 1999. Perret is the author of a biography of Ulysses Grant which I liked and one on JFK I haven’t yet read. This biography reportedly incorporates source materials not available to earlier biographers and has a reputation for providing a carefully balanced portrait of Eisenhower.
Peter Lyon’s 1974 “Eisenhower: Portrait of the Hero” is another lengthy, thorough biography of Eisenhower. It is no longer a popular selection on Eisenhower so I don’t know what to expect…but it’s always interesting to read an older classic.
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Jim Newton’s 2011 “Eisenhower: The White House Years” is the first less-than-comprehensive biography of Eisenhower I’m reading. Recommended by two of my regular followers, this biography promises a thoughtful, penetrating account of Ike’s presidency.
“The Hidden-Hand Presidency: Eisenhower as Leader” by Fred Greenstein is another recommendation from this site’s regular (and always insightful) guests. Published in 1982, this well-researched book reportedly challenges old stereotypes of Eisenhower and portrays him as more than just a simple caretaker president.
“Ike’s Bluff: President Eisenhower’s Secret Battle to Save the World” is Evan Thomas’s 2012 book which seems to take Greenstein’s theory even further. The book’s core thesis: that despite outward appearances, Eisenhower was actually a brilliant man, a cunning strategist and and a master manipulator. I’ve heard the evidence is not entirely convincing but that the book is excellent nonetheless.
Jeffrey Frank’s “Ike & Dick: Portrait of a Strange Political Marriage” was published in 2013 and promises to be the book that is “unlike the others” on this list.
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I will wrap up with Stephen Ambrose’s authorized take on Eisenhower, beginning with his controversial two-volume series: “Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect 1890-1952” and “Eisenhower: The President.” Published in the early 1980s I’ve heard this is an excellent series, but it is tainted by allegations of both plagiarism and “creative embellishment.” I will move on to the best biographies of JFK once I read Ambrose’s one-volume series abridgement “Eisenhower: Soldier and President.”
My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies 
So impressive! I am one of those reading ONE biography of each president. I started after I retired, when I realized that if I had been taught any of this back in high school, I sure don’t remember any of it. But I am going a lot slower. I just started the Smith biography of Eisenhower, and I did also read the Smith biographies of Grant and Roosevelt. One thing I’ve come to realize is that, for someone like me, these authors can give a different interpretation from what has been the generally accepted view, e.g. Grant. Not knowing any better, my book selections have generally come from Amazon reviewers. I did find a Washington Post list, written in late 2012, of recommended presidential biographies. By coincidence, I’ve read most of those on the Post list. So I am enjoying your comments and reviews, and look forward to your recommendations for the post-Eisenhower biographies.
It sounds like you and I are reading the same biography (of Eisenhower) at the moment! One of the most significant benefits to reading several biographies of each president (which certainly requires a significant investment of time) is that it provides rapid insight into the fact that different authors, with different biases, often view the same person very differently. In a perfect world a biographer would be ruthlessly objective and leave the reader with enough facts to form a rational conclusion. In reality, the substantial majority of biographers approach the task of writing a biography with a favorable (or, less frequently, an unfavorable) perspective of his/her subject and that nearly always influences the way that particular biography is written.
It’s also great so know you’ve read a large number of the biographies on the Wash Post list (which formed the core of my list when I was first assembling my collection of presidential biographies). Please do let me know from time to time what you thought about the biographies I’m reading!
A great post Steve!
I read Korda’s bio back in 2008 or 2009 and it has been given mixed reviews.So a read of some of these are in order.
Jim
Wasn’t Ike an artist, too?
Now *that* is a good question! And I can’t say that I have the answer yet…
Just found this: 🙂
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/a-visit-with-the-real-dwight-eisenhower/2012/04/09/gIQAG4Pu6S_story.html?utm_term=.4ea6cf5ca0b3
Dear Steve, for the political partnership of Ike and Dick, there’s another title you might want to check out: “The President and the Apprentice”. I’ve only read the first chapter thus far but based on it, I can assure you that the book has considerable promise. Please do keep up the good work!
Someone else (I can’t remember who) told me that is an interesting book. I’ll have to see if it’s something I should add to my follow-up list. Once you finish it, let me know what you thought!
Not on your list, but a good dual biography some readers might be interested in is Two Americans by William Lee Miller. It simultaneously traces the lives and careers of Harry Truman, who you just wrapped up, and your current subject, Dwight Eisenhower. Before serving as back-to-back presidents who established the foundations of the Cold War, they were each involved in the first and second World Wars, so the book presents a pretty good scope of the first half of the 20th century. There are some other notable dual presidential bios (Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit, for example), but it’s something I would like to see more of. It provides the chance to look at the same events through more than one lens.
Thanks – definitely looks interesting.
Just really curious how you read so much? How do you fit it in and any tips to aid fast comprehension?
I spend a lot of time waiting for my kids at swim/soccer practices and I seem to spend my “business” life on airplanes…so I simply fill what would otherwise be wasted time with presidential biographies! In order to keep my pace slow-ish and ensure retention of key facts (and great one-liners) I take notes on my laptop as I go along. For the average 500 page biography I usually end up with about 15 pages of notes. I haven’t gone back and used them yet, but they may come in handy at some point.
Thanks for the reply 🙂 I’ve read a few (Washington, Lincoln, Nixon, Hamilton — not a presidential biography but stunning), trying to pick out a few of the ones from your recommendations that appeal to me as a Brit. Truman is next. I need to make more of my spare down time. I find a big tome takes me a month or two. Keep at it.
Amazing, I would love to see some of those documents…I have used your booklist and collected about 140 Presidential biographies in the best shape I can find them in (these are my shelf copies lol.) I also usually buy a cheap reading copy if it is a common enough book then donate it when done. I am pretty good at retaining information, but I do wish I had the patience to take notes like you do…Thanks so much for your site. The list has been a lifesaver.
Hello! I recently stumbled across your site when I was searching for a good book to read, and I must say, you have inspired me. I’m only 15, but I’ve been an avid lover of history, especially American, for years. I’ve always been immensely fascinated by the Presidents though. When I came across this site, I thought what you were doing was a great idea. I’ve decided to commit to reading one biography of every President. I’m going to use your reviews for selecting them, and I’ve already picked one for Washington. Thank you so much for doing this, hopefully my love of history will grow over time.
Good luck reading one biography per president! I think you’ll find the first several presidents absolutely fascinating and you might inadvertently come across some early American history you never learned in school (I certainly did). What surprised me most about the less well-known (a.k.a.”dull”) presidents is that they were generally somewhat interesting and occasionally fascinating. Let me know what you think of the biographies you chose to read as you tick through the presidents!
I have begun to collect the books on your list (am up to Garfield), and space is going to be a problem (I also have collected about 100 volumes by and about Churchill).
I am also a big fan of Ambrose, and am aware of the allegations, though I find them a bit nit picky. I was wondering of the Ambrose allegations may have a partial basis in his rather public conversion to conservatism from liberalism.
But a related question: when do you stop. Even with Eisenhower the bias of the author may become more apparent. And certainly when you get to Reagan, it seems like there has not been enough time to have passed to move it into history, as opposed to political commentary. Note that even today I have seen political bias over Churchill.
On your issue of space, I feel your pain! I need to update the header photo on my site, but since my collection of biographies has outgrown my bookshelves I’m embarrassed to admit that Reagan through Obama are stacked on the floor against the wall. That “decorating style” horrifies my wife.
On Churchill, consider me impressed. Your collection is…insane. I’m curious which of the Churchill biographies you’ve read have really impressed you. Someday (oh, someday) I’m planning to read the series by Gilbert and Manchester and read the single-vol bios by Jenkins and Best. But if you have an opinion, I’m all ears!
The more I read about the Ambrose allegations the more distressed I become. Nonetheless, I’m going to read his bios of Eisenhower in a vacuum and not worry about whether he grossly exaggerated the amount of time he spent interviewing Eisenhower (which is seems plain he did) or whether he was prone to lifting passages in some of his books from other authors (which, with varying degrees of negligence, it seems he did). I’ve been told he’s an excellent writer, so I’m keen to see whether his biographies of POTUS #34 are really that great (again, background noise aside).
Re: objectivity, I think anyone who really wants to objectively assess a president can do no less than read every available biography, read as of the primary sources as possible, ignore the “opinions” and “conclusions” and make an independent assessment. But this is easier said than done since it’s often difficult to distinguish between fact and opinion and there aren’t always two thoughtfully-argued sides to every coin. So either you stipulate that if everyone’s arguing on the same side they must be right, or you conclude that you can’t form an opinion?)
With Churchill, I started with the Manchester books (he passed away before the 3rd volume was complete). He is an excellent writer, but a bit too fond (read: uncritical) of Churchill (who had many faults). Gilbert’s single volume is good, and I am up to the 5th of the official (first 2 by Randolph Churchill, rest by Gilbert). In the 4th volume you begin to see Gilbert develop as an historian. I like several of the works by his contemporaries. Clement Attlee said that Churchill’s “History of the English Speaking People” should have been titled “Things in history that interested me.”
On Manchester, his 2 volume “The Glory and the Dream” is truly superb. This is detailed US history, 1932-1972. Also, “A World Lit Only by Fire” is an interesting short work, and “Goodbye Darkness”, a semi-autobiographical history of WWII in the Pacific, is uniquely insightful. A gifted writer, surely.
Of Ambrose, I have read all of his WWII writings, which are excellent. Also, his “To America” is very interesting. “Wild Blue”, about the US Army Air Force in WWII, is also excellent. It is particularly interesting because of his friendship with George McGovern (B-24 pilot in WWII). Eisenhower and Ambrose did have a relationship (Ambrose was enlisted as a special “defender” of Eisenhower’s’ legacy), though not the close relationship Ambrose claimed. I do not think it effects his writing on Eisenhower, but hold my judgement.
But in summary, you are correct that one must read a number of volumes to get a good picture.
Bill, thanks. Fantastic and extremely helpful!
Do you plan on reading Michael Korda’s book, Ike? I noticed his book on Grant wasn’t on your reading list either. Is Korda not worthwhile? Wondering if I should stay away from his material if you’ve heard anything. Thank you.
I recently ordered it but it hasn’t arrived yet. Assuming it shows up soon I’ll try to add it; otherwise it will end up on my “follow-up” list and I’ll get to it next round.
I have a question about Ike. Your review of Carlos D’Este’s A Soldier’s Life was so good I immediately rushed to Amazon to snap up the Kindle version to read on my phone and computer but now I’m in a dilemma. Which would be better? Combining Carlos D’Este’s A Soldier’s Life and Jim Newton’s The White House Years or read Jean Edward Smith’s Eisenhower in War and Peace? I’m most interested to hear your thoughts on this.
By the way, I found myself swept away by your enthusiasm and started reading Caro’s set on LBJ. The Master of the Senate was the most arduous read I ever embarked on but it was most certainly a rewarding one. A lot of things in American politics start making sense to you after you finish reading the book, ESPECIALLY what goes on in Congress. Approximately 5 decades might have passed since LBJ passed away but I feel that today’s Congress will certainly be recognizable to LBJ if he were to return.
Please do keep up the good work. I was motivated to start my own reading project after reading about your own presidential bio project. I don’t have as many presidential bios as you. Only selected ones – Washington, Andrew Johnson, Polk, Lincoln, McKinley, Hoover, FDR, Truman, Eisenhower and LBJ. (Most based on your blog’s reviews) but I’ve quite a wide range of history books and bios. And most of these books I’ve got are harder than yours. Caro is only slightly towards the heavy end in my collection and I feel he’ll be the hardest you’ve ever attempted. You’ve been blessed with a lot of great writers, I would say. A pity I can’t show you my own. I’ll be watching your progress with great interest and cheering you all the way since this will make this endeavor of mine seem possible.
Oh, the dilemma! Seriously, you posed a more difficult question that you might have thought…
On the one hand, JES’s bio of Eisenhower is (so far, anyway) my favorite of the bunch though not by a wide margin. If I was forced to pick just one Ike bio to take somewhere (or if I really only had time for one book) I would choose Smith’s.
On the other hand, I’ve come to the inescapable conclusion that “more” is usually better when it comes to biographies of the presidents. Obtaining multiple perspectives from different authors is almost always incredibly valuable unless you aren’t really interested in the underlying individual and are just reading to occupy time (in which case you wouldn’t be asking the question in the first place).
So if I had did have some interest in Eisenhower and wanted the best combination of “interesting” and “educational” and could afford the time, I would probably elect to go with the D’Este and Newton. I thought highly of both of their books and together they probably present a slightly more valuable (and almost equally interesting) picture of Ike.
But as you know, I’ve never been good at limiting my reading choices…so I would just read all three, especially if I already had the Kindle version of JES 🙂
Separately, since I haven’t read any of Caro’s books I don’t entirely know what to expect but @EvanAxelbank (among others) has set high expectations! I don’t mind a dense reading experience as long as it’s about a compelling subject, is keenly insightful and reasonably enjoyable. But if it reads too much like a dry, stiff PhD thesis my eyes might glaze over…
And by all means if you read a compelling biography on *anyone* please let me know! I’m always on the lookout for great biographies of interesting individuals since, at some point, I may run out of presidents!
Based on what I read, I can recommend two very good bios, one which I’ve completed myself twice. Robert Massie’s Peter the Great and Stephen Kotkin’s series on Stalin. Both are no paperweights but the books are so well written you wouldn’t even noticed you’ve finished reading so much…..
No, The content of Caro’s books might be dry in some areas but he’s such a good writer he can make even the most trivial bits highly interesting. His problem is he has a habit of repeating himself once too often and he overloads his readers with TOO MUCH background information and quoting journalists of the time EXCESSIVELY.
However, even with all that, the books are still very much worth reading.
Well, if I’ve the luxury of having one pie to stick my finger into, I won’t limit my reading choices but my interests in history are so wide-ranging, I’ve more pies on hand than fingers for sticking into……Once your current project ends, I humbly suggest that you may want to start another one similar to this and focus on that. My example is not something I’d recommend others to follow. My recommendation might be you ought to focus on either the foreign leaders whom the great presidents had to deal with or the great people that served them. Doing both concurrently will be HEAVY-GOING. I’ve noticed that your writers are usually better than the Brits. Less wordplay. Fewer artifices.