All the Great Prizes: The Life of John Hay
by John Taliaferro
672 pages
Simon & Schuster
Published: May 2013
John Taliaferro’s biography of John Hay was published in 2013, eight decades after the most recent substantial biography of Hay (Tyler Dennett’s 1934 Pulitzer Prize winner “John Hay: From Poetry to Politics.”) Taliaferro is a former editor at Newsweek magazine and the author of six books including biographies of environmental pioneer George Bird Grinnell, “cowboy artist” Charles M. Russell and adventure writer Edgar Rice Burroughs.
Few figures in American history are more consequential, compelling and nearly forgotten than John Milton Hay (1838-1905). One of Abraham Lincoln’s two personal secretaries (and co-author of Lincoln’s most notable early biography), Hay was…
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My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies 
Hi. I have a book recommendation I think you might enjoy. I am currently reading the first volume of harry Truman‘s memoirs. 1945: A Year of Decision has been an enjoyable read on several levels. It’s an in-depth review of Truman’s first year in office and a particularly troubling time in American history. You also get an idea of Truman’s tart personality. . Excerpts of letters to his mother and sister are interesting and provide a glimpse of his personal life we don’t often see from a presidential point of view. It’s a different experience you may find interesting.
Thanks for the recommendation! I haven’t started reading presidential memoirs / autobiographies yet, but this is on the short list along with Grant’s memoirs 🙂