It’s hard to believe, but 10 years have elapsed since I embarked on what I thought would be a modestly ambitious adventure: to uncover the very best biographies of the US presidents.
The first phase of that journey turned out to be more “involved” than I expected: it lasted just over six years, incorporated 240 presidential biographies and reached an estimated audience of 250,000 people.
Since then, I’ve expanded the scope of my reading to include biographies of other interesting individuals as well. Among the most fascinating: Leonardo da Vinci, Alexander Hamilton, George Custer, John D. Rockefeller and F. Scott Fitzgerald.
The total tally after one decade of presidential perusal: 267 presidential biographies, 437 website posts comprising more than 250,000 words and almost 3.4 million website visits. Then, of course, there’s that file containing a few thousand pages of notes, notable quotes and the most memorable one-liners I’ve come across along the way.
The bottom line:
There are lots of really good presidential biographies. But for my money, no single-volume biography beats Ron Chernow’s book on George Washington. It was one of the first presidential biographies I read and it set a standard of excellence that I’ve never seen exceeded. [Chernow’s biography of Alexander Hamilton is arguably just as good.]
And no multi-volume biography surpasses Robert Caro’s unquestionably audacious 5-volume series on Lyndon Johnson. He has been at this series for nearly five decades and is currently working on the last volume. We’re all counting on the 87-year-old Caro to finish the fifth volume…soon. My mole within the publishing world suggests it could arrive in late 2024. But no one – not even Caro – really knows.
When that final volume is released I will drop everything and read it immediately. Possibly in one sitting. Probably near a source of food and water.
Some fun facts:
→ “The Best Presidential Biographies” list has been viewed ~500,000 times
→ “The Best Biographies of Theodore Roosevelt” and “The Best Biographies of Abraham Lincoln” are the most popular “Best Biographies” posts
→ Dragging up the rear is “The Best Biographies of Chester Arthur.” Ironically, I found Arthur unexpectedly interesting. But I seem to have failed in my mission to spread that enthusiasm widely. Sorry Chester.
→ My most popular review has been Ron Chernow’s biography of Ulysses Grant
→ The least popular review: that of “The Life of Calvin Coolidge” by Horace Green. On average, someone stumbles upon this review about once a week.
But wait, there’s more:
As with children, I don’t pick favorite presidents. Well, actually, in the case of presidents I just don’t tell anyone I’ve got favorites. Because I don’t, of course. But if I did:
- favorite president: Lincoln
- favorite presidential personality: T. Roosevelt
- favorite prickly presidential personality: J. Adams
- least favorite presidential personality: Wilson (honorable mention: Coolidge)
- favorite president to sit next to on a long flight: Jefferson
- favorite president to have as a lab partner: Carter
- favorite First 100 Days: F. Roosevelt
- favorite president to have a beer with: T. Roosevelt
- favorite president to drink bourbon with: H. Truman¹
- favorite presidential orators: JFK & Obama (tie); runner-ups: FDR & Reagan
- president whose life story is most under-appreciated: Hoover
- president who would be most surprised to be largely forgotten: Polk
- president who would be least surprised to be largely forgotten: WH Harrison
- president least likely to consider whether he would be largely forgotten: F. Pierce, A. Johnson, B. Harrison (three-way tie)
- president most deserving of a better biography: Van Buren (followed by Taft)
- president most likely to be amazing if he had lived longer: James Garfield
- president least likely to be amazing if he had lived longer: Zachary Taylor
And, of course:
- favorite 19th century First Lady: Dolley Madison
- favorite 20th century First Lady: Eleanor Roosevelt
Coming soon: my review of Kevin Gutzman’s “The Jeffersonians” followed by an updated reading plan for 2023. And, of course, I still need to determine how (and when) I’m going to get around to creating a master ranking of the presidents…
Note: (1) Hat tip to multiple readers who pointed out this omission.
My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies 
Merry Christmas Steve – I can’t tell you how much value I’ve gotten from your blog over the last few years since I stumbled upon it. My Christmas and birthday presents since then have exclusively been highly scored books from this list and I’ve not been disappointed yet. Really enjoyed Chernow’s Washington too, and the story of Team of Rivals, but Caro’s Johnson is my favourite so far if not just for being so impressively comprehensive!
I’m nearly at the end of Caro’s fourth volume so desperately hoping your intel on when the final one will be ready in time for next next Christmas’s list turns out to be true! I asked for Smith’s Eisenhower and Dallek’s Kennedy this year which I think might act as a decent bridge if I read a couple of others in between too.
Merry Christmas!
Congrats on the milestone!
Steve, Let me echo what John said: I have consulted your blog at least a few times a month over the last few years. I am on my 25th President, although of late I’ve skipped around a bit. I just finished Whyte’s Hoover and agree entirely with your choice of Hoover for least appreciated life story. Coolidge and Wilson deserve that least favorite presidential personality award as well. My appreciation for First Ladies has also grown during this process. We should consider ourselves lucky that women like Eleanor Roosevelt, Grace Coolidge, and Lou Hoover lived in the White House. In any event, I just want to thank you for what you started. Happy Holidays!
I read your reviews and recommendations for all 44 of the presidents whose biographies I read. And I have to say, THIS was my favorite post of all. Cheers to you!
Impossible to overstate just how much I appreciate your posts! Thank you, thank you.
I’m gobsmacked. Harry Truman didn’t make your “favorites” list…. not even as favorite presidential bio (David McCollough’s Truman), not as favorite to have a bourbon and branch water with, and even favorite underdog, common man, straight talker.
Seriously, your reviews have been most helpful to me since morphed into a history buff upon my retirement and have taught presidential history classes here in Washington D.C through Osher at American University. I wish you at least ten more years of high quality reviews including Caro’s LBJ final volume.
And best clothes horse!
Merry Christmas, Steve.
It has been my pleasure to follow you on this journey. I refer to your reviews anytime I picked up a Presidential bio before, and after I read it.
I will look forward to all your reviews in 2023 and beyond.
Congratulations and well done!!
Congratulations! I’ve loved reading you over the years!
Congratulations and THANK YOU for all your great work and guidance. It has been a great source of ideas for me as I make wary through my own presidential biographies project. Happy holidays!
Congrats at staying with your hobby for so many years? Have you ever been tempted to listen to an audible version? I find listening to a bio at 1.2 speed a good use of driving time.
I recommend Warren Koza’s biography of Curtis Lemay. A truly fascinating military man and explains how he ended up on the Wallace Ticket and the unintentional damage he did to that campaign.
Finally I suggest you be nominated to complete Caro’s final volume should he prematurely head off to that Johnson ranch in the sky.
Happy anniversary! I need to check out the Coolidge review. A few years ago I visited his birthplace in Plymouth Notch, Vermont, and saw the room where he took the oath of office after Harding died. The homestead was a little hard to find but really interesting if you’re ever in the area!
I just recently visited Plymouth Notch as well. I read the bio Steve most highly recommended and I listened to Coolidge’s autobiography. I wanted so badly for him to be my favorite president. But, alas, he is quite, well, boring.
Thank you so much for your continued work on this very interesting topic. Merry Chrismas!
First time caller, long time listener! Seriously, Steve, your journey is my validation. A friend gave me Morris’ Rise of TR 30 years ago and I have been chasing you (poorly, I’d say) since. I just reached LBJ and, like you, hold out hope to get my hands on Vol.5. As an aside, I’m a big Adams (the dad) guy, for everything he did to keep the dream moving while Jefferson was tending to his hobbies. Even my wife, who thinks I am hopeless, gave me Clinton and Carter this Christmas but only after checking your site. I cannot think of a better testimony to your gift. The only issue you have presented is that I have to expand my living room bookcases to keep up! Merry Christmas and Godspeed.
Can I add my thanks to those before me for all the reviews, opinions, insights etc you have provided these past ten years. I known such opinions are subjective but living in Carlisle UK Woodrow Wilson is very well thought of here as his mother was born in Carlisle. He visited Carlisle and the Lake District several times and in 1918 was made a Freeman of the city when he became the only President to come here during his time in office. We even have a pub named after him. My choice however for sharing beer with (even though he preferred bourdon) would be Harry Truman, one of the most intelligent and best read men to have been President.
Presidential Trivia Question: Name the five Universities, who have produced a President of the United States and a Super Bowl winning quarterback?
Great question: Delaware, Miami (OH), Michigan, Navy, and Stanford.
Good one. Did you get that without “help?” 😉
I needed help with Miami (OH) (Benjamin Harrison) and Delaware (Joe Flacco).
I stumbled upon your site not too long after reading my first Presidential Biography. It has been my go to source for picking my next presidential bio. Thank you, Thank you, Thank you for the tremendous labor of love and service. You have provided so much to us armchair wannabe historians.
Steve, your site is wonderful and I used it extensively when I began my journey of the Presidents a few years ago. And, your witty assessments about Presidents who … was spot on in my opinion. I would have added favorite President to be with during cocktails and that would be FDR. I would just sit there, sip on my martini and listen to the jokes and stories of FDR and his staff before Eleanor came in to break it up.
Steve, Your blog was such a wonderful find for me. I’m not sure why I decided to read a biography of each President, but I never could have done it without you. I only read one for each President (with a couple exceptions). But my internal ranking of presidents was dramatically revised as a result. The biggest changes were Garfield, Arthur and the Adams boys (all up). Surprisingly, Jefferson and Wilson moved down on my list. But Washington remains first in my mind. (Ron Chernow only accentuated the feeling).
Thanks for everything and I wish you a belated Merry Christmas !
Congrats and thank you for doing this. I have been on this journey too. I wish I had the time you must have to do all of this reading. I am up to Coolidge and hope to get well into the 20th century in 2023. I always refer to your accounts of a book before I start. It gives me good direction on what to look for in the biography. I will eagerly await your rankings of Presidents. I know I will find it most interesting. Thank you again and Merry Christmas and a Happy 2023!
I have been following your blog for years and using your recommendations to help select great books to read. Happy New Year to you and your family!
Congratulations on the milestone and THANK YOU! Your site has been invaluable to me as a reader of history and a great resource to guide my own journey through all of the presidents.
Love your website(s). Thanks for what you do!
Currently reading Caro’s Path to Power. Dense, yet effortless.
In case you hadn’t caught it a film (“Turn Every Page”) has just come out about Caro/Gottlieb. It looks fantastic…
P.S Love your website – it’s been my go to for recommendations – thanks for all your work!
Congratulations on your tenth anniversary. Stumbled upon your website maybe five or six years ago and have enjoyed it ever since. This resource would’ve been handy when I was walking to the public library in Scarborough, Ontario, when I was ten years old to sign out books about JFK and Lincoln (definitely not the ones written by Sorensen and Sandburg…hey I was ten years old, okay?). To be fair if this resource was available back then Al Gore would have had to invented the interwebs fifty years ago.
Speaking of, once you have exhausted the presidential offerings what are the chances of doing a deep dive on biographies of veeps? Just kidding.
Congratulations once again.
I entered this year not having read a book since the Lord of the Rings in high school and not having much considered history (though always interested by it) since about the same time.
I’m leaving it not having been without a book since the summer, mostly presidential bios. You’ve been a massive help — and indispensable in shaping my plan for 2023 (and beyond!)
Cheers! Thank you.
Amazing collection of content you’ve built up over the years. Great source to contemplate differing takes on such influential characters.
A suggestion for a possible path forward to more related biographical reviews. There’ve been many other influential politicians that went full tilt to become president but never obtained that lofty goal. Many of them had a long history in politics and considered the role their rightful due, and others seemed to pop up in the right cultural moment and their campaigns started or culminated a movement.
One such example was Barry Goldwater and his impact on the Republican Party and on Johnson’s decision to expand US’ role in Vietnam.
Another long-time lurker here: Your reviews have transformed my reading habits dating back to the start of the pandemic, when I first noticed that my favorite homebound TV pundits all seemed to have the same Grant bio adorning a shelf behind them (“hmmm… where to find out if that’s worth a read?”). I’ve since become addicted to presidential bios as a result of having discovered your blog. Blaming my need for new bookshelves on you (and, maybe, Ron Chernow), I remain an ardent fan of both your words and those of your commenters. Kudos, and – echoing others here – tell Caro to hurry up with that final LBJ volume!
Your comment reminds me of my wife’s reaction when we watched early-morning tv together in the 2020-21 time frame and she pointed out the same trend to me: guests being remotely interviewed who took the time to arrange their backgrounds to include an assortment of timely political epics and a few high-quality presidential biographies. The most oft-seen from our vantage point: bios of Grant, Lincoln, Washington and one or more volumes of Caro’s LBJ.
And, if only I had the power to speed along the final installment in his LBJ series….!
I am just starting my presidential biographies journey and your lists are what I’m using to help me choose which biography to read. My big debate right now is trying to decide if I should read them in order or jump around. The primary reason I might jump around is that you didn’t seem to be in love with any biographies of James Madison and knowing that Meacham will eventually write one, I’m tempted to wait for it.
If you decide to go sequentially, you’ll discover there are more than a handful of presidents for whom there is no obvious “go to” biography. So that is certainly one argument in favor of jumping around and reading the very best, irrespective of chronology. On the other hand, there is something uniquely connective about going in order and being able to tie the presidencies (and the personalities) together.
As far as Meacham’s biography of Madison goes, at this point I’ll believe it when I see it…
Good luck on your journey!
Steve,
Congratulations on your milestone. I just saw this (sorry for the delay). Our anniversaries are about the same. My daily radio book reviews just hit year 28. I have to say (from one reviewer to another) that I enjoy your insights, agree with most of them (especially your above comments about Chernow’s Washington and Hamilton–not to mention Caro), and look forward to them every now and again. I especially appreciate your desire for the book to be readable. That’s what makes Chernow and Caro, closely followed by McCullough, so great. I PRAY your info on Caro would be correct. Here’s a tip. If you see something from him in the New Yorker, a release of a new volume is imminent.
As for a Presidential ranking, I recommend you spend some time on a few of those. As you might expect, the rankings can vary widely depending on which side, (left or right) the historians lean towards. A couple I’d recommend starting with are The Leaders We Deserved (and a few we didn’t) by Alvin Felzenberg. I especially liked his 6 criteria for the rankings, which led to some slightly surprising results. I also liked one by James Taranto followed by one by Brian Lamb.
Here’s to many more. Cheers!
Thanks for the recommendations! I’ve got about a dozen books that either cover approaches to presidential rankings or actually tackle the effort. They’ll be fascinating to read since I’ve already begun to formulate my own approach and I’m curious to see which philosophy(ies) seem most efficacious.
Congrats on – wow – almost three decades of daily radio reviews. I can’t even imagine. Well, actually I can, and it’s a daunting thought.
Fingers are definitely crossed on Caro. The fact that he says something in 100 words that could have been said in 60 is made up for by the fact he is such a remarkable and articulate observer. There’s simply no one else like him. I’ve got news alerts, human intel and other methods of intelligence gathering always trolling for insights…so I’ll be interested to see which of my early warning radar is triggered first when he’s getting ready to publish!