416 thoughts on “***The Best Presidential Biographies***”

1. Travis Satterlee said:

   December 21, 2021 at 11:35 am

   I am reading each president’s bio by decade to get a 3d perspective of where each past, present, and future president was at any given time. I will be starting 1870 but then I came across your list and was disappointed that I had not read “the best” bio. Going back and reading your recommendation before moving forward with the books on my shelf. One question, with H.W. Bush and Carter bios, since they were written prior to the end of their life, do you think other bios will come out that are more comprehensive? What is your understanding of how long before a time period is “declassified”? I feel like we will have to wait awhile before the Bushes and Clinton’s influence is considered history vs current events.

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   • Steve said:

     December 21, 2021 at 12:05 pm

     In both cases (Bush 41 and Carter) the most complete biographies I read were extremely comprehensive. And in the case of Carter, the two most recently published comprehensive biographies seem to have fully captured his post-presidency (which has been long and productive). I’m not sure I would wait for something better to come along.

     There has been a bit of discussion on various parts of this site about how many years (or decades) need to pass before history can begin to adequately and thoughtfully judge a presidency. The consensus is around 20 years though it depends on the circumstances. I suspect it will be quite some time before there is a serious “traditional” biography of POTUS 45. And Clinton was relatively young at the beginning of his post-presidency – and his wife’s political career may or may not have even come to a conclusion yet – so it may be awhile before a “definitive” bio of Clinton is possible.

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     • J. Jensen said:

       December 21, 2021 at 12:15 pm

       As a historian myself, that is the general time period I’ve heard discussed for the last few decades, 20 years. However, partisanship has been making noticeable inroads into academic scholarship in recent years and I feel that that time frame is expanding. As for President Trump, it will take a much longer time for the extreme partisanship that surrounds his presidency to adequately dissipate, allowing for an evaluation of his presidency that’s far more objective than subjective.

2. creagrus said:

   December 25, 2021 at 8:52 pm

   Sometime in the Reagan years I started collecting the single “best” one-volume biographies of U.S. presidents. I’d haunt used book stores to fill out the library, read what I bought, and would often sell back or give away books that seemed too biased, not well-researched, or simply out of date in any moral perspective. [At the same time I was also buying Civil War histories and biographies, and creating a large library of birding field guides and bird books. My own published books are on bird status, distribution, or identification topics — obviously, I like books.] My wife advises we’ve run out of shelf space. And it is only now, in Dec 2021, that I find your site! Now what am I to do?
   Fortunately, as I review your site, I find my own choices for the presidential biographies I have on my shelf today to be, in most cases, the #1 or #2 choice you’ve designated for each president. I absolutely agree that the Chernow “Grant,” Goodwin’s “Team of Rivals,” and McGrath’s “Monroe” are fabulous — although most will agree on these — but that Donald’s “Lincoln” could have been better despite its place on my shelf as my choice for a one-volume Lincoln. I found that your balance between “readability” and “historical accuracy” was what I’ve been looking for as well. Yet there have been very poor presidents (Andrew Johnson, Buchanon) and I do appreciate the biographies that make that clear. I did not like Brodsky’s take on Grover Cleveland — he praised GC’s “honesty” when, in fact, Cleveland lied about paternity issues to protect his married friend, while he trashed Clinton (a much better president on policy than GC) — that I couldn’t abide to keep it, and am still looking for an even-handed approach for our only double-numbered president. Still, I’m engaged by your site and your project, and will surely, a very few quibbles aside, spend many hours there as well. And as much fun as I’ll have on your site, I look forward to both more reading and more travel — at least my wife enjoys visiting Presidential libraries, birthplaces, family homes, and graves as we travel across America looking for birds and Civil War sites and National Parks… It is a great life.
   Thanks so much.

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   • Steve said:

     December 27, 2021 at 7:01 am

     I’m amused to read that your wife has alerted you to the fact you’ve run out of shelf space. I’ve heard that one before 🙂 We’re now converting an “exercise room” into a library – – exercise for the mind, if you will.

     If I could start this project fresh, I would break my ratings explicitly into “entertainment” and “historical value” and I would undoubtedly be better-placed to rate the former than the latter (since I’m not a historian by trade or training). I hope my commentary provides some insight into those two broad buckets, but I think I would feel better if I made my view more explicit. But now that I’m in a groove…

     I’m having a harder time convincing my spouse to visit libraries, homes, etc. We’ve done everything in the central Virginia area – and there’s certainly a lot here! – but I would love to get to Boston, Michigan, Texas, etc. and just roam and savor.

     Keep me (and everyone else here) up to date on your travels, travails and the moments of presidential serendipity you encounter

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     • creagrus said:

       December 27, 2021 at 1:28 pm

       Thanks! I will say that visiting homes sometimes is more enlightening about a President than even the best biographies. The contrast between the middle-class home of James Garfield — a working farm in his time — and Rutherford B. Hayes’ mansion was evident in a trip to Ohio a couple years back. Just based on their homes, Hayes was a very rich man with a splendid mansion, while Garfield, born in a log cabin, had worked his way up to his expansive farm. Although they were contemporaries, Garfield was clearly much more a “man of the people,” and thus a reformer (for which he was ultimately shot to install Arthur, an old-wing politician), than Hayes. The self-taught Garfield, who allegedly could “write Greek with one hand and Latin with the other” is, I think, much under-appreciated. Like Jefferson, Garfield was always tinkering and improving his farm, and visiting “Lawnfield” is very worthwhile. You see the same dramatic difference in Virginia, as you know, between the homes of wealthy Madison but more middle-class Monroe. We live in California, so visiting most presidential sites have to be during the occasional trip eastwards, and we typically get to see only a couple in any trip. My wife particularly likes those visit that are “one-stop shops,” to wit, the birthplace, the Presidential Library (if any), and the grave are all in one place. With Hoover or Nixon, you get all three at one single site, while for John Adams, Van Buren, or Coolidge, the sites are scattered about a single small town. Just as reading biographies is a work in progress, and ever changing with new publications, visiting all the Presidential sites is also a work in progress, as well as Civil War battlefields, and (for us) birding the world….

3. DG said:

   January 16, 2022 at 12:04 pm

   I use your blog all the time to help me find Presidential biographies to read. Thank you for your amazing work!

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4. Gary Schantz said:

   May 30, 2022 at 6:47 pm

   Perusing the list, I may have missed one or there are simply none listed by Harlow Giles Unger. I have several of his books and I found them to be good (albeit short ones) books. Yet I run into people that have a dislike of anything this man writes. Do you have a similar opinion since he doesn’t appear in your list?

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   • Steve said:

     June 1, 2022 at 5:48 am

     Gary, I’ve read two of Unger’s biographies – one of James Monroe (which was ok, but far from my favorite) and one of John Quincy Adams (which I found good, but was not my favorite of the JQA bunch). I have his biography of Lafayette on my shelf but I haven’t gotten to it yet-

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5. Justin E. Forgam said:

   August 16, 2022 at 12:27 am

   Hey Steve, I was thinking of picking up a biography solely for entertainment. I know in your criteria you consider historical accuracy and thoroughness amongst other things. Setting aside those, which one of these biographies was most entertaining to read?

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   • Steve said:

     August 16, 2022 at 4:31 am

     Some of my favorites for entertainment/engagement: Candice Millard’s “The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey”, Ron Chernow’s “Washington: A Life”, David McCullough’s “John Adams” and John Ferling’s “John Adams: A Life”.

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     • Steve H said:

       February 3, 2023 at 12:18 pm

       I loved all of those that Steve recommended (except I haven’t read Ferling yet), but I thought Millard’s book on the Garfield assassination (Destiny of the Republic) was even better than her (great) book on Rooevelt’s trip. I also really enjoyed Chernow’s bio on John D. Rockefeller.

6. Heather Rogers said:

   October 1, 2022 at 11:23 am

   This is incredible! I heard about you from a recent Presequential episode. I began a quest to read one book about each U.S. president years ago, but became hooked and couldn’t stop once I reached my goal. To help me retain what I’ve read, I started doodling cool things I learned along the way. I need to back and read another about Jefferson because I read his biography pre-doodles. I wasn’t sure which biography to pick until checking out your site. (Perfect timing.) Thank you for the recommendation!

   Here’s my bibliography, if you want to take a peek: https://www.potuspages.com/bibliography

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   • Steve said:

     October 2, 2022 at 1:59 pm

     I love notes / stories like yours! Can’t wait to get your periodic emails and…I love your doodles! Would love to emulate, but the left side of my brain just isn’t quite capable. I’m going to love going through your website in more detail. So much to do & read, and so little time 🙂

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7. A Less Distinguished Steve said:

   January 29, 2023 at 11:37 am

   I’m a first-time commenter who has enjoyed spending countless hours on your website over the years. Thank you for the phenomenal content you consistently put out. Your reviews are the perfect length and can always be counted on for an unbiased, thoughtful, and cogent analysis. When I first stumbled on this site, I assumed this was your full-time job. I’m quite amazed to discover this is a side hobby for you!

   David McCollough and Ron Chernow were the initial biographers who really hooked me into the genre, and I still find them to be at the top of the list. It’s been a fascinating experience discovering so many new authors that get oh so close to joining the pantheon! Doris Kearns Goodwin and Jean Edward Smith (who I was unaware of until your site’s stellar reviews) are close on the trail! The one really incredible presidential biography that I’m surprised is not on your list yet (although I see it on the “to-read list” and realize you have now expanded to non-presidents) is Fredrik Logevall’s Volume 1 history of JFK. It was instantly catapulted into the top tier for me and I can’t wait for Volume 2. His history of French involvement in Indochina preceding American involvement in Vietnam is also fantastically chronicled in “Embers of War.” I will be eagerly waiting for your review on Logevall’s JFK when you get to it!

   You may have addressed it before in various comments sections, but I’m curious your preferred reading method? E-books are the most convenient and cheap, but it’s hard to beat the feel and smell of a physical book. Paperbacks seem the most comfortable and easy to travel with. But there is just something about the aesthetics and look of some nice hardcovers sitting on the bookshelf! Some updated pictures of your library would be interesting to see (although if you’re like many readers on this site, I’m guessing your books are spilling onto floors, closets, and every other spare area of the house 🙂).

   Thanks again for all you do! I think I can speak for all the regular followers in saying we look forward to your 2023 road map!

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   • Steve said:

     February 3, 2023 at 10:14 am

     Thanks so much for your note and for the kind words. This has truly been a labor of love (but mostly love, less so a labor). McCullough hooked me on the genre with his biography of John Adams and Ron Chernow is the ultimate “jedi master” of single-volume presidential biographies in my view – with Robert Caro taking that honor in the “series” category.

     I was hoping to get a complete series out of Logevall before too long, but that hasn’t been a wish rapidly fulfilled. And I hate reading a single volume of a multi-volume series only to find myself waiting on the dénouement. But at some point I’ll just break down and read his volume on JFK pre-1956.

     On your last question, I am quite high tech in most parts of my life but haven’t wavered when it comes to reading: I need a physical book. I just can’t do e-books. And while I used to prefer the easy ergonomics of a paperback, I’ve migrated to being a huge fan of hardbacks. And yes, if only you could witness some of the conversations I have with my wife regarding the books that are stacked up on the floor, tucked into corners of rooms, etc. And every time another book is delivered she wonders Why!?! do I need another one when there are hundreds waiting to be perused…!

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     • A Less Distinguished Steve said:

       February 4, 2023 at 3:36 pm

       Haha – your reply made me (and my wife) lol. We have the exact same conversations regularly. She bought me a Kindle a few years ago in hopes of stemming the never ending tide of Amazon book deliveries. It didn’t work out the way she had hoped… good luck to you with the continual effort of finding space!

       Regarding Logevall and waiting for subsequent volumes, I can only imagine the way you feel waiting for Caro’s final volume. 41 years in the making? Talk about dedication. Let’s hope he writes fast and we see Volume 5 in the not too distant future.

8. David Mussetter said:

   March 29, 2023 at 9:40 am

   Thank you for your excellent website! I have made it through all the presidents and I have begun reading biographies of other famous or infamous people. Politics aside (if that is even possible), who would everyone say are the most underrated and overrated presidents? For me, most underrated would be Rutherford B Hayes. Most overrated would be Thomas Jefferson. Of course, we all have our biases….

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   • Steve said:

     March 29, 2023 at 2:09 pm

     Off the top of my head (and yes, I did change the questions somewhat!):

     The president who, the better I get to know him, is more and more disappointing: Thomas Jefferson

     The president who, if he had not been assassinated, could have been phenomenal: James Garfield

     The most duplicitous president I still really like: FDR

     The president I still wish had a much better biography: Martin Van Buren

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     • Mussetter, David said:

       March 29, 2023 at 2:14 pm

       Thanks for cleaning that up for me! 😊

     • Bill Wilson said:

       March 29, 2023 at 3:03 pm

       Great answer (because it so closely aligns with my reading journey)! The one that I’d add is that Chernow’s Grant not only rehabilitated him in my mind; it elevated him to my own list of near-greats!

     • Marc said:

       March 29, 2023 at 4:01 pm

       What about McKinley as better than thought of?I thought Merry’s bio excellent. 

       Sent from Yahoo Mail on Android

     • David Mussetter said:

       March 29, 2023 at 3:48 pm

       Agree with FDR on the duplicitous category, maybe I would have to throw Wilson into that category as well.

9. Travis Satterlee said:

   March 30, 2023 at 10:40 pm

   Will you research Trump and Biden biographies? What are your standards for measuring objectivity. Can’t wait to hear your reviews/suggestions.

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   • Steve said:

     March 31, 2023 at 4:17 am

     It will probably be quite some time (…years…) before I attempt to dive into biographies of 45 or 46. For lots of reasons. Trying to ensure I’m reading “objective” biographies of recent presidents (or any, for that matter) is among the harder tasks I find myself engaged in at times.

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     • Roger Chambers said:

       March 31, 2023 at 7:42 am

       That idea of being “objective” is very difficult to impossible. In almost every era (perhaps 50 years or more) a biography comes out that strongly reassesses the president (or other major historical figures, musicians, scientists, writers). Classic examples include biographies of the founders around 1900 such as Henry Cabot Lodge’s basically worshipping the ground George Washington walked upon; and certainly Jefferson (a decline in respect and integrity) and Grant (greatly improving his image) have undergone change in generally accepted public perception. This is also true of more modern revered giants (depending on one’s political view) of Roosevelt and Reagan. Former presidents Nixon and Trump will undoubtedly be among the most difficult to reconcile with a factual and “objective” coverage and it’s unlikely anyone will truly succeed within living memory of said president by a large portion of the population. Very unfortunately, with current restrictive educational imperatives, in many states our children will be taught history that largely ignores many major issues, glossing over or ignoring crucial parts of our history of native Americans, racial history, the fair treatment of labor and women’s history. This does not bode well for our future towards “a more perfect union.”

10. Max said:

    July 21, 2023 at 11:37 am

    This is all incredible. I’m shocked that you didn’t give McCullough’s Truman and John Adams higher rankings. For me, those two books are close to the greatest a biography can be. I do agree with your giving the 5-star rating to Chernow’s book on Washington. It’s a masterpiece. I have a few biographies that you should read in the future relating to presidents. Have you read Unger’s biography of Lafayette? It isn’t incredible, but it’s still worth a read. And Robert Service’s biography of Stalin is a little better than decent, as is Peter Longerich’s biography of Hitler. Anyways, great work! This is really helpful to me on MY personal quest to read one biography for each president. Thanks for the hard work.

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    • Steve said:

      July 21, 2023 at 12:19 pm

      If I could go back in time, my ratings would be re-curved slightly so there are a more “appropriate” number of 5-star ratings as well as a larger number of ratings well below my median (which is somewhere between 3 1/2 and 4 stars). The biographies you mentioned would definitely benefit from that re-scaling exercise since they are among the very best of what I read 🙂

      I recently read Duncan’s biography of Lafayette, but haven’t yet read Unger’s. And I’ve not yet read two biographies of anyone who wasn’t a president. But I’ll have to take a closer look at Unger’s…as well as the Stalin and Hitler bios you mentioned!

      Good luck on your own adventure through the presidents – it’s a fabulously interesting journey!

      Reply

11. Nate said:

    September 3, 2023 at 11:59 am

    FYI: new Gerald Ford bio, An Ordinary Man, is available on Amazon for $1.99 (ebook) for a limited amount of time.

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12. Wiley said:

    December 3, 2023 at 10:49 pm

    I am curious if you have read any volumes in Morse’s American Statesmen series? While the books contribute little to the private lives of their subjects, I find the treatment of their political lives by 19th C historians/scholars/ political figures, who lived more contemperaneosly with their subjects, to be fascinating supplements to the more modern biographies. And, thanks so much for your fantastic guidance.

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    • Steve said:

      December 4, 2023 at 5:04 am

      I have not read any of those volumes. When I was beginning to build a collection of biographies, a few crossed my radar but I found them difficult to obtain (among other challenges / issues).

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13. marknickolas said:

    January 16, 2024 at 6:41 pm

    Is there any info as to the status of Robert Caro’s volume 5 of LBJ? Fingers crossed that it’s coming in 2024.

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    • Redskullduggery said:

      January 17, 2024 at 10:19 am

      I feel your pain brother. Unfortunately, from what I’ve read, volume 5 is still likely many years away. For example, he has plans to embed himself in Vietnam (similarly to what he did with the Texas Hill county for the earlier volumes) and that trip has yet to occur.

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14. bstars1719 said:

    February 23, 2024 at 9:03 pm

    Do you take notes or outline while reading? If so, how/how much? Senior in HS and have not read any types of biographies or political books before. Just got The Bully Pulpit and am curious how you would do that.

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    • Steve said:

      February 25, 2024 at 5:24 pm

      I began taking note (on my laptop) very early in my journey. But I tend to focus on clever quotes and quips or unusual facts I hadn’t read before. I don’t normally try to take the kinds of notes I might have kept as a high school or college student since I’m not planning on writing a dissertation with end notes 🙂 but I’ve uncovered enough clever writing to know a great quote when I see one, and now I’ve got a collection of ~3,000 pages worth of the best writing I’ve encountered.

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    • Gloria Barr Gengos said:

      February 26, 2024 at 10:54 am

      I find the practice of taking notes while reading enhances my retention. My usual protocol is as follows- I first note the structure of the book- how many chapters, how organized – e.g., chronological, topical. Some authors (like Doris Kearns Goodwin – I happen to be reading Bully Pulpit now) start and end each chapter with a nice overview of what will be / has been covered in that chapter, so I usually read those sections first. Then I jot down my own impressions. All in a brief personal shorthand. Will also note pages where there is an especially memorable passage or quote. With biography and history I find there is always a rather startling similarity between past times and the present moment with respect to attitudes/prejudices/reactions to social phenomena.

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15. Gerry Corbin said:

    March 30, 2024 at 3:52 pm

    Since I have retired, I have started a quest to read biographies of all the presidents in order.

    I just finished Cleveland.

    This site has been invaluable in helping me select the books to read.

    I just want top say thank you as I appreciate all that you have done to make this site the excellent resource that it is.

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    • Steve said:

      March 31, 2024 at 6:21 am

      Congrats on your journey through the presidents. Now that you’ve made to & past Cleveland, you are essentially on the downhill stretch (at least in my own experience). Enjoy the rest of the journey and please drop another note as you approach the finish line (though it’s an ever-moving target)!

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16. Thijmen said:

    April 3, 2024 at 5:29 am

    Hi!

    Just coming across this now while researching what biography of James Madison is best. I am a student from the Netherlands who just signed up for a Masters in North America Studies. This website has already been a great resource and I am sure I will come back to it regularly (certainly for pleasure, perhaps for studies as well).

    Thank you very much for your contributions here!

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