476 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.

   Reply

   • 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.

     Reply

     • 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.

   Reply

   • 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

     Reply

     • 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!

   Reply

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?

   Reply

   • 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-

     Reply

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?

   Reply

   • 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”.

     Reply

     • 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

   Reply

   • 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 🙂

     Reply

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!

   Reply

   • 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…!

     Reply

     • 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….

   Reply

   • 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

     Reply

     • 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.

   Reply

   • 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.

     Reply

     • 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.

    Reply

    • 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.

    Reply

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.

    Reply

    • 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).

      Reply

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.

    Reply

    • 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.

      Reply

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.

    Reply

    • 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.

      Reply

    • 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.

      Reply

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.

    Reply

    • 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)!

      Reply

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!

    Reply

17. Jason said:

    May 6, 2024 at 7:32 pm

    I’m late to this site but damn what you have put together is great. I also collect and read presidential bios. Your site is now my go to when deciding what to read and buy next. Great work

    Jason

    Reply

18. Michael Nathan Satin said:

    June 29, 2024 at 12:12 pm

    I very much enjoy your reviews and try to check them out whenever I’m going to read a presidential biography. I’m something of a Lincolnian and have read a lot about him. I’ve notice that you do not review or reference J.G. Randall’s 4 volume “Lincoln: The President”. Is it because it was written rather long ago (the 1940s and 50s), or that many of his views on the War and the times have become passe, or because you just haven’t gotten to it? Just wondering as I would be interested to hear your views on it.

    Thank you again for all your work!

    Reply

    • Steve said:

      June 29, 2024 at 12:31 pm

      I’ve never gone very far with this series simply because I haven’t managed to collect the four volumes, it isn’t widely read, and it’s not comprehensive (since I believe it focuses almost exclusively on his presidency). If you have read it I would love to heard what you think as I’m always open to going deeper into presidents I consider particularly interesting (and Lincoln would certainly be on that list!)

      Reply

19. Warren said:

    August 6, 2024 at 9:48 am

    Hi Steve,

    Greetings from Melbourne Australia!

    As mentioned previously under a different Email, I am very late to the Party on American Presidents. I don’t recall any American History being taught when I completed my schooling in the late 60’s. I came to your great website after listening on Audible to Winifred Gallagher’s wonderful book ” How the Post Office created America”

    Still creating and basically populating my Google Spreadsheets for all the Presidents based on your listings to date. For some unknown reason I am also running a parallel set of spiral note pads, and manually listing my preferred purchases based on your commentary and also my own investigations.

    I have found listening to numerous Podcasts has assisted greatly in my mission to have a basic understanding of American History from mid 1700’s to the present day, and also Presidents.

    Just a quick mention, in your Jimmy Carter section your review of Kai Birds book from 2021 does not appear, it comes up as Stuart Eizenstat’s review.

    Thanks again for a brilliant catalogue of information on Presidents.

    Warren

    Reply

    • Steve said:

      August 6, 2024 at 1:58 pm

      Warren, thank you for your note and the background on your own survey of the US presidents. I’d love to know what podcasts you would recommend on US history…and thanks for pointing out the glitch in the master list(!) All the best, Steve

      Reply

20. Trev said:

    October 6, 2024 at 7:36 am

    I love this list. I have been using it as I have been working through my quest to read a book on each President and visit each library and museum. Thank you for putting this together. Have you read John Quincy Adams A Man for the Whole People by Randall Woods? It came out this year and think it deserves high marks. Thank you again.

    Reply

    • Steve said:

      October 6, 2024 at 7:48 am

      Thank you! And yes, I just finished Woods’s biography of John Quincy Adams. Review coming soon-

      Reply

21. Dione said:

    October 15, 2024 at 3:47 pm

    I loved Travis satterlee’s comments. I started reading presidential biographies after finding your website a few years ago. I am on TR now (reading in chronological order) and this summer my granddaughter went with to visit our first two homesteads—Hayes and Garfield. It is my hope we get several more in before she outgrows them and me—she’s 12 years old😊

    Reply

    • Steve said:

      October 15, 2024 at 3:55 pm

      Your granddaughter is likely to be the only one of her friends who even knows there were presidents named Hayes and Garfield(!) Though I’ll admit I took my kids to Millard Fillmore’s place in Buffalo, NY and they remembered his name for somewhat less than 24 hours…

      Reply

22. Katie said:

    January 29, 2025 at 9:22 pm

    Steve,

    Have you read the latest Woodrow Wilson biography yet? Published 2024. Woodrow Wilson: The Light Withdrawn) by Christopher Cox. It delves into Wilson in terms of women’s suffrage and civil rights. I’ll be interested in what you think about it.

    Reply

    • Steve said:

      January 30, 2025 at 7:08 am

      I’ve not yet read it, but it’s one of three recent important presidential biographies I will be getting to “shortly”: Wilson (Cox), Garfield (Goodyear) and Van Buren (Bradley). I have high hopes for each of the three…

      Reply

23. Eliot said:

    February 12, 2025 at 11:10 am

    Hi Steve,
    I find it interesting that of all of the books you have reviewed over the years, the only one that you rated a “5” was the Washington biography. Is there really no other biography that merits a “5?” Ultimately, what is the difference between a book you have rated a “4 3/4” and a “5”?

    Reply

    • Steve said:

      February 12, 2025 at 11:51 am

      Somewhat unintentionally, Chernow’s “Washington” became my gold standard and, among presidential biographies, I never quite found anything that surpassed my experience with that book. A 4 3/4 rating is my way of noting that something didn’t *quite* reach that same level – for me. But among all biographies I’ve ever read, Chernow’s “Alexander Hamilton” also received 5 stars from me (though on a different website of mine). You might not be surprised that I’m really looking forward to Chernow’s upcoming biography of Mark Twain 🙂

      Reply

      • Bill Wilson said:

        February 12, 2025 at 12:45 pm

        Chernow is amazing. His biography of Grant is also one of my 5s. I just finished one of his “oldies” – Titan (John D. Rockefeller). His stuff is always well-researched and highly engaging. The bonus is that I always learn some new words and phrases along the way. Chernow’s vocabulary is enormous!

      • Eliot said:

        February 12, 2025 at 2:21 pm

        Hey Steve! Excellent response! I “get it.” I have been following your site for a good eight or more years. My purchases have been based on your reviews. With that said, PLEASE provide me with a link to your second website! I want to read what you have to say about biographies outside of the presidential ones.

        Thanks!

        Warm regards,

        Eliot

      • Steve said:

        February 12, 2025 at 4:25 pm

        http://www.thebestbiographies.com

24. Samuel Johnson said:

    February 23, 2025 at 8:58 pm

    Hello, I love this blog post and the dedication it took to do this. I was wondering if you are going to get President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier by Goodyear. It seems to be one of the more popular Garfield biographies and was praised for being the most comprehensive. It covers his life beyond his assassination very well unlike many other biographies of him.

    Reply

25. James M Bakken said:

    March 3, 2025 at 11:55 am

    I agree on the best biography of Theodore Roosevelt being ‘The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt”
    It was the first and best biography of Theodore Roosevelt that I have read. I have read about 5 all together including the other 2 in the 3 volume biography by Morris.
    I have a question on his son Theodore Roosevelt JR.
    I have seen about 4 biographies of him. Have you read any ? Do you have a favorite ?

    Reply

    • Steve said:

      March 3, 2025 at 12:11 pm

      I’ve never read a biography of TR Jr. I’ll be interested to see if anyone else here has…

      Reply

      • James M Bakken said:

        March 4, 2025 at 3:33 pm

        Steve, have not head from anyone yet about a biography of Theodore Roosevelt JR. — Hope I will.
        Just wanted to let you know that your “The Best of Presidents” info has been very rewarding and helpful. Appreciate it.
        One more question. Since former president Jimmy Carter has just recently passes do you know of any new biography’s coming out soon ?

      • Steve said:

        March 5, 2025 at 5:44 am

        See SH’s comment/thoughts in response to your inquring about TR Jr. To your question about Carter, I am not aware of anyone working on a new biography. We were fortunate during the early days of Covid to enjoy two solid bios published – by Kai Bird and Jonathan Alter – but I would be surprised if anything substantial is forthcoming in the near-term.

      • cheerfullyc92d0eb613 said:

        March 16, 2025 at 10:49 am

        Wanted to thank you both for the info. and again thank you for the work you do on ” my Journey biography’s through the best presidential biographies” I decided to purchase Theodore Roosevelt Jr. by H. Paul Jeffers waiting for it to arrive and then to get to reading it, I am reading a few other books – so it may take awhile to get to it.
        By the way another book on presidents ( but not a biography) that I found very interesting was ” Life after Power by Jared Cohen, about 7 recent presidents AFTER they left the White House. Did anyone get a chance to read it and what did you think ?

      • cheerfullyc92d0eb613 said:

        May 16, 2025 at 10:42 am

        I have now read a biography of Theodore Roosevelt JR. by H. Paul Jeffers. I liked it well enough. The book really tells us his life and brings in so many other Roosevelts. I know there are a couple of more recent biographies of him, I may try one of them also. If anyone has ready any of them I would like to know what you thought about them.

      • cheerfullyc92d0eb613 said:

        May 16, 2025 at 1:08 pm

        I have finally read a biography of Theodore Roosevelt JR – By H. Paul Jeffers.

        It was very interesting. It told us much about TR JR and many other Roosevelts and there affect on his like.

        Also on another topic

        I have recently finished 2 books by Jared Cohen. ” Accidental Presidents” and ” Life after Power”

        Both books were very good and interesting to read. If anyone has read either of them I would like to know what you thought.

    • SHeinen said:

      March 3, 2025 at 1:18 pm

      I have not read a biography of Roosevelt, Jr., but I have read a lot about him in the context of his WWII service, and especially on D-Day. I love this blurb about him from the ever-reliable Wikipedia:

      Roosevelt was the only general on D-Day to land by sea with the first wave of troops. At 56, he was the oldest man in the invasion,^[32] and the only one whose son also landed that day; Captain Quentin Roosevelt II was among the first wave of soldiers at Omaha Beach.^[33]

      Brigadier General Roosevelt was one of the first soldiers, along with Captain Leonard T. Schroeder Jr., off his landing craft as he led the 8th Infantry Regiment and 70th Tank Battalion landing at Utah Beach. Roosevelt was soon informed that the landing craft had drifted south of their objective, and the first wave of men was a mile off course. Walking with the aid of a cane and carrying a pistol, he personally made a reconnaissance of the area immediately to the rear of the beach to locate the causeways that were to be used for the advance inland. He returned to the point of landing and contacted the commanders of the two battalions, Lieutenant Colonels Conrad C. Simmons and Carlton O. MacNeely, and coordinated the attack on the enemy positions confronting them. Opting to fight from where they had landed rather than trying to move to their assigned positions, Roosevelt’s famous words were, “We’ll start the war from right here!”^[36]

      These impromptu plans worked with complete success and little confusion. With artillery landing close by, each follow-on regiment was personally welcomed on the beach by a cool, calm, and collected Roosevelt, who inspired all with humor and confidence, reciting poetry and telling anecdotes of his father to steady the nerves of his men. Roosevelt pointed almost every regiment to its changed objective. Sometimes he worked under fire as a self-appointed traffic cop, untangling traffic jams of trucks and tanks all struggling to get inland and off the beach.^[37] One GI later reported that seeing the general walking around, apparently unaffected by the enemy fire, even when clods of earth fell down on him, gave him the courage to get on with the job, saying if the general is like that it cannot be that bad.^{[citation needed]}

      ***

      By modifying his division’s original plan on the beach, Roosevelt enabled its troops to achieve their mission objectives by coming ashore and attacking north behind the beach toward its original objective. Years later, Omar Bradley was asked to name the single most heroic action he had ever seen in combat. He replied, “Ted Roosevelt on Utah Beach.”

      Reply

26. Shinza said:

    April 6, 2025 at 3:27 am

    Dear all,

    Apart from American President Series published by Times Books, I was recommended by someone about a similar series published by Nova Science Publishers called First Men, America’s Presidents (Edited Series). It seems they have good reviews as well. But why their books are so darn expensive? It doesn’t make sense the average price for a 200 plus pages book, both hardcover and ebook version cost minimum USD 50 up to USD 200. Can somebody shed some light about this Nova company? Thanks. – Mr. Shin from KL, Malaysia.

    Reply

27. Greg said:

    April 23, 2025 at 12:37 am

    I agree that it can take 20-25 (or more) years after a president’s term of office is over in order to begin seeing definitive biographies published about them. We are just starting to see definitive (or so they claim) biographies of Ronald Reagan (Boot’s Reagan: His Life and Legend) and George HW Bush (Meacham’s Destiny and Power) released. In the case of Meacham’s work, Bush was still alive when it was published, but both the Boot and Meacham bios of Reagan and Bush set to define their respective presidencies from a contemporary perspective.

    Since the last president to have a ‘definitive’ biography published about them is Bush 41, that leaves Bill Clinton as next in line. Does anyone have thoughts as to when a Bill Clinton definitive bio might be published, and what kind of shape it will take, or perspective it could hold? Also, any thoughts on who you potentially see being a good author for it?

    I would love to see Meacham or Chernow tackle a Clinton biography, or maybe HW Brands. Max Boot’s Reagan biography was fantastic and I’m not sure if he will continue writing presidential biographies, but it would be cool if he does a Clinton biography since he is great at covering popular presidents and unmasking the legend as he did with Reagan (in as neutral of a way as he could).

    I know it’s much too early for George W. Bush (the Smith bio is a terrible attempt and attestation to this) or Obama, but any thoughts on when we might see a Clinton bio and what it might be like, or who you could or would want to see writing it!?

    Reply

    • Steve said:

      April 23, 2025 at 11:32 am

      I would not-so-secretly love to clone Ron Chernow and ask that he and his “double” write bios of Monroe, MVB, TRoosevelt and Bill Clinton. Probably in that order, with a book every two or three years. By then I think Clinton’s legacy will have marinated long enough…and not long thereafter it might be possible to take on GWB and Obama with the benefit of additional time and perspective.

      There are any number of others who I would love to see tackle part of that list, but so far no one has asked for guidance or suggestions… In recent years we did finally get the Carter biographies we (and he) deserved and although I don’t think we’ve necessarily seen the “definitive” Reagan bio, he has been fairly well-covered. I just hope that before my eyesight fails we do get some great biographies of 41-44. But I don’t think I’m going to live long enough to see a real masterwork on 45/47. I have a feeling that stew is going to need to simmer a lot longer than usual…

      Reply

      • alamo2000 said:

        April 23, 2025 at 11:36 am

        There IS

      • Greg said:

        April 23, 2025 at 2:18 pm

        Yes, I would *love* a Chernow biography of those presidents and especially Bill Clinton. I’m not used to reading a Chernow biography about a modern president and it would be fascinating to see how he would tackle it. As you said, it would take a few more years before that happens but by that time, hopefully enough time would have passed to see a good, definitive Clinton bio. I do like the Meacham biography of 41 and it was a pretty good look at Bush. I don’t know if you would define it as “definitive” (similar to how we may not have a definitive Reagan bio yet) but for both presidents, I think enough time has passed to warrant a retrospective look at their lives and presidencies.

        It’s still soon for Clinton. Also, I think that there is a chance Bill (and Hillary) Clinton still have more to contribute… their stories aren’t over yet, I suspect. When the Carter and Bush 41 bios were published, they had already faded from the national stage and would pass away within a couple of years. Bill and Hillary are still very active. It’s like if someone tried writing about Eisenhower in 1966 – many thought he was just retired, but he was quite active in discussing the Vietnam War AND in participating in the 1968 Nixon campaign that it wouldn’t be possible to leave all that out.

    • cheerfullyc92d0eb613 said:

      April 23, 2025 at 12:51 pm

      I would also like to see a biographiy on Clinton done by Meacham or Chernow

      or by HW Brands since they are 3 of my favorite authors.

      Reply

      • Greg said:

        April 23, 2025 at 2:30 pm

        I hope the rumors of a Meacham Eisenhower biography are true!

        I love HW Brands, but I am afraid his Clinton bio would be just like the Reagan 2015 bio he wrote. There was very little analysis and mostly direct quotes from Reagan’s memoirs. Max Boot has done a much better job of including both analysis and including primary quotations from many sources (including new documents and hundreds of interviews).

    • Travis Satterlee said:

      April 24, 2025 at 1:08 am

      I have set a rule for myself that the best bios won’t come out until 20 years after they are deceased. That way most of the people wrapped up in any ugly stuff related to that person are most likely out of the picture as well and the info can be declassified or spoken of candidly. That being said bios of the following should be after the listed date

      LBJ 1993 (Caro, we are all waiting for you)

      Nixon 2014

      Reagan 2024

      Ford 2026

      HW Bush 2038

      Carter 2044 (I think he is a good exception to the 20 year rule, but if people wanted to go in depth on his rogue self appointed ambassador roles and other charity work plus details about his interaction with other post presidency administrations that would be very interesting reading)

      All living presidents DEFINITELY need the 20 year gap because there is so much interplay between the families Obama/Clinton (which camp had supremacy of power in their party?) Obama/Biden (Biden corruption related to pay to play politics? Who orchestrated the Biden withdrawal?) Biden/Clinton (How did he win the nomination from Hillary?) Bush/Clinton (how they started working together post administration and united against Trump) and most fascinating of all Clinton/Trump (*cough* Epsteindidntk*llhimself)

      Reply

      • Greg said:

        April 24, 2025 at 7:07 am

        This is a fantastic assessment and I agree with the 20 year rule. It explains why the Max Boot bio of Reagan (published in 2024) was much more confident in unmasking some truths about Reagan that other biographers hadn’t really mentioned – such as more details of Iran-Contra and other matters. Enough time has passed to let perspective sink in. Now that you mention it, any definitive Clinton bio would need to cover events relating to Obama, Trump, and Biden, and not enough time has passed by to include that information. Carter and Bush 41 are exceptions because I think by the time their definitive bios were published, they were already out of the national scene and completely immersed in private life.

28. alamo2000 said:

    April 23, 2025 at 11:40 am

    There IS a new bio out on Martin Van Buren that seems to be getting some good reviews, by James Bradley, who works on the Van Buren papers. Van Buren merits a good, modern treatment.

    Reply

    • Steve said:

      April 23, 2025 at 11:47 am

      Yes, I keep intending to read the MVB bio “imminently” but various things have gotten in the way of me giving it the time and serious attention I hope it deserves. Nevertheless, I’m hedging my bets by wishing Chernow or his body-double will get to Van Buren as well 🙂

      Reply

    • Greg said:

      April 23, 2025 at 2:31 pm

      Finally! I hope it’s better than the Cole biography. Have you read it, alamo2000?

      Reply

      • alamo2000 said:

        April 23, 2025 at 2:35 pm

        Not yet. It’s on my birthday list. Seems to have a solid list of endorsers on the amazon site.

      • Greg said:

        April 23, 2025 at 3:12 pm

        It makes me wonder why no local bookstore around here has it!

      • Travis Satterlee said:

        April 24, 2025 at 12:43 am

        I read the Cole bio. I’d like a thorough treatment of the treaties with Native Americans and how he dealt with the Indian removal act. It focused mostly on his navigation of party politics as I recall.

      • Greg said:

        April 24, 2025 at 7:04 am

        Yes, I hope the new bio offers a more complete treatment of Van Buren’s presidency rather than simply focusing on Van Buren’s role in establishing the Democratic Party.

      • Joe Biden said:

        September 20, 2025 at 11:31 pm

        It is. If there is ever to be a “definitive” biography of Van Buren, then Bradley’s book is definitely it. Bradley also gives much more time to Van Buren’s early life then Cole does.

      • Steve said:

        September 21, 2025 at 1:00 pm

        Thanks – once I’m back on home soil and can devote the proper attention to what I’m reading, this is the first presidential biography I plan to read (likely followed by the long-overdue Garfield bio by Goodyear and Cox’s bio of Woodrow Wilson). I really hope this one on MVB is as good as I’m hoping for…

      • Greg said:

        September 21, 2025 at 1:01 pm

        sounds good! I just wonder why there is such a delay in the paperback.

      • alamo2000 said:

        September 21, 2025 at 4:23 pm

        It’s been less than a year since the biography was released. It can take a year or more for a university press (in this case Oxford) to release a paperback — if the hardback has done well enough to warrant it.

      • Greg said:

        September 21, 2025 at 4:35 pm

        That’s a good point. Same with the new Max Boot bio of Reagan.

    • Peter Joseph Vandenberg said:

      May 6, 2025 at 10:46 pm

      I started that a couple of weeks ago and am about 1/5 in. Bradley’s a good writer so far, but I find MVB to not be quite as interesting as presidents 1-7. Not a lot of detail about his early life, and his own autobiography glosses over quite a bit – including his wife and his father.

      Reply

29. cheerfullyc92d0eb613 said:

    May 16, 2025 at 10:58 am

    I have recently finished 2 books by Jared Cohen. ” Accidental Presidents” and ” Life after Power”

    Both books were very good and interesting to read. If anyone has read either of them I would like to know what you thought.

    Reply

30. Linda L Goldman said:

    May 23, 2025 at 10:53 am

    Wow, wow, wow. Thank you for documenting your journey. I love history and biography and in the midst of studying the Civil War I’m digging further into Grant. I read his Memoirs but wanted more and when searching”best bios on Grant” I found your site. I have it bookmarked and will return again and again and plan to share it with my kids.

    Linda G

    Reply

    • Steve said:

      May 23, 2025 at 10:59 am

      I’m glad you found the site, and thanks for your note! I really enjoyed reading about Grant – in part because there are so many wonderful biographies of him and partly because I live near the battlefields where he saw a great deal of action in the Civil War (Battle of the Wilderness, Spotsylvania Courthouse, the Bloody Angle, Cold Harbor,…). I hope you enjoy(ed) your journey through Grant’s life and once you expand beyond him, I think you’ll find many of the other presidents fascinating as well.

      Reply

31. Bob A.M39 said:

    June 14, 2025 at 5:59 pm

    Hi,

    I came across the site and I was wondering if Ambrose’s books on Eisenhower still deserve the status of being amongst the best? If I recall something that came out during the mass plagiarism scandal was that he’d essentially made up having interviewed Eisenhower as extensively as he sought to portray, so a fair bit is made up of whole cloth.

    Reply

32. natevercauteren said:

    July 22, 2025 at 10:20 pm

    A recent article about Robert Caro and the status of the fifth LBJ book. He’s nearing a thousand manuscript pages. Interestingly, it sounds as though those pages are in their final form and that the world will get to see them (and any additional pages he completes) in the event he doesn’t finish the book. On the downside, he turns 90 this year and hasn’t yet embedded himself in Vietnam.

    https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/rifling-through-archives-legendary-historian-robert-caro-180985956/

    Reply

33. Rebekah Israel said:

    September 29, 2025 at 12:44 pm

    I am fascinated by Supreme Court Justice John Marshall famous for the theory of judicial review which has had such a strong impact on U.S. politics. What is the most scholarly biography on John Marshall? I am reading Adams by Page Smith which may suggest I like weighty and long, detailed works. Please advise. Rebekah Israel

    Reply

    • Steve said:

      September 29, 2025 at 12:54 pm

      I’ve just (literally…within the past few days) picked up a copy of Albert Beveridge’s 4-volume series which I understand to be excellent, though quite dated, and I’m also planning to read Jean Edward Smith’s more recent (and much more well-known) biography. But I’ve not read either yet, so we’ll have to wait and see…

      Reply

      • Rebekah Israel said:

        September 30, 2025 at 9:57 pm

        Thanks so much. How timely my question and the answer encouraging. I now will save your choices and HMB’s above recommendations.

      • Rebekah Israel said:

        October 23, 2025 at 1:25 pm

        Hi Steve, I am still researching which 2 books on Marshall to purchase. I am leaning towards Beveridge and possibly Brookhiser, though I am just about to take out Brookhiser from my library today. Please share an update without a spoiler 🙂 I really need some guidance here (love emoji.) Rebekah

      • Rebekah Israel said:

        November 26, 2025 at 5:15 pm

        I just received my purchase of Beveridge’s 4 volume series and am waiting to receive my purchased copy of Jean Edward Smith’s recent work on Marshall and I will note that after much research I also purchased James F. Simon’s What Kind of Nation because it academically compares Jefferson’s state power perspective with Marshall’s strong federal goverment leanings. Thanks so much, Steve, for your wisdom and shared experience. Happy Thanksgiving, Rebekah Israel (P.S. my husband is a Brown graduate, class of 1973.)

34. HBM said:

    September 29, 2025 at 6:38 pm

    Leonard Baker wrote the definitve biography of Marshall in 1974. Harlow Giles Unger and Richard Brookhiser wrote shorter, but very readable, bios. Joel Richard Paul’s WITHOUT PRECEDENT (2019) has been the most recent attempt to cover Marshall’s life and career.

    Reply

    • Rebekah Israel said:

      October 1, 2025 at 1:48 pm

      Thanks again, HBM. Two of those books are at the library. I will wait until the website if working to ILL the rest of yours and Steve’s. Warmest Regards, Rebekah

      Reply

35. Rebekah Israel said:

    September 30, 2025 at 9:58 pm

    Thanks, HBM. I will save your recommendations. I appreciate them. Thanks for taking the time to share.

    Reply