Upcoming books related to the presidents (and, in some cases, the presidency) are shown below. This list is based on press releases, news stories, emails from publishers and authors, comments I receive and tentative publication dates provided by booksellers. Titles and publication dates are subject to change.
Updated December 19, 2025. Recent changes shown in bold. If I’m missing something please let me know!
Upcoming Releases:
| FDR | Franklin Delano Roosevelt; A Reference Guide to His Life and Works by Margaret C. Rung | Jan 8, 2026 |
| TJ | Being Thomas Jefferson: An Intimate History by Andrew Burstein | Jan 13 |
| [various] | Don’t Tell the President: The Best, Worst, and Mostly Untold Stories from Presidential Advance by Jean Becker | Feb 3 |
| Lincoln | Abraham Lincoln and the Heroic Legend by Kenneth W. Noe | Feb 3 |
| Lincoln | Boss Lincoln: The Partisan Life of Abraham Lincoln by Matthew Pinsker | Feb 10 |
| Washington | General George Washington: Spymaster by Norman Ridley | Mar 30 |
| Washington | George Washington and Frederick the Great: Parallel Lives by Jürgen Overhoff | Mar 31 |
| Biden | The Presidency of Joseph R. Biden: A First Historical Assessment by Julian Zelizer (ed) | April 7 |
| TR | Theodore Roosevelt and the Tennis Cabinet by Michael Patrick Cullinane | May 1 |
| Washington | American Patriarch: The Life of George Washington by H.W. Brands | May 12 |
| Taft | [Currently untitled] by Claude Marx | tbd |
| Adams | [Currently untitled] by Chris Mackowski | tbd |
| Reagan |
[Currently untitled re: Reagan’s Hollywood years] by Emina Melonic | tbd |
| Taft |
[Currently untitled] by Walter Stahr | [2025/26] |
| JFK | [2nd [of 3] volumes in JFK series] by Fredrik Logevall |
[2025/26] |
| JFK | [Currently untitled] by Timothy Nafthali | -tbd- |
| TR | [Currently untitled] by T.J. Stiles | -tbd- |
| Harding | [Currently untitled] by Ronald and Allis Radosh | -tbd- |
| LBJ | [Volume 5] by Robert Caro | -tbd- |
| Grant | [Currently untitled] (Vol 2) by Brooks Simpson | -tbd- |
| Buchanan | [Buchanan: The Life and Times of Lincoln’s Predecessor] by Paul Kahan | [2026] |
| Eisenhower | [Currently untitled] by Jon Meacham | [2027] |
The list of upcoming presidential biographies releases is based on information believed to be accurate; dates are subject to change prior to publication. Not every new/upcoming release will end up in my library (or being reviewed on this site).
My Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies 
Not necessarily a biography, but Allen Guelzo takes on Lincoln’s vision of democracy.
Looks like H.W. Brands’s new book is actually called Founding Partisans, not Founding Partners.
University press of Kansas will have a new book in their Presidential Election series this fall.
Who is James Polk – The Presidential Election of 1844. Author is Mark R. Cheathem.
Publication date is October 27th.
May or may not count, but Luke A. Nichter has an upcoming book on the 1968 election. https://www.amazon.com/Year-That-Broke-Politics-Presidential/dp/0300254393 (“The Year That Broke Politics: Collusion and Chaos in the Presidential Election of 1968”)
This looks very interesting. It comes with first-class blurbs. Will it deliver on the promise of reshaping our understanding of the 1968 election?
Well, I leave that to the reader to decide. I simply followed the new evidence. The single biggest cache is Rev. Billy Graham’s diary — who served as an intermediary between Johnson and Nixon, as well as others.
A new examination of the Carter Presidency from a UK scholar (priced for the academic market too):
Any news on when JFK Volume 2 by Fredrik Logevall will be released?
Nothing I’ve come across or heard. And no mention of an estimated date I can find anywhere…
Here is a response I got from Fredrik Logevall recently.
Many thanks for your email. I’m delighted to learn of your interest in Vol 2. I’m almost done writing it, but given various other commitments, including a heavy teaching schedule this fall, it will probably be late this year before I deliver it. Then the publisher will need about 12 months in production. So we’re likely looking at a pub date in spring 2026, I’d say.Also, note that the work will now appear in–gasp!–three volumes, rather than the anticipated two. To do the story justice, etc, etc. Vol. 2 will take us through the Inauguration in 1961, with Vol 3 then covering the presidency and the tragedy in Dallas.As for your question, I don’t know. Another bio is certainly possible…Warmest,FL
Thanks – very helpful (and hopeful!) though I’m disappointed by the ultimate timing. And your note suggests the ultimate volume won’t come until I’m eyeing retirement 🙂
Randall Woods (LBJ: Architect of American Ambition) will have a biography of John Quincy Adams published in June 2024.
https://www.penguinrandomhouse.com/books/704840/john-quincy-adams-by-randall-woods/
According to Lindsay Chervinsky’s website, her book on John Adams will be titled, Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents that Forged the Republic, and is scheduled for publication in August 2024.
Thanks!
The Martin Van Buren biography by James Bradley will release in the fall and be titled “Martin Van Buren: America’s First Politician”.
Thank you for this. Here is the publisher’s listing.
https://global.oup.com/academic/product/martin-van-buren-9780190920524?cc=us&lang=en&
New one about Reagan by Max Boot
Reagan: His Life and Legend Hardcover – September 10, 2024
Thanks – with almost 750 pages (of text) this looks like it could be a must-read. Looking forward to it!
Anyone have a thought as to why there has not been any many (if hardly any) books written about Obama since he left office?
Good question. For me that’s right up there alongside “whatever happened to Jon Meacham’s biography of the Madisons?” I think I know the answer to both, but it’s difficult to know with any certainty…
or why there haven’t been any good, non-partisan biographies of B Clinton or GW Bush. I’d love a good biography of each that wasn’t purely a hit piece or pure propaganda. It’s been enough time to have a clear picture of their legacies coming into existence.
Yes, I agree on those presidents as well. In having read at least one bio on every president, I have found that the most neutral books are about presidents from years ago (100+ or more). Less than that, any book on JFK or FDR is either celebratory or critical. Same with Reagan, Nixon and Carter. I think as long as there are authors that have lived through a particular president’s term in office, the books are going to lean hard one way or the other.
A couple new ones have been announced for November 5, 2024:
Nigel Hamilton’s dual biography of Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis is due in
https://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-vs-Davis-War-Presidents/dp/031656463X/
Former Congressman Christopher Cox has written about Woodrow Wilson’s role in the civil rights movements of his day: women’s suffrage and racial equality.
How do you store and maintain your (growing) book collection? I imagine you’ve got roughly 400-450 hard covers or so, and a relatively limited amount of space to house them.
I seem to have run out of shelf space for my own collection, so looking for ideas as to how I can optimize things.
I hate to admit it, but we just turned our exercise room into a second library 🙂
Although not optimal, shelving books behind books helps a bit. I have 1,030 and that method provided some short-term relief until reinforcement shelving appeared.
I want to thank you for saving me time by rating the multiple biographies of Presidents. Based on your highest rated recommendation I started with Washington through Jackson.
Then I decided to go in reverse but have no interest in Obamas biographies of himself, I did read So Help Me God by Pence to better understand Trump, and have read Bush, Clinton, Bush, Reagan, Carter, Ford, Nixon and now in Caro’s multi volume series, as you said a fascinating and entertaining personality.
i believe the American public , citizens and immigrants and interested readers in other countries deserve the detail of Caro’s approach to a biography. I love it! The detailed diversion to explain Sam Rayburn is a wonderful foundation to understand Johnson’s future actions.
please read and rate King George (1776), Napoleon, The French Revolution, next tier Politicians below the Presidents that were supremely consequential in American History such as Sam Rayburn, and any other key people in history from your perspective, Calvin-Luther-Wesley, and more.
October 2024: The University Press of Kansas is publishing its next volume in its American Presidential Elections series.
https://kansaspress.ku.edu/9780700637799/americas-first-wartime-election/
I see that the Logevall JFK biography has been extended to a trilogy now. I’ve been looking for information on this but can’t find where that is confirmed, if anyone can point me in the right direction?
Please see Byron’s July 5, 2024 comment above.
Hmm. Paul Kahan’s planned Buchanan bio seems to have been scrubbed from the publisher’s website and his personal site. I was welcoming it with other modern bios of the more obscure presidents such as Bradley’s Van Buren and Goodyear’s Garfield.
I emailed Paul Kahan and this was his reply on the Buchanan book:
Earl:
Thanks for reaching out. At the current time I am working on the book but it will probably be two or three years before it is published.
All the best,
Paul–
Paul Kahan, Ph.D.
Thanks for the update/insight!
A timely new book arrives Feb 25, 2025 from Jeffrey Toobin on Ford’s Nixon pardon
2025 is starting to fill out.
After tackling Andrew Jackson, Richard Hofstadter, and Henry Adams, David Brown has a forthcoming biography on TR arriving before Christmas.
With 506 comments before mine, this question may have been asked already… but which president is most in need of a full-sized serious biography from someone like Ron Chernow (or whoever you believe the best living biographer of today is)?
My top 3 – though I could be persuaded to tweak my list – would be Ronald Reagan, Martin Van Buren (I’m not yet sure whether James Bradley’s recent bio fills the void) and James Monroe. I’m curious what you / others think…
Max Boot’s biography of Reagan is excellent. Released last year.
I agree Boot’s biography was solid, but for me it wasn’t the “category killer” I keep hoping to read on RR.
Considering his life after leaving office, Taft comes to mind. However, it does look like we are supposed to get something new on him soon… here’s hoping!
I could definitely get behind a definitive, magisterial bio of Taft. I’m hopeful that Stahr’s bio will be *that* good – fingers crossed. Based on his biography of Salmon Chase which I read a couple years ago, there is reason to be hopeful.
Benjamin Harrison is my top choice.
Such a lack of good books on him.
Regarding Benjamin Harrison: Although published more than 50 years ago, the three volume biography by Harry Sievers is really quite good, especially the first two volumes. It is admittedly a bit regrettable that the weakest volume is the one that covers the presidency. Nonetheless, I highly recommend the series.
We definitely need a Chernow style book on Ronald Reagan.
I notice you have been reading the new Garfield biography for what seems like much longer than normal. You almost finished?
All’s well on my end – I’ve been (intensively) learning for the past several months and caused me to push my new release reading back a bit. That, and a previous brief-ish flirtation with fiction, are my “sabbatical” after a dozen years of the presidents… 🙂 Still, after waiting for year for a really good Garfield bio, I AM curious how it’s going to turn out!
In an interview for the March 2025 edition of Smithsonian Magazine Robert Caro said he’s up to page 981 of the latest LBJ volume – and is still planning to make a long-delayed trip to Vietnam!
I was quite worried when the pandemic struck and I realized he would have to defer his travel to Vietnam. And since there is so much for volume 5 to accomplish / cover, I won’t be surprised if it’s by far the longest of the five volumes – assuming Caro is able to finish.
I agree! Caro said that he polishes as he goes along, so if the worst happens, we will still get something, even if it’s unfinished. He doesn’t want anyone to pick up the work after him (he has even put this in his will), so we really are relying on him to complete the job! As long as the wait has been, I’m putting my faith in the process…
https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/rifling-through-archives-legendary-historian-robert-caro-180985956/
I was once worried that Caro would pass away before he completed LBJ. Now I am worried I will pass away before he completes it.
Very interesting about the Meacham on Eisenhower… any idea if this is a full-length bio on all of Eisenhower’s life or if it will focus on one aspect of it? I tried Googling but to no avail.
Unfortunately I just don’t have more at the moment on his possible interest in Dwight Eisenhower, nor do I have any new information on his one-time focus on James and Dolley Madison (which I was *really* looking forward to reading).
Thanks for the reply, Steve. I was looking forward to that, too. It seems the next major presidential biography we can look forward to is TR later this year? The last major release I think was Boot’s Reagan.
A new Washington bio from Peter Henriques in late September:
… and some TJ to start 2026
Thanks…as always! I hadn’t heard of these, and is is strange that I’m still waiting for a “category killer” biography of TJ? I don’t know that a 480 pager (including all the “stuff”) is going to be The One, but it should be interesting!
Yes, it is strange. So much has been written about TJ over the past two centuries, I am surprised the ‘category killer’ awaits us. Malonr, Meachem, and Peterson covered him well, so I would put them near ‘killer’ status.
I do remember Malone & Peterson very fondly, and I enjoyed Meacham’s TJ more than most (or so it seems) so I have a hard time articulating why, exactly, it is that I feel the world could use one final show-stopping biography of Jefferson. Perhaps it’s inherent in his enigmatic personality and it just feels as though no one has captured Jefferson quite like Chernow was able to dissect the equally difficult George Washington?
A Chernow biography of Jefferson has been my dream for years. I know it’ll never happen as it’s clear Chernow has no love at all for Jefferson after reading Hamilton and Washington.
But yes, join me in the camp as being mystified why there isn’t a 1,000 page single-volume doorstopper of a Jefferson biography. The market is crying out for it. The same could be argued for Madison as well.
Would LOVE to see a Chernow biography of Jefferson, in the same mold as Washington or Grant. I hope when the time is right Chernow will tackle Bill Clinton or give us a good biography on McKinley or Eisenhower (although the Meacham rumors are interesting for the latter).
I feel like Harry Truman is one of the only presidents where there is one single biography that is so major, definitive, and complete that any new, upcoming biography couldn’t ever outdo it. McCullough’s Truman makes me wonder if there is ever another biographer who could come up with a better biography. Truman is a fascinating figure and I’d love to see how a Meacham or Chernow could make him come to life, but it makes me wonder if it would ever be possible to outshine McCullough?
Interesting that FOUR new books on Theodore Roosevelt are coming out between now and the end of the year. Any insight, Steve, on the proliferation on TR’s biographies?
It does occasionally seem unusual that a slew of books on one president or another arrives at the same time. There have been occasions when Lincoln, Washington and others had bios come out in packs. Occasionally it’s around an anniversary or, say, a 200th birthday, or is catalyzed by newly-released archival materials. But just as often I think it’s just coincidence. In this case I’m not aware of anything that would explain TR…
Is there any information available on the Harding biography by the Radosh couple? I was really looking forward to it due to the absence of any biographies about him, but I can’t seem to find any updates about it since 2015.
Becoming JFK: John F. Kennedy’s Early Path to Leadership. Scott Badler september 2025
Fabulous – thank you!
The Eisenhower Library’s Threads account pretty much confirmed the rumors are true of presidential historian Jon Meacham (who published definitive biographies of Jefferson, Jackson, and HW Bush, among other presidents) is working on an Eisenhower biography for his next book. They also mention that it will be released in 2027.
The last full-length Eisenhower biography that was the definitive work until now was Jean Edward Smith’s 2012 “Eisenhower in War and Peace”, so I guess the Meacham one will replace it.
I presume this will be a cradle to grave biography (covering his entire life, including his military career and the presidency) in order for it to be considered a definitive work. Many Eisenhower books have been written after Smith’s was published, but they have only covered his presidency, which is why Smith’s is still considered the cradle to grave classic. If Meacham’s covers all of Eisenhower’s life, it will probably the new gold standard.
A caveat that this wasn’t confirmed by Meacham, but if it’s on the Eisenhower Library’s social media, it is at least half credible…
Link: https://www.threads.com/@ikelibrary/post/DOgLV6mDSHc/as-we-wait-for-meacham-try-jean-edward-smith-eisenhower-in-war-and-peace-as-a-fu
Is meacham no longer writing a madison bio?
Someone at Montpelier told me he has “moved on”. And he’s thought to be working on a biography of Dwight Eisenhower at the moment (per the Eisenhower Presidential Library)…
I wonder why he decided to move on from Madison. It’ll be interesting to see if the Eisenhower bio is a presidential history (similar to “Eisenhower: The White House Years” or if Meacham will attempt a full life biography. Eisenhower is difficult in that it takes a very different style to write a detailed account of both the military and presidential years – the only people who attempted that thus far are Ambrose (who initially took two volumes to do it) and Jean Edward Smith. But even Smith had to sacrifice some detail in covering the presidential (and especially post-presidential) years in order to fit everything into one volume. It’ll be interesting to see if Meacham takes an approach Chernow did with Grant and Washington in fitting everything into one volume.
Any opinion on the biography of Garfield by Goodyear?