[{"_1":2,"_29":-5,"_30":-5},"loaderData",{"_3":4},"routes/__layout/tag.$name",{"_5":6,"_7":8},"tagName","american presidents","posts",[9],{"_10":11,"_12":13,"_14":15,"_16":17,"_18":19,"_20":21,"_22":23,"_24":-5,"_25":26,"_27":28},"id",1479,"title","Biographies of every US president as audiobooks","excerpt","I read an audiobook biography of every US president up to George HW Bush, then tweeted fun facts along the way. Here's my full list: which biography I chose, whether I recommend it, and links to my tweets. Also available as a spreadsheet.","body","

I enjoy reading history, especially in the form of historical biographies. Over the years I've picked up books about several of the founding fathers of the USA, plus major historical figures like FDR, and eventually I realized that I'd covered a big chunk of all the presidents of the USA. So then I went back and decided to fill in all the gaps. I stopped at George HW Bush at the entirely arbitrary line of \"latest dead president\".

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As I've been reading I started tweeting about fun facts about the presidents as I encountered them. Slowly that evolved into longer and longer threads about each president, and some of those threads were quite popular.

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So here for ease of consumption is the full list of presidents I've read, which biography I read, a single sentence on what I thought about that biography and if I recommend it, as well as (where available) a link to the tweet or thread about that president.

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If this list format doesn't grab you, it's also available as a spreadsheet.

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George Washington
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Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
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Recommended. Fantastic. Deeply researched, engaging, readable, well paced.
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\n Tweet\n
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John Adams
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John Adams by David McCullough
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Recommended. Does its very best with a dull as dishwater subject. Detailed and well-written but a slog.
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\n Tweet\n
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Thomas Jefferson
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Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham
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Recommended. Brilliantly written, full of great detail, pulls its punches on some of his darker aspects but doesn't ignore them.
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\n Tweet\n
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James Madison
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The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President by Noah Feldman
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Recommended. Detailed and engaging, a little longer than its subject deserves.
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\n Tweet\n
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James Monroe
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The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness by Harlow Giles Unger
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Recommended. Concise, about as long as this shitty dude deserved, but too nice to him.
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\n Tweet\n
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John Quincy Adams
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John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit by James Traub
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Recommended. JQA was even duller than his dad. The bio is workmanlike with much less of the color of other bios.
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\n Tweet\n
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Andrew Jackson
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Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times by H W Brands
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Recommended. Military-focused, containing less personal detail than is probably warranted, but very readable.
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\n Tweet\n
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Martin Van Buren
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Martin Van Buren: A Captivating Guide to the Man Who Served as the Eighth President of the United States by Captivating History
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Not recommended. Short and cliff notes-y but with some fun details, and very engaging. Best of the cliff-notes bios.
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\n Tweet\n
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William Henry Harrison
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William Henry Harrison: The Life and Legacy of the First American President to Die in Office by Charles River Editors
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Not recommended. Just under 2 hours long, a cliff-notes bio. Not great.
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\n Tweet\n
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John Tyler
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John Tyler by Robert J Spitzer
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Not recommended. 28 minutes long, a shitty all-the-presidents entry.
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\n Tweet\n
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James K Polk
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Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America by Walter R Borneman
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Recommended. Author wanted to write about Jackson and sort of accidentally wrote about Polk. Not good.
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Zachary Taylor
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Zachary Taylor by Paul Finkelman
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Not recommended. A 24-minute all-the-presidents entry. Taylor sucked but so does this bio.
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Millard Fillmore
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Millard Fillmore by Joseph F Rishel
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Not recommended. 17 minutes long! The shortest bio yet, a worthless all-the-presidents entry.
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\n Tweet\n
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Franklin Pierce
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Franklin Pierce by Paul Finkelman
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Not recommended. Another all-the-presidents entry. A few fun tidbits.
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\n Tweet\n
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James Buchanan
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Worst. President. Ever. James Buchanan, the POTUS Rating Game, and the Legacy of the Least of the Lesser Presidents by Robert Strauss
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Recommended. A delightful treatment of a shitty subject, light-hearted but well researched, very engaging.
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\n Tweet\n
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Abraham Lincoln
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Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin
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Recommended. DKG has a well-earned reputation as an excellent biographer and Lincoln is an amazing subject. 42 hours of material fly by.
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Andrew Johnson
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After Lincoln: How the North Won the Civil War and Lost the Peace by A J Langguth
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Not recommended. Not really a bio of Johnson, but covers the aftermath of Lincoln so mostly about Johnson. Good but little personal detail about Johnson for that reason.
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\n Tweet\n
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Ulysses S Grant
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American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant by Ronald C White
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Recommended. Fantastic book of a truly great and under-rated president. Great details.
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\n Tweet\n
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Rutherford B Hayes
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Rutherford B Hayes by Hans L Trefousse
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Not recommended. 5 hours long which is 4 hours more than its subject deserved. Yawnfest.
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\n Tweet\n
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James A Garfield
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James A Garfield: The 20th President's 200 Days in Office by in60Learning
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Recommended. An hour long but left me wanting much more.
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\n Tweet\n
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Chester A Arthur
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The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur by Scott S Greenberger
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Recommended. Recommended only for the excellent details of Julia Sand's letters.
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Grover Cleveland
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An Honest President: The Life and Presidencies of Grover Cleveland by H Paul Jeffers
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Not recommended. A mediocre bio of a mediocre guy.
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\n Tweet\n
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Benjamin Harrison
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Benjamin Harrison by Allan B Spetter
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Not recommended. An all-the-presidents series entry, just 22 minutes long, barely worth it.
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\n Tweet\n
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[Cleveland again]
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William McKinley
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William McKinley by Kevin Phillips, Arthur M Schlesinger
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Not recommended. An all-the-presidents entry much longer than it needed to be.
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\n Tweet\n
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Theodore Roosevelt
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The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris
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Recommended. The first of an epic 3-book series on TR of which I read 2. Definitive and captivating.
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\n Tweet\n
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William Howard Taft
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William Howard Taft: The American Presidents Series: The 27th President, 1909-1913 by Jeffrey Rosen, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Sean Wilentz
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Not recommended. Lacks compelling personal details that could have fit in 5 hours. Not compelling.
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\n Tweet\n
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Woodrow Wilson
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Woodrow Wilson: A Biography by John Milton Cooper
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Recommended. Way too long given how dull Wilson is but well-written.
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\n Tweet\n
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Warren G Harding
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Warren G Harding by James D Robenalt
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Not recommended. Short and dull but still not as bad as The Bloviator, which is awful and nobody should read.
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Calvin Coolidge
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Coolidge by Amity Shlaes
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Recommended. A concise and insightful look at an important transitional president.
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\n Tweet\n
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Herbert Hoover
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Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times by Kenneth Whyte
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Recommended. I could have read another 50% of this 27-hour book. Fascinating.
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\n Tweet\n
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Franklin D Roosevelt
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FDR by Jean Edward Smith
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Recommended. A gem of a book, full of amazing details, and a wonderful subject.
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\n Tweet\n
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Harry S Truman
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Harry S Truman: A Life by Robert H Ferrell
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Recommended. Well-written and detailed but insufficiently critical of its surprisingly crooked subject.
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\n Tweet\n
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Dwight D Eisenhower
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Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith
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Recommended. Sort of a side-effect of the FDR bio but well-written and workable.
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\n Tweet\n
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John F Kennedy
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An Unfinished Life: John F Kennedy, 1917-1963 by Robert Dallek
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Recommended. A good book but cruelly, pointlessly abridged, please release the full thing.
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\n Tweet\n
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Lyndon B Johnson
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Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream: The Most Revealing Portrait of a President and Presidential Power Ever Written by Doris Kearns Goodwin
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Recommended. A mind-blowing book of amazing depth and quality of writing from an author incredibly close to her subject. Unmissable.
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Richard Nixon
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Richard Nixon: The Life by John A Farrell
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Recommended. Detailed and pulls few punches, full of great personal details.
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\n Tweet\n
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Gerald Ford
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Ambition, Pragmatism, and Party: A Political Biography of Gerald R. Ford by Scott Kaufman
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Recommended. Ford truly sucked, and this comprehensive but mercifully concise book covers it well.
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Jimmy Carter
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President Carter: The White House Years by Stuart E. Eizenstat
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Recommended. This bio is WAY TOO LONG for the amount of interest; a book half the length would be fine.
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\n Tweet\n
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Ronald Reagan
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Reagan: The Life by H W Brands
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Recommended. Solid and comprehensive; a better book will be written when more stuff is declassified.
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\n Tweet\n
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George H W Bush
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Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush by Jon Meacham
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Recommended. Comprehensive, hagiographic, far too long.
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\n Tweet\n
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I will not be doing Bill Clinton, George W Bush, Barack Obama or Trump, as they are all still too recent for biographies to have all the facts.","updated",["D",1572556480000],"created",["D",1569628629000],"codename","biographies_of_every_us_president_as_audiobooks","legacy_id","published",["D",1572570880000],"draft",false,"actionData","errors"]

George Washington

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

John Adams

John Adams by David McCullough

Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham

James Madison

The Three Lives of James Madison: Genius, Partisan, President by Noah Feldman

James Monroe

The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness by Harlow Giles Unger

John Quincy Adams

John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit by James Traub

Andrew Jackson

Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times by H W Brands

Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren: A Captivating Guide to the Man Who Served as the Eighth President of the United States by Captivating History

William Henry Harrison

William Henry Harrison: The Life and Legacy of the First American President to Die in Office by Charles River Editors

John Tyler

John Tyler by Robert J Spitzer

James K Polk

Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America by Walter R Borneman

Zachary Taylor

Zachary Taylor by Paul Finkelman

Millard Fillmore

Millard Fillmore by Joseph F Rishel

Franklin Pierce

Franklin Pierce by Paul Finkelman

James Buchanan

Worst. President. Ever. James Buchanan, the POTUS Rating Game, and the Legacy of the Least of the Lesser Presidents by Robert Strauss

Abraham Lincoln

Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Andrew Johnson

After Lincoln: How the North Won the Civil War and Lost the Peace by A J Langguth

Ulysses S Grant

American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant by Ronald C White

Rutherford B Hayes

Rutherford B Hayes by Hans L Trefousse

James A Garfield

James A Garfield: The 20th President's 200 Days in Office by in60Learning

Chester A Arthur

The Unexpected President: The Life and Times of Chester A. Arthur by Scott S Greenberger

Grover Cleveland

An Honest President: The Life and Presidencies of Grover Cleveland by H Paul Jeffers

Benjamin Harrison

Benjamin Harrison by Allan B Spetter

[Cleveland again]

William McKinley

William McKinley by Kevin Phillips, Arthur M Schlesinger

Theodore Roosevelt

The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris

William Howard Taft

William Howard Taft: The American Presidents Series: The 27th President, 1909-1913 by Jeffrey Rosen, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr., Sean Wilentz

Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson: A Biography by John Milton Cooper

Warren G Harding

Warren G Harding by James D Robenalt

Calvin Coolidge

Coolidge by Amity Shlaes

Herbert Hoover

Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times by Kenneth Whyte

Franklin D Roosevelt

FDR by Jean Edward Smith

Harry S Truman

Harry S Truman: A Life by Robert H Ferrell

Dwight D Eisenhower

Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith

John F Kennedy

An Unfinished Life: John F Kennedy, 1917-1963 by Robert Dallek

Lyndon B Johnson

Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream: The Most Revealing Portrait of a President and Presidential Power Ever Written by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Richard Nixon

Richard Nixon: The Life by John A Farrell

Gerald Ford

Ambition, Pragmatism, and Party: A Political Biography of Gerald R. Ford by Scott Kaufman

Jimmy Carter

President Carter: The White House Years by Stuart E. Eizenstat

Ronald Reagan

Reagan: The Life by H W Brands

George H W Bush

Posts tagged “american presidents”