The most recommended presidential biographies

Most twenty-first-century presidents write autobiographies after leaving office, but not all autobiographies are created equal. A Promised Land gives an honest, unflinching view of the presidency. Obama is straightforward about his goals, successes, mistakes, and lessons learned the hard way. Whether or not you like him or agree with his policies, this book will give you a behind-the-scenes look at the presidency in a way that few others books can provide.

Theodore Roosevelt is another presidential figure that has received a great deal of scholarly attention. I ultimately selected Theodore Rex for two reasons. First, it’s one of the few books that focuses solely on the presidency, meaning it offers an unrivaled, in-depth examination of his years in office. Second, it’s such a page-turner. I started reading a specific section to better understand one cabinet interaction and I found myself still reading many pages and many hours later without even realizing it. Morris fully captures TR’s oversized personality in an extraordinarily colorful way.

A winner of the National Book Award, Morris’ majestic work is the first in a trilogy on Theodore Roosevelt.

A wonderful stylist and prodigious researcher, the author focuses on the formative years of (1858-1901) the man who became the nation’s 26th president. Morris develops a gripping narrative that demonstrates the incredible intellectual and physical vitality that made T.R. such a legendary figure.

While I enjoyed Morris’ prose it was his incredible research that helped me the most. Investigating every archive relating to Roosevelt, Morris’ book allowed me to discover a source that was critical in articulating my argument about the enormous influence Lodge had on Roosevelt’s career.

Any book by Robert Caro is a worthy read. His quadrilogy on LBJ is a study of the ultimate, driven pragmatist.

Johnson, in pursuit of his agenda, was the epitome of the deal-maker, sweet-talker, persuader, and sometime-bully. In the work of Caro, Johnson may not be the most lovable of leaders, but certainly, he ranks among one of the most calculating and determined. He understood that achieving consensus, while essential, is not everything.

Furthermore, he had an appreciation that the appropriate use of power is a leadership skill. With that framework, Johnson had an innate understanding of the structural and legal limitations of the use of power. He recognized the rules of the Senate and realized the limitations of the presidency. Within these constraints, he was indeed the master of the influence game and truly the “Master of the Senate.”

There are lessons to learn and warnings to heed for… show more.

This book rocked my world. Imagine this: Congress is meeting to ratify the election of a new president. But half the country doesn't want the new guy; in fact, there are armed thugs wandering around the streets of Washington, making noise about insurrection. The rumors of violence are so disturbing that the police force is put on high alert, and the Vice President, carrying the election paperwork, is assigned extra security. Sound familiar? This was the situation in 1861, as Abraham Lincoln was readying himself for his trip to the Capitol to take office. The book follows his train ride there, and the writing rollicks along just like a train speeding down a track. I adored this book, and for me, it was made even more compelling because I read it about a week after the Capitol riots on January 6, 2021. As a really well-written book, filled with history… show more.

DeFrank was a correspondent for Newsweek magazine who spoke extensively with Ford, with the understanding that he was not to publish those conversations until after Ford’s passing. Ford openly describes his difficulties with President Richard Nixon and his dislike for Ronald Reagan, whom Ford believed should have done more to help him win the 1976 presidential election. Maybe most fascinating was his criticism of Dick Cheney, who had served as Ford’s chief of staff and who, as President George W. Bush’s vice president, pushed for the invasion of Iraq in 2003—something that Ford felt was a mistake. 

Donald’s one-volume biography of Lincoln remains the standard in the field. I knew David Donald and found him always generous. From his perch at Harvard, Donald dominated the Lincoln field for many decades. His biography of Lincoln stands head and shoulders above a host of more recent studies. In fact, it surprises me people keep writing biographies of Lincoln that go over the same ground repeatedly. Donald brings Lincoln alive with the authority that comes from a lifetime of reflection and writing on the Civil War and our greatest president.

Although the books in this series are not released in chronological order, I found it helpful to begin at the beginning, with George Washington. Each of these books is well-written and provides a concise way to learn about the significant events that occurred. Several times I’ve finished a book in this series and then selected an in-depth biography to further my knowledge about the ones I found most interesting. Though occasionally laborious reading, the insight gained from a brief look at each president’s life is worth every word.

This is a fascinating account of FDR’s confrontation with the Supreme Court after it struck down many New Deal measures as unconstitutional expansions of federal authority. In response, he proposed a court-packing bill enabling him to appoint additional justices supportive of his policies, but this got nowhere in Congress because it threatened the constitutional separation of the powers. Nevertheless, Roosevelt still emerged victorious from the imbroglio. Wary of political backlash if it continuously opposed a popular president, the Supreme Court changed course to accept the New Deal once FDR abandoned efforts to pack it. This outcome preserved the judicial branch as a separate arm of the US government while upholding the ideal of a living Constitution whose interpretation changed with the times to make America’s democracy workable. 

The memoirs of presidential children are often self-serving jeremiads about the difficulty of growing up in their father’s shadow. My Father at 100 is no such book. It is a fascinating, heart-warming, deeply touching (as well as overlooked and misunderstood) portrait of an iconic president through the eyes of one of the people who knew him best. Ron, who grew up in the 60s and is a political liberal who often disagreed with many of his father’s opinions and public policies, in this book avoids politics and instead simply “attempts to come to grips” with the father he grew up with. Part researched history, part memoir, and part travelogue to Reagan-related locations around the country, this is a wonderful book that is just an honest study of a man and a search for the truth of his life and the meaning of that life as only a son could write.