A Presidential Library

 

If you make it in politics, especially if you become a leader of a nation, it is almost a guarantee you will attract the attention of writers, be they admirers, political enemies, singers of praise or slanderers. Most presidents have also written their own story and while autobiographies are subject to selective memory, some have become mini classics of the genre.

And so, in honor of our first’s birthday, here is a selection of some of the best books written about our presidents. Not all are flattering, not all are unbiased and not all are life stories in the strictest sense. But they are all fascinating takes on some on some of history’s most fascinating figures.

 

GEORGE WASHINGTON

Washington’s Crossing by David Hackett Fischer

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis

1776 by David McCullough

JOHN ADAMS

John Adams by David McCullough

THOMAS JEFFERSON

Thomas Jefferson: Author of America by Christopher Hitchens

ABRAHAM LINCOLN

Lincoln by David Herbert Donald

The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery by Eric Foner

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

Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America by Gary Wills

ULYSSES S. GRANT

The Memoirs of U.S. Grant (autobiography)

THEODORE ROOSEVELT

Roosevelt was, besides a pioneer conservationist and a master of the art of manliness, a prolific writer. I strongly recommend readers explore his wide selection of works ranging in topic from the War of 1812 to ranching in the Badlands to his African safari to his history of New York and, finally, an autobiography.

Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life, and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt by David McCullough

Edmund Morris’s Roosevelt trilogy (The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex and Colonel Roosevelt)

Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography by Henry F. Pringle

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT

Franklin D. Roosevelt: Road to the New Deal, 1882–1939 by Roger Daniels

Franklin D. Roosevelt: The War Years, 1939–1945 by Roger Daniels

Franklin D. Roosevelt: A Rendezvous with Destiny by Frank Freidel

Before The Trumpet: Young Franklin Roosevelt, 1882–1905 by Geoffrey C. Ward

From Roosevelt to Truman: Potsdam, Hiroshima, and the Cold War by Wilson D. Miscamble

Electing FDR: The New Deal Campaign of 1932 by Donald A. Ritchie

Roosevelt, the Great Depression, and the Economics of Recovery by Elliot A. Rosen

Warlords: An Extraordinary Re-creation of World War II through the Eyes and Minds of Hitler, Churchill, Roosevelt, and Stalin by Joanna Potts and Simon Berthon

The Conquerors: Roosevelt, Truman, and the destruction of Hitler's Germany, 1941–1945 by Michael Beschloss

Alliance: the inside story of how Roosevelt, Stalin and Churchill won one war and began another by Jonathan Fenby

The Mantle of Command: FDR at War, 1941–1942 by Nigel Hamilton

From World War to Cold War: Churchill, Roosevelt, and the International History of the 1940s by David Reynolds

HARRY S. TRUMAN

Truman by David McCullough

DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER

The Victors : Eisenhower and his Boys : the men of World War II by Stephen Ambrose

Eisenhower the President by Stephen Ambrose

Eisenhower: Solider, General of the Army, President Elect 1890-1952 by Stephen Ambrose

The Supreme Commander: The War Years of Dwight D. Eisenhower by Stephen Ambrose

JOHN F. KENNEDY

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

RICHARD NIXON

All the President’s Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward

RONALD REAGAN

An American Life: Ronald Reagan (autobiography)

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