Your Master POTUS Reading List

100+ presidential book recommendations

In 2017, after being a bit flummoxed by the election of Donald Trump, I embarked on a project of reading a biography of every American president. Forty-five men and over 25,000 pages later, I finally finished just before Joe Biden assumed the helm in 2021. It was without a doubt the most fulfilling intellectual project I’ve ever completed. Since then, I’ve continued dabbling in presidential reading — I can’t quite stay away. There’s something uniquely fascinating about reading into the lives of these men who’ve shaped our nation for better or worse.

I originally published this list in March 2021. After five more years of reading, I’ve given it some much-needed freshening up.

Whether you’re embarking on a similar project or just enjoy a good book list, look no further.

Using This Guide

The “Best Bet” is my recommendation to anyone reading one book about each president. In just a few cases, I haven’t actually read the book; this means a new biography has recently been published which seems to be the new definitive volume, based on critical and popular reviews.

The “Complement” is what to read after you’ve read the big bio. This is (generally) a slimmer book that’s more about a single slice of that president’s life or work in office; in some instances, where there simply aren’t many options for books about the president himself, it’s about the context of their presidency and era.

Finally, I’d be remiss to not mention Steve Floyd and the excellent work he did at www.bestpresidentialbios.com. Though his own project is complete, I followed Steve’s reading in real-time as he meticulously worked through the presidents in chronological order. Many of these recommendations were first discovered because of his fantastic blog.

#1. George Washington

There have been hundreds of books published about George Washington; his bibliography is the second largest among presidents, only behind Abraham Lincoln. The first attempts appeared nearly right away after his passing in 1799. Since then, there’s been a steady stream of award-worthy titles and series, including Douglas Southall Freeman’s 7-volume set from the 1950s and James Flexner’s 4-volume series, which came about a decade later. (Each also has a single-volume abridgment!) So where do you possibly start with the man who set the most important precedents for the office of President of the United States?

For the modern reader, there’s no doubt that Ron Chernow’s Washington: A Life is where to turn. While Chernow’s book is long and admittedly a little bit intimidating, he’s indisputably a master storyteller. Washington does retain some of his stone-like stature, but Chernow chips away at it better than others in order to reveal the human being inside. Washington: A Life is well worth your effort.

If you want something more casual (and even cheeky) that cuts through the Washingtonian bluster, try Alexis Coe’s You Never Forget Your First.

Best Bet: Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow

Complement: George Washington: The Political Rise of America’s Founding Father by David O. Stewart

#2. John Adams

When David McCullough started writing what came to be John Adams, his original intent was a dual biography of Adams and Thomas Jefferson. In his research, though, McCullough came to find that Adams had been spurned by popular history and he was the one whose story deserved a focused and fresh re-telling. As McCullough did with Harry Truman as well, he reclaimed a president who had been largely tossed to the wayside in favor of the sexier Founding Fathers (a phrase that isn’t entirely metaphor). The result is a masterful, readable, and surprisingly relatable portrait of the cantankerous but lovable John Adams.

Best Bet: John Adams by David McCullough

Complement: Making the Presidency by Lindsay Chervinsky

#3. Thomas Jefferson

Thomas Jefferson has become the poster boy of public opinion’s changing tides in regards to the Founding Fathers. For nearly 200 years he was revered without reservation. But as his relationship with his slaves came to light in the last couple decades, Jefferson has swung the other way, nearly towards villainy. So which is it, hero or scoundrel? To read any biography of our third president is to understand what an enigma he was; even historians who have spent their careers studying the man have ultimately found him to be, as Merrill Peterson puts it, “impenetrable.”

Ergo, modern readers have no shortage of options for digging into Thomas Jefferson’s life. I began with Jon Meacham’s The Art of Power, which was a good place to start. I also found our third president “impenetrable,” though, and so continued on to Joseph Ellis’ fascinating and enlightening American Sphinx. Less a cradle-to-grave biography than a series of essay-like chapters on Jefferson’s life, this book gets at the heart of what has made the man so appealing and, as of late, so pilloried. Inside its pages, you’ll find extremely valuable insights about character, independence, and America’s contradictory founding legacy.

Best Bet: American Sphinx by Joseph Ellis

Complement: Friends Divided: John Adams and Thomas Jefferson by Gordon Wood

#4. James Madison

For being the father of the constitution, Madison is not the subject of very many modern biographies. Lynn Cheney has written a narrative-driven biography, James Madison: A Life Reconsidered, that makes for fine reading, but I found Noah Feldman’s The Three Lives of James Madison to be more intellectually rewarding. Normally, I’d actually go with the better-told story, but given the heady nature of Madison’s life and work, the slightly more dense version gets my vote this time around. You’ll come away with a deeper and more nuanced understanding of the thought(s) and work that went into the making of the constitution. Not always easy reading, but the format of short sections made it better, and it’s always interesting.

Best Bet: The Three Lives of James Madison by Noah Feldman

Complement: The First Congress by Fergus Bordewich

#5. James Monroe

Often called the “last Founding Father,” James Monroe has largely been neglected by modern biographers. This is quite a surprise, as Monroe’s life story is plenty exciting. After nearly dying in the Revolutionary War while fighting by Washington’s side, he served in more political offices than just about any other president: Senator, Ambassador, Governor, and Secretary of State and Secretary of War (at the same time) before being elected to the Oval Office in 1816. His life and presidency are, from what I’ve heard, best chronicled in Tim McGrath’s James Monroe: A Life, which was the first major biography of him in a long time. Thus far, I’ve only read Harlow Giles Unger’s The Last Founding Father, which is almost laughably hagiographic and not recommendable.

Best Bet: James Monroe: A Life by Tim McGrath

Complement: The Jeffersonians by Kevin Gutzman

#6. John Quincy Adams

As the son of the second president and member of one of America’s most well-known families, John Quincy Adams has been the focus of plenty of biographies, with new ones coming out every few years. Though he was famously prickly, his life story makes for dramatic reading. From being a world traveler and diplomat as a young man, to the highly contested election of 1824, to his largely forgettable presidency, to his long career as a Congressman (including defending the famous Amistad case) — there’s no lack of interesting tales to tell. James Traub covers it all masterfully in John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit.

Someday I’ll read John Quincy Adams’ robust journals, which he religiously kept nearly his entire life.

Best Bet: John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit by James Traub

Complement: Arguing About Slavery by William Lee Miller

#7. Andrew Jackson

Much like Thomas Jefferson, Jackson’s legacy has changed quickly as the realities of his treatment of Native Americans has come into clearer focus. Though he’s covered well in numerous modern biographies, the best of the bunch appears to be Robert Remini’s trilogy from the late 1970s and early 1980s. The trilogy is a lot, though, so I was thankful to discover that there’s a very good abridgement to the series, The Life of Andrew Jackson, that serves as a great entry point to Jackson’s life. (That’s the one I’ve read; the full trilogy is still on my “To Read” list.)

Remini, even in the abridgement, captures the vigor and indomitable will of Andrew Jackson, while also not excusing his misdeeds towards slaves and Native Americans. The picture the reader gets is that of a fierce, talented man indelibly shaped by his chaotic and traumatic frontier upbringing.

I have also heard good things about H. W. Brands’ Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times, though I’ve not read it.

Best Bet: The Life of Andrew Jackson by Robert Remini

Complement: Jacksonland by Steve Inskeep

#8. Martin Van Buren

Martin Van Buren begins a long stretch of 19th century presidents who have been woefully under-written about by biographers. We’ll get a break from that with the Civil War era, but then there are another couple decades of slim pickings for presidential biographies. That tide is slowly turning, but know that if you’re tackling all the presidents, this is one of the tougher stretches to get through. I went with Donald Cole’s 1984 Martin Van Buren and the American Political System. It was dry at times, but serviceable enough. As with all the presidents, even the stories of the “boring” ones contain a potent mix of ambition, luck, failure, hard work, and sacrifice.

That all said, there’s a new biography on bookshelves that has very good reviews: Martin Van Buren: America’s First Politician by James Bradley. That’ll be my next MVB read and takes the “Best Bet” spot until proven otherwise.

Best Bet: Martin Van Buren: America’s First Politician by James Bradley

Complement: Martin Van Buren and the Making of the Democratic Party by Robert Remini

#9. William Henry Harrison

Given his status as our shortest-tenured president — just 32 days! — William Henry Harrison understandably has quite the dearth of accessible biographies. The last major effort was in fact published over 80 years ago. It seems crazy, really. Yes, this man was only president for about a month, but his life was, no doubt, interesting enough to warrant greater study. I read Freeman Cleaves’ 1939 Old Tippecanoe. It focuses largely on his frontier military experience and devotes just a handful of pages to his presidency. I won’t lie, it’s not easy reading and is among my least-enjoyed books on this list.

Another option — assuredly a better one — is Mr. Jefferson’s Hammer by Robert Owens. It’s not quite a full-scale biography, but is no doubt more accessible and interesting than what I read. This may also be a good opportunity to try out the American Presidents series.

Published at the pace of about two per year for the last couple decades, the American Presidents books, published by Macmillan, are short biographical primers written by well-known historians. Clocking in at somewhere between 150-200 pages, these are not in-depth studies, but do get the job done when other biographies are too hard to find, too expensive, and/or not available at your local library. I tried to avoid these when possible, as I wanted a full picture of each POTUS, but in a couple instances they were functionally my only choice. You could certainly do worse than read these books; you would no doubt come away with a deeper understanding of American history and its chief executives.

Best Bet: Mr. Jefferson’s Hammer by Robert Owens

Complement: Union 1812: The Americans Who Fought the Second War of Independence by A. J. Langguth

#10. John Tyler

Until recently, Tyler was in the camp of presidents who hadn’t had a major biography published in decades. Thankfully that’s been rectified, because his life was utterly fascinating. The death of Harrison created a true constitutional crisis. Nobody really knew what to do in that scenario, but Tyler took the reins and never looked back. He was deserted by his party, fathered 15 children (in one of the true quirks of history, his last surviving grandchild died in 2025!), and was the only president to renounce the United States during the Civil War.

Christopher Leahy’s President without a Party was published in 2020 and is a wonderful examination of Tyler’s complicated life, times, and legacy. It sets a high standard for how to write about our forgotten presidents.

Best Bet: President without a Party by Christopher Leahy

Complement: Accidental Presidents by Jared Cohen

#11. James Polk

James Polk is often counted among the top quarter of presidents, but, as is on trend here, hasn’t been given much attention by biographers. He was a wartime president, both instigating and winning the oft-forgotten Mexican-American War, which was a warm-up of sorts for a number of important Civil War figures. Polk was also responsible for adding more land to the United States than any other president, securing Texas, most of the West Coast, and pieces of the Rocky Mountain region. For biographies, there are two primary options: Robert Merry’s A Country of Vast Designs and Walter Borneman’s Polk. From what I can tell, they aren’t terribly different and it’s basically a coin toss. I went with Borneman (because I’ve enjoyed some of his other work) and rather enjoyed the storytelling and readability. You won’t go wrong with either.

Best Bet: Polk by Walter Borneman

Complement: A Wicked War by Amy Greenberg

#12. Zachary Taylor

Taylor, a hero of the Mexican-American War, was as apolitical as it gets; he in fact never even voted until his own election. Both parties courted him, but ultimately it was the Whig Party that landed him on their ticket. His 16 months in office before dying of an unknown intestinal ailment (after a 4th of July party, no less) are considered to be more forgettable than failed. He was an inept politician and simply hasn’t been the focus of many biographies.

K. Jack Bauer’s Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest was serviceable enough (and short, too), bringing us through his service in the war and dissecting the failures of his short time in office.

Best Bet: Zachary Taylor by K. Jack Bauer

Complement: The Impending Crisis by David Potter

#13. Millard Fillmore

Taking over for the deceased Zachary Taylor, the pride of Buffalo continues a barren stretch of presidents without a great biography. Robert Rayback’s 1959 treatment, Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President, is often interesting (Fillmore and his wife created the first permanent White House library!), but also rather dry. Given that it’s basically the only option outside of the American Presidents series, just be glad that it’s only 350 pages and not more. This is a guy I look forward to reading about when a modern biographer takes on the challenge.

Best Bet: Millard Fillmore by Robert Rayback

Complement: Prologue to Conflict: The Crisis and Compromise of 1850 by Holman Hamilton

#14. Franklin Pierce

It’s hard not to feel for Franklin Pierce, despite his consistent ranking near the bottom of all presidents. In a disaster that would later echo in Joe Biden’s life, Franklin and Jane Pierce lost their only son in a gruesome train accident shortly after being elected in 1852. Though losing a child was somewhat commonplace back then, it was no less painful, and the consensus is that the loss most certainly impacted his ability to lead and govern. In 2017, historian Peter Wallner completed a superb, though a bit too forgiving, two-volume set, but it’s nearly impossible to find and wildly expensive on the used market. Your best bet is going to be Michael Holt’s entry in the American Presidents series.

Best Bet: Franklin Pierce by Michael Holt

Complement: Presidents and the Dissolution of the Union by Fred Greenstein

#15. James Buchanan

Given that he’s consistently ranked dead last by POTUS experts, you’d think that President James Buchanan would have more books about him. Readers love stories about failure. Alas, there are only a couple options for modern armchair historians. Philip Klein’s hefty biography from 1962 tends to be the go-to for folks embarking on this project. I have not yet read that one.

Instead, I went with Robert Strauss’s newer and more playful Worst. President. Ever. He not only looks at Buchanan’s life, but also the presidential rating game as a whole, and other contenders for that race to the bottom. It’s not the most complete look at Buchanan, but it’s certainly the most entertaining.

Best Bet: Worst. President. Ever. by Robert Strauss

Complement: Bosom Friends: The Intimate World of James Buchanan and William Rufus King by Thomas Balcerski

#16. Abraham Lincoln

How does someone possibly pick a single book to study up on the most written about man in American history? There are thousands of books about Abraham Lincoln and many more being published every single year. Reading about our 16th president could keep you busy for nearly a lifetime. In some ways, it makes reading about him all that much easier: you can walk into just about any bookstore and find a good book about Abraham Lincoln.

If you’re looking for a standard cradle-to-grave biography, there’s a general consensus among readers and historians that David Herbert Donald’s Lincoln or Ronald White’s A. Lincoln are where to turn. I read and enjoyed both, but A. Lincoln is the better-told story in my very humble opinion. It’s incredibly readable, inspiring, and always illuminating. It’s one of my favorite POTUS reads on the entire list.

Best Bet: A. Lincoln by Ronald White

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

#17. Andrew Johnson

Johnson is another guy who is invariably found among the bottom few presidents. There was some renewed interest in him when President Trump was being impeached, as Johnson was the first to go through that process. While the Reconstruction era and Johnson’s impeachment has been covered well, there aren’t too many full biographies of him. I stumbled on The First President Johnson by Lately Thomas, and while it was a touch too sympathetic towards a bad president, the storytelling was well done and it definitely provided a memorable portrait of the man. It is, however, a hard book to get a hold of. So I’d probably first recommend Hans Trefousse’s well-regarded Andrew Johnson: A Biography (even though I haven’t read it myself). David Stewart’s Impeached, another option that’s high on my list to read, may very well supplant it; if it does, I’ll update this post.

Best Bet: Andrew Johnson by Hans Trefousse

Complement: Impeached by David O. Stewart

#18. Ulysses Grant

Though ignored and written off for a long time as a bad president, Civil War general-turned-politician Ulysses S. Grant has been re-invigorated in a handful of major biographies in the last decade or so. While there are a number of quality options, Ron Chernow’s epic, 1,000-page Grant will be hard to beat. The best biographies are those that not only reveal their subject, for both good and bad, but also provide a moving and even inspiring reading experience. Grant does that in spades.

The psychological penetration that Chernow achieves is eye-opening and often rousing. A number of biographers have captured the war years quite well — it was a dramatic period that just isn’t too hard to make exciting and evocative. The real trick is to capture Grant’s eight years as president with the same verve, which the master historian undoubtedly does. As with the other Chernow title on this list, it will take some dedication, but the effort is well worth it. Grant, in my opinion, is Chernow’s second-best book (after Hamilton).

Best Bet: Grant by Ron Chernow

Complement: Grant’s Final Victory by Charles Flood

#19. Rutherford Hayes

There was a lot going on during Hayes’ single-term administration: the highly contested election of 1876, the end of Reconstruction, the acceleration of the Gilded Age, and more. And yet he starts another decades-long stretch of presidents who haven’t been given much attention by biographers. Ari Hoogenboom’s long treatment from 1995 is well-reviewed, but quite expensive and not easily available. This was the first president for whom I went with the American Presidents series entry. Written by Hans Trefousse, Rutherford B. Hayes is serviceable enough, but certainly doesn’t capture the intensity of that contested election or the time period. For a short primer, it gets the job done, but I was hoping for more. Someday I’ll read the Hoogenboom bio.

Best Bet: Rutherford Hayes by Hans Trefousse

Complement: Fraud of the Century by Roy Morris

#20. James Garfield

Garfield had all the makings of a great president. He was born in a log cabin, served as an Ohio state senator before the Civil War, fought bravely as a major general in some of the war’s most intense battles, and while serving as a Congressman from his native state in 1880, reluctantly accepted the Republican party’s nomination for president. He was honest, humble, and hard-working. Sadly, his time in office was cut short after an assassin’s bullet felled him just three months into his term.

For such a gripping story, there’s really only one book that fully captures the drama of his life and death: Candice Millard’s superb Destiny of the Republic. Though it focuses on the assassination (and poor medical treatment), there’s enough biographical material for you to get a good picture of Garfield’s character. That said, if you want a true cradle-to-grave bio, Millard herself recommends Garfield by Allan Peskin. I’m eager to try that one, as well as C. W. Goodyear’s new President Garfield.

Best Bet: Destiny of the Republic by Candice Millard

Complement: Dark Horse by Kenneth Ackerman

#21. Chester Arthur

Chester Arthur, like many vice presidents before and after, was never meant to be president. He was a corrupt Republican who was part of the New York state political machine. His actions were mostly decided by the bosses above him. So when honest Garfield ascended to the Republic throne, those bosses made sure someone on their side was in the White House too. But with the help of an unlikely penpal, Arthur rose to the dignity of the office and changed his ways. Scott Greenberger captures the ups and downs of Arthur’s life and presidency in his slim but effective The Unexpected President.

Best Bet: The Unexpected President by Scott Greenberger

Complement: America’s First Freedom Rider by Jerry Mikorenda

#22 & #24. Grover Cleveland

Cleveland seems to present a challenge to modern biographers. He’s generally presented as the epitome of honesty and yet his life and career is riddled with personal transgressions that are squeamish at best and possibly criminal.

I didn’t want to read something that glossed over those discrepancies, so I chose Matthew Algeo’s The President Is a Sick Man. This short but impactful book details Cleveland’s secret surgical operation at sea to remove a cancerous growth from his mouth and jaw. It doesn’t cover the entirety of the man’s life, but provides a great snapshot about an episode that tells the reader a lot about the character of our 22nd and 24th president.

Luckily for readers, Troy Senik’s new A Man of Iron appears to finally offer a full biography that doesn’t gloss over the warts. I haven’t read it, but it’s likely to be the new Cleveland bio of choice for years to come.

Best Bet: A Man of Iron by Troy Senik

Complement: The President Is a Sick Man by Matthew Algeo

#23. Benjamin Harrison

Harrison is perhaps the most neglected president on this list, having been the focus of exactly zero accessible single-volume biographies, which is why I went with Charles Calhoun’s entry in the American Presidents series. This is somewhat of a surprise, given that Harrison was the grandson of President William Henry Harrison and served as a colonel in the Union Army. His presidency was somewhat forgettable (though he did sign a pension bill for Civil War vets, which Cleveland vetoed), but it’s certainly still worthy of study. The only other real option is a hard-to-find trilogy published mid-century. Calhoun did a fine job but left me wanting more, and I look forward to whoever tackles his life next.

Best Bet: Benjamin Harrison by Charles Calhoun

Complement: From Bloody Shirt to Full Dinner Pail by Charles Calhoun

#25. William McKinley

President during the ushering in of the 20th century, McKinley was the last POTUS to have served in the Civil War, before succumbing to an assassin’s bullet in 1901. While perhaps best known for giving way to the cannonball of a personality in Theodore Roosevelt, McKinley was a transitional and important president. He hasn’t been the focus of too many popular biographies, but Robert Merry covered his life quite well in President McKinley. It’s not the most exciting read, but well worth a spot in your presidential library.

From this point on it generally gets much easier to read about the presidents.

Best Bet: President McKinley by Roberty Merry

Complement: The President and the Assassin by Scott Miller

#26. Theodore Roosevelt

The most charismatic president has been extensively and obsessively written about pretty much since the day he took office. For the complete picture, you cannot beat Edmund Morris’ epic and stirring trilogy: The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, and Colonel Roosevelt. They’re among the greatest biographies ever penned, and if you read just a handful of books from this list, these should be there. For a single-volume, more efficient treatment, I’ve heard that H. W. Brands does an admirable job in The Last Romantic.

Best Bet: Theodore Roosevelt trilogy by Edmund Morris

Complement: The Crowded Hour by Clay Risen

#27. William Howard Taft

I came to have quite a soft spot for our 27th president after reading about him in Doris Kearns Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit. Longing to be a judge, Taft reluctantly accepted a path to the presidency and hated his four years at the helm. Theodore Roosevelt gets top billing for this book title, but it’s more about Taft and his relationship with TR. It’s a wonderful read with a compelling narrative and a number of inspiring takeaways. I’m glad Goodwin chose to give Taft some spotlight here; not many other biographers or historians have.

Best Bet: The Bully Pulpit by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Complement: Ethics in Service by William Howard Taft

#28. Woodrow Wilson

Woodrow Wilson is a leader whose legacy has changed rather dramatically in the last decade or so, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic. Wilson was president during the flu pandemic that ravaged the world from 1918 to 1920. Wilson never made a public comment about the illness, never instituted a national plan, and knowingly sent sick soldiers to the WWI battlefronts. It’s hard to see what’s happened in the last five years and not think rather poorly of Wilson’s leadership. In addition, he was overtly more sexist and racist than many of his predecessors, even going so far as to re-segregate the federal government.

Modern biographers, for the most part, have yet to address these faults. John Milton Cooper’s Woodrow Wilson was too forgiving in my opinion, but covered his life well nonetheless. I do look forward to a more balanced treatment someday.

Best Bet: Woodrow Wilson by John Milton Cooper

Complement: Untold Power by Rebecca Roberts

#29. William Harding

Forgotten (and re-discovered!) erotic letters, hotel room affairs, big-time political scandals, and a somewhat mysterious early death . . . how Warren Harding is not written about by more historians is beyond me. His life and presidency feature all the makings of a dramatic tale, but for the reader of today there are zero good options. David Pietruzsa’s 1920: The Year of Six Presidents covers Harding well enough (though it’s more of a political history of a time period), as does the American Presidents entry by John Dean.

Best Bet: William Harding by John Dean

Complement: The Teapot Dome Scandal by Laton McCartney

#30. Calvin Coolidge

Silent Cal, as he was nicknamed during his political career, has gone from forgotten president to conservative hero and back again a few times. He seems to have been a decent enough guy, but suffers from a total lack of personality. Given that his administration was largely economically focused (and laissez faire, at that), reading about Coolidge just wasn’t very enjoyable. Amity Shlaes does an admirable job conveying his story in Coolidge — she’s about the only one to have given it a shot in the last few decades. Though it’s sitting unread on my shelf, I’ve heard his autobiography is surprisingly good.

Best Bet: Coolidge by Amity Shlaes

Complement: The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge

#31. Herbert Hoover

I came to have bit of a soft spot for Bert Hoover after reading about him in Kenneth Whyte’s Hoover. The book doesn’t make excuses for his ineffective presidency, but does do two important things: 1) It gives Hoover his due for being one of the bonafide heroes of World War I — something near criminally under-written about in popular history books. 2) It shows that the Great Depression, for which Hoover is often blamed, was far more a convergence of unique events and systemic problems than about the actions of a single man. I’m not even sure Herbert was all that likable, but Whyte told such a compelling story that you couldn’t help feel for a guy who’s been so poorly treated by history.

Best Bet: Hoover by Kenneth Whyte

Complement: Hoover the Fishing President by Hal Elliott Wert

#32. Franklin Roosevelt

Every century has gifted America one of its finest presidents, at least according to the historians who generally rank them. The 1700s gave us Washington, the 1800s are clearly Lincoln’s domain, and FDR dominates much of the 20th century presidential canon. Many of the available books focus on his WWII efforts, including Doris Kearns Goodwin’s excellent No Ordinary Time.

For a comprehensive look at the man, though, Jean Edward Smith’s FDR is a marvel. Smith goes through the ups, downs, heroics, and missteps of Roosevelt’s shortened life. As with Lincoln, there are just so many options that it’s almost impossible to pick just one. Start with Jean Edward Smith and see where the rabbit hole takes ya.

Best Bet: FDR by Jean Edward Smith

Complement: Becoming FDR by Jonathan Darman

#33. Harry Truman

David McCullough’s Truman is often cited as one of the great presidential biographies and after reading it here in 2026, I can confidently affirm that accolade.

Though it’s about 1,000 pages long, Harry S. Truman is as easy to read about as a president could be. From his humble Midwest upbringing, he went on to serve a stint in WWI, opened (and closed) a clothing store, became an unlikely and incredibly successful Senator, and then an even more unlikely president. Truman is among my personal presidential favorites and I never tire of reading about him. The guy was just so likeable.

If you want something slimmer, AJ Baime’s efficient and fantastic book, The Accidental President, is another one of the POTUS books I recommend the most.

Best Bet: Truman by David McCullough

Complement: The Accidental President by AJ Baime

#34. Dwight Eisenhower

For the first couple decades after Eisenhower’s eight years in office, he was seen as a hands-off POTUS. But scholar Fred Greenstein rewrote the script with 1982’s Hidden-Hand Presidency. Since then, Eisenhower has seen no shortage of mostly positive volumes about his leadership in WWII and in the Oval Office. Jean Edward Smith’s Eisenhower in War and Peace covers both periods extremely well. Eisenhower is still a bit of an enigma, but Smith does as well as anyone to get underneath that thick layer of veneer; he remains an eminently fascinating character in American history.

Best Bet: Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith

Complement: The Light of Battle by Michel Paradis

#35. John Kennedy

With John Fitzgerald at the center of the Kennedy universe, nearly every member of the family has been studied and written about a number of times — grandparents, parents, children, and all eight of his siblings. Perhaps surprisingly, though, comprehensive biographies of John himself are somewhat of a rarity. A number have been started and abandoned due to uncooperative surviving family members (Jean Kennedy, the final living sibling, died in 2020), classified top secret documents (much of his presidency, and especially his death, was/is shrouded in secrecy), and his famously impenetrable inner psyche.

Robert Dallek penned what I believe to be the best treatment of JFK with An Unfinished Life. While unsparing in detailing the flaws of Kennedy’s personal life, Dallek unveiled for the first time the depth of his debilitating medical problems and also offered a well-balanced and dramatic account of his 1,000 days as president.

Best Bet: An Unfinished Life by Robert Dallek

Complement: Incomparable Grace by Mark Updegrove

#36. Lyndon Johnson

There’s Robert Caro, and there’s every other presidential biographer. Not only is his reporting outstandingly deep and original, but his prose is captivating and stirring and damn near poetic at times. The four books of the Years of Lyndon Johnson series (we’re all waiting for number five!) are not easy reads, but they’re always fascinating. Always.

The way Caro goes off-topic, and then brings it back to LBJ, is genius-level stuff. His mini profiles of Robert Kennedy, Coke Stevenson, even the Texas landscape itself are as memorable as the larger story. The only problem is that LBJ is such a contemptible character — it’s hard spending so much time with someone who so cravenly desired raw power. If you’re into presidential history, this series is required reading. I’m not kidding when I say I’d consider these my desert island books.

Best Bet: The Years of Lyndon Johnson by Robert Caro

Complement: Playing With Fire by Lawrence O’Donnell

#37. Richard Nixon

Humans love to not only study and learn from failure, but gawk at it too. Given Nixon’s place in the pantheon of disgraced presidents, there’s been a lot of books about the man. The true task of any Nixon biographer goes beyond presenting the unflinching truth (and uncovering the question of why he did what he did), but also in providing context from his boyhood, innate personality, and learned behaviors to not necessarily inspire sympathy, but at least understanding. No man is one-dimensional, Richard Nixon included.

The biographer who unveils the true man best is John Farrell in Richard Nixon: The Life. The narrative is remarkably readable and penetrative; there were, no doubt, clues throughout Nixon’s life that he would be a gifted politician but also a nefarious one, willing to do just about anything in order to win. Farrell certainly doesn’t explain away Nixon’s failures, but he does provide the nuance needed to come away from the book with a more complete picture of our 37th president. Plus, the Watergate drama makes for flat-out gripping reading.

Best Bet: Richard Nixon: The Life by John Farrell

Complement: Watergate by Garrett Graff

#38. Gerald Ford

Though Ford is often forgotten in our collective national memory, he served an important 2.5 years at the helm. He was quick to forgive Nixon, which was widely criticized, and possibly cost him the ‘76 election, but also did indeed serve to restore some unity and dignity to the office of the president. Ford was also responsible for getting the last American soldiers out of Vietnam — the Middle East disaster showed how tough it is to get out of a warzone. Frankly, I was surprised by how much I enjoyed Donald Rumsfeld’s When the Center Held. I don’t expect much from political memoirs, but there just wasn’t much on the bookshelves about Ford when I was in the midst of this project, so I went with it. Though Rumsfeld is obviously biased in his warmth towards our 38th president, he also readily outlines where he disagreed with Ford’s decisions and policies.

Thankfully, there’s a new and very good full-scale biography available: An Ordinary Man by Richard Norton Smith. It’s long, but always enjoyable and easily offers the most complete picture of Gerald R. Ford.

Best Bet: An Ordinary Man by Richard Norton Smith

Complement: When the Center Held by Donald Rumsfeld

#39. Jimmy Carter

His Very Best has just about everything I want and hope for in a big presidential biography. Alter tells an incredibly compelling story, clears up a lot of myths people have about Jimmy Carter (and the 1970s in general), gives the reader an incredibly personal look at the man himself, and convincingly makes the case for the importance (not necessarily effectiveness) of his presidency.

Thus far, the consensus on Carter has basically been that he wasn’t good as president but is as decent a human being as exists. That story isn’t entirely rewritten in His Very Best, but Alter does add the necessary nuances. The Carter administration was far more impactful than it seems, but was largely done apart by two things: the ultra-conservative presidency of Ronald Reagan and the overshadowing of foreign affairs — mainly the Iran hostage situation. Though it’s nearly 700 pages, this book is as readable as a big bio gets. Carter has been due for a re-examination and Jonathan Alter did the job admirably.

Best Bet: His Very Best by Jonathan Alter

Complement: Thirteen Days in December by Lawrence Wright

#40. Ronald Reagan

Reagan is among our most enigmatic presidents. All of them have been actors to some degree; Reagan quite literally made a career of it before getting to the Oval Office. How much of the real Reagan were we seeing he was in the White House? A number of biographers have attempted to answer that question, but getting to the man himself has proven difficult. Edmund Morris famously couldn’t crack that nut and wrote a genre-bending bio/novel called Dutch (which I’ve not read).

The best of the few Reagan bios I’ve read is definitely Max Boot’s Reagan: His Life and Legend. Boot made a point of highlighting the reserve that hid beneath the winning smile and gave a balanced assessment of his years in office, giving equal play to his personality and his politics.

Best Bet: Reagan: His Life and Legend by Max Boot

Complement: Reaganland by Rick Perlstein

#41. George H. W. Bush

I came away from Jon Meacham’s Destiny & Power: The American Odyssey of George HW Bush with more respect for Bush than just about any of the other presidents. He was a fundamentally decent man through and through. And while his legacy has generally been viewed as a failed single term tucked between Reagan (who defines the 80s) and Clinton (who defines the 90s), Meacham convincingly writes that he deserves much more.

When it comes to presidential legacies, time is everything. Clinton’s seems to only get more tarnished (deservedly so), while Bush’s seems to be on the rise. Yes, he followed Reagan’s coattails, but was a decidedly different kind of conservative who made plenty of enemies in his own party. He ushered in the end of the Cold War and navigated what post-Soviet world leadership should look like, successfully and quickly got Saddam Hussein out of Kuwait (and, unlike his son, didn’t get stuck there), got the Americans With Disabilities Act passed, and never even sniffed at any kind of scandal. Destiny & Power is a superb biography of a man who has been generally underrated as POTUS.

Best Bet: Destiny & Power by Jon Meacham

Complement: The Last Republicans by Mark Updegrove

#42. Bill Clinton

Clinton’s life has been full of very high highs and very low lows. It’s a dramatic tale, and no matter which way you tell his life story, it’s clear that Clinton has politics in his veins. There have been a few attempts to chronicle his life thus far, with the best of the bunch being David Maraniss’ First In His Class. The book covers Clinton’s life right up until he declares he’s running for president in the fall of 1991. Particularly well covered are Clinton’s formative college years and his not serving in Vietnam, which got plenty of press coverage during his campaigns. His relationship with Hillary gets a lot of attention as well, which certainly doesn’t put either of them in a particularly positive light.

I later followed it up with John Harris’s The Survivor, which was an excellent account of his eight years in the White House. The two books together make for an excellent one-two punch on Bill Clinton’s life and politics.

Best Bet: First In His Class by Bill Clinton

Complement: The Survivor by John Harris

#43. George W Bush

Jean Edward Smith has written some of the finest, most balanced presidential biographies that modern readers have access to. So his scathing look at our 43rd president, Bush, was a bit of a surprise. The introduction is piercing and the final line serves as quite an indictment, but between that, things are a little more objective. Bush’s early life is covered very well but the focus is certainly on his presidency and specifically the foreign policy mishaps after 9/11. And yet, amidst the critiques, Bush still emerges as a likable and relatable person. His intentions — those only matter so much, of course — always came from a good place. While other Bush biographies are sure to arrive in the coming decades (I’m a little surprised there aren’t more yet, to be honest), Smith’s work is a good place to start.

Best Bet: Bush by Jean Edward Smith

Complement: The Angler by Barton Gellman

#44. Barack Obama

Obviously no biography of Barack Obama is complete. We’re only just now getting to a point of being able to even accurately assess his presidential legacy, let alone his life as a whole. That said, David Maraniss’s Barack Obama: The Story is not an ordinary biography. Over the course of 570 pages we only make it to 1988, which is when Obama decided to go to law school. Maraniss paints a picture that makes it easy to see both the man he eventually became and the political seeds that were planted well before most people probably realized (including, perhaps, Michelle).

The reader is treated to an in-depth treatment of his genealogy, from his Kenyan roots to his Kansan heritage. As Maraniss writes, while geography and genealogy aren’t everything, they are important in considering the course of one’s life. I know this sounds like a terrible bore, but Maraniss writes with such journalistic fluidity that you feel like you’re reading a really long, really well done newspaper article — in the best way possible. Both admirers and detractors alike will quickly realize that Barack Obama was and is as complex as any other man who has held the title of President of the United States.

Best Bet: Barack Obama: The Story by David Maraniss

Complement: A Promised Land by Barack Obama

#45 & #47. Donald Trump

It’s nearly impossible to write an objective book on our 45th and 47th president. Though the market has been flooded with Trump books on a level not seen with any other POTUS, there’s not much middle ground to be found. In 2016, before that momentous election even took place, a couple Washington Post editors put together Trump Revealed. It’s as balanced an account as you’ll find, and you’ll realize that nothing Trump did in office was surprising if you know about his life and career up to 2016. It’s quite, well, revealing.

More recently, I also read The Divider by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser. It makes for a very good and very readable account of President Trump’s first term.

Best Bet: Trump Revealed by Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher

Complement: The Divider by Peter Baker and Susan Glasser

#46. Joe Biden

Given his length of service in the US government, it’s surprising there aren’t more books about Joe Biden. A few more have come out in the last year, but they’re largely focused on his political decline rather than his life as a whole. Evan Osnos’ Joe Biden: The Life, the Run, and What Matters Now got a lot of good press when it came out in 2020; while I found it to be a good primer, I was hoping for a clearer narrative and deeper analysis rather than a collection of essay-like chapters.

There’s a lot more to be said about Joe Biden and his single term in office, but for now readers are left with fairly slim pickings.

Best Bet: Joe Biden by Evan Osnos

Complement: Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson

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Questions? Comments? I’d love to hear. I’ll update this post periodically as I keep reading POTUS books.