One of my goals is to read (or listen to) a biography of each one of the American Presidents. Whenever possible I try to determine in advance which biography is considered the best or most with the recommended book listed beneath.
- George Washington, 1789-1797
- Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow. *****
- John Adams, 1797-1801
- John Adams by David McCullough. *****
- Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1809
- Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power by Jon Meacham. ****
- James Madison, 1809-1817
- James Monroe, 1817-1825
- John Quincy Adams, 1825-1829
- Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837
- Martin Van Buren, 1837-1841
- William Henry Harrison, 1841
- John Tyler, 1841-1845
- James Knox Polk, 1845-1849
- Zachary Taylor, 1849-1850
- Millard Fillmore, 1850-1853
- Franklin Pierce, 1853-1857
- James Buchanan, 1857-1861
- Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1865
- A. Lincoln: A Biography by Ronald C. White. *****
- Lincoln by David Herbert Donald. *****
- Andrew Johnson, 1865-1869
- Ulysses S. Grant, 1869-1877
- The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace by H.W. Brands. *****
- Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 1877-1881
- James Abram Garfield, 1881
- Chester Alan Arthur, 1881-1885
- Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889
- Benjamin Harrison, 1889-1893
- Grover Cleveland, 1893-1897
- William McKinley, 1897-1901
- Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909
- The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt by Edmund Morris (2 volumes remain)
- William Howard Taft, 1909-1913
- Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1921
- Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1921-1923
- Calvin Coolidge, 1923-1929
- Coolidge by Amity Shlaes. ****
- Herbert Clark Hoover, 1929-1933
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945
- FDR by Jean Edward Smith. *****
- Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953
- Truman by David McCullough. *****
- Dwight David Eisenhower, 1953-1961
- Eisenhower in War and Peace by Jean Edward Smith. ****
- John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-1963
- Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-1969
- Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-1974
- Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1977
- James Earl Carter, Jr., 1977-1981
- Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-1989
- When Character Was King by Peggy Noonan. ****
- George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993
- Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Herbert Walker Bush by Jon Meacham *****
- William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-2001
- George Walker Bush, 2001-2009
- Decision Points by George W. Bush. **** (#)
- Barack Hussein Obama, 2009-
# I will eventually read a biography rather than autobiography of George W. Bush; however, it will be at least a few years before there will be a biography that can provide a realistic assessment of his time in office.
