Category: U.S. Presidents
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The Imperial Presidency (1973) by Arthur M. Schlesinger
Arthur Schlesinger Jr. is one of the most celebrated American historians of the twentieth century, having won two Pulitzer Prizes while teaching at Harvard for several decades. He also had significant and relevant experience in government, first as an intelligence officer in the Office of Strategic Services during World War II and later as a White…
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Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President (2011) by Candice Millard
Lots of popular history books claim to “read like a novel”; this one actually does. Author Candace Millard takes a random, Jeopardy!-Trivia-question event in American history (“He shot President Garfield in July 1881.” “Who is Charles Guiteau?”) and turns it into a delightful page-turning read. “Destiny of the Republic” likely isn’t great history in the…
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The River of Doubt: Theodore Roosevelt’s Darkest Journey (2005) by Candice Millard
I love Teddy Roosevelt (full disclosure), and had read several academic biographies about him before picking up Candice Millard’s “The River of Doubt,” her popular narrative on the former president’s generally forgotten 1914 expedition in the Amazon. I’m glad I did, as Millard delivers a fast-paced and engaging history of a truly remarkable event in…
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Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt (2001) by David McCullough
“Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt,” the 1982 bestseller and National Book Award-winner by David McCullough, is a wonderful book, but it’s not the family biography I expected. Yes, the homely and crippled big sister Anna, known as “Bamie,”…
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Governor Reagan: His Rise To Power (2003) by Lou Cannon
“Governor Reagan: His Rise to Power,” first published in 2003, is something of a “prequel” for veteran-political-journalist-turned-Reagan-biographer, Lou Cannon, who’s heralded critical assessment of the Reagan presidential administration, “President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime,” appeared on bookshelves over a decade before this volume. “Governor Reagan” is made up of 30 chapters, each with a…
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President Reagan: The Role Of A Lifetime (1991) by Lou Cannon
Ronald Reagan isn’t the kind of president that many Americans are on the fence about. Either you love him and believe he belongs in the pantheon of great presidents alongside Washington, Lincoln and FDR or you think he is one of the most incompetent (albeit lucky) chief executives in American history. Lou Cannon’s “President Reagan:…
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Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times (2017) by Kenneth Whyte
Herbert Hoover is mainly remembered today for his disastrous single term as president at the start of the Great Depression. That is unfortunate, as he is undoubtedly one of the most talented men of his generation and led a life jam-packed with memorable feats and achievements. In “Hoover: An Extraordinary Life in Extraordinary Times” Kenneth…
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The Years of Lyndon Johnson: The Path to Power (1982) by Robert Caro
The first in a monumental five volume series on the 36th president of the United States, “The Path to Power” takes nearly 800 pages to cover just the first 32 years of Lyndon Baines Johnson’s life. Often times biographers lose their sense of objectivity about their subject and end up writing a glowing hagiography. Such…
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Means of Ascent: The Years of Lyndon Johnson (1990) by Robert Caro
Volume II of “The Years of Lyndon Johnson” takes place over just seven years, from 1941 to 1948, the interregnum between Johnson’s two US senate races. It marks perhaps the lowest ebb in Johnson’s political fortunes, a period of deep and lasting personal malaise. Volume I, “The Path to Power,” introduces Johnson as a man…
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