# Best Presidential Biographies

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-presidential-biographies/513007>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 8, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-presidential-biographies/513007 "2009-10-08T01:38:19Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-presidential-biographies/513007/1 "2009-10-08T01:38:19Z")

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What would be the best presidential biographies collectively of all the US presidents and each indvidual president?

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**Author:** ![Lakai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de0a6/32.png) [@Lakai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lakai)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-presidential-biographies/513007/2 "2009-10-08T03:28:29Z")

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Here is a previous thread on the [subject](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=527706).

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**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\
**Post date:** [October 8, 2009, 3:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-presidential-biographies/513007/3 "2009-10-08T03:37:16Z")

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• _George Washington_, by Douglas Southall Freeman (vol. 1–6), John Alexander Carroll and Mary Wells Ashworth (vol. 7)  
• _John Adams_, by David McCullough  
• _John Quincy Adams and the Foundations of American Foreign Policy_, by Samuel Flagg Bemis  
• _Andrew Jackson_, by Marquis James  
• _American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House_, by Jon Meacham  
• _Lincoln_, by David Herbert Donald  
• _Abraham Lincoln: A Life_, by Michael Burlingame  
• _Grant: A Biography_, by William S. McFeely  
• _Grover Cleveland_, by Allan Nevins  
• _The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt_, by Edmund Morris  
• _Theodore Rex_, by Edmund Morris  
• _The Taft Story_, by William S. White  
• _Woodrow Wilson, American Prophet_, by Arthur Walworth  
• _Eleanor and Franklin_, by Joseph P. Lash  
• _Truman_, by David McCullough  
• _A Thousand Days_ (JFK), by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.  
• _The Years of Lyndon Johnson_, by Robert Caro

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**Author:** ![CyclopticXander](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/59ef9b/32.png) [@CyclopticXander](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CyclopticXander)\
**Post date:** [October 9, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-presidential-biographies/513007/4 "2009-10-09T02:47:39Z")

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You can’t beat The American Presidents Series for light reading. You can read each president in a night or two, and they are generally high quality.

**Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior and President** \*\* by Ari Hoogenboom is one of my favorites for a comprehensive look and a very overlooked president.

You’ll always get people recommending the McCullough books, and rightly so. John Adams in particular is fantastic, but I’m sure you’ve already read that one if you are interested in presidential bios.