# Biographies of all US Presidents **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2013, 7:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564 "2013-08-07T07:24:53Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/21 "2013-08-07T15:08:41Z")
> [@davidmich](#): > > Hi, > > I’ve set myself the task of reading about all the US Presidents. I would appreciate your feedback on authors you would recommend starting with George Washington. One commenter suggested Ron Chernow’s “Washington: A Life.” I should add that I’m looking for biographies that are as comprehensive as possible, and written by authoritative, well-known and/or respected scholars. I look forward to your feedback. > davidmich Try these from the Monticello book shop; [http://www.monticelloshop.org/book-store-jefferson-biographies.html](http://www.monticelloshop.org/book-store-jefferson-biographies.html) One way to learn about the President’s is to tour thier homes. Monticello is just breathtaking in nature. ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/22 "2013-08-07T15:12:27Z")
Astonishing wealth of material on Johnson. I look forward to reading it. davidmich ---
**Author:** ![lawbuff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/13edae/32.png) [@lawbuff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawbuff)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/23 "2013-08-07T15:16:07Z")
> [@davidmich](#): > > Astonishing wealth of material on Johnson. I look forward to reading it. > davidmich Which one?? As an interesting note, ever here of the “Kennedy-Lincoln coincidences”? ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/24 "2013-08-07T15:24:28Z")
[David Herbert Donald’s biography of Lincoln](http://www.amazon.com/Lincoln-David-Herbert-Donald/dp/068482535X) is considered the standard for laymen. [Joseph Ellis has a good bio on Washington](http://www.amazon.com/His-Excellency-Washington-Joseph-Ellis/dp/1400032539/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1375888893&sr=8-6&keywords=george+washington). > [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > See also Joseph Ellis’s _Founding Brothers_, for which he won the Pulitzer, for a brief but very good profile of the major Framers, including several Presidents, in their relationships with each other as friends, rivals and either political allies or foes. I concur. None of the “Founding” books I’ve read attempt to make the reader understand the times like Ellis does. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/25 "2013-08-07T15:54:48Z")
> [@lawbuff](#): > > Which one?? > > As an interesting note, ever here of the “Kennedy-Lincoln coincidences”? Which were simply made as a spoof of idiotic urban legends by Martin Gardner, who was appalled to see them enter the culture. The literature on presidential biographies is too large for a lifetime. I’d second Wendell’s suggestion of the American Presidents series as the place to start. They are uniformly good to excellent, short, easy-to-read, and will provide context for you to go further. A few random other selections from my shelves: I have read _American Sphinx_, Joseph Ellis’s bio of Jefferson, and it’s important for giving both sides of Jefferson, a man who can be the greatest hero and the greatest villain on alternate Sundays. William Herndon, Lincoln’s law partner, wrote a _Life of Lincoln_ that is historically somewhat suspect but unmatchable for contemporary flavor. In a similar vein is\* Plain Speaking: an Oral Biography of Harry S. Truman by Merle Miller\*, which has also been questioned but is 400 pages of stuff you’d like to quote. I’ve read many of the books already listed. Generally speaking, you should read all - not just the presidential biographies - the books of Flexner, Ellis, Morris, and McCullough (his big fat endless biographies are the books of his I like least). Also generally speaking, you should never read multi-volume biographies because by the end you will hate the person that ate up your life. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/26 "2013-08-07T16:15:44Z")
Since this is about books, let’s move it to Cafe Society. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 4:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/27 "2013-08-07T16:37:10Z")
Speaking of the other Johnson, there’s [Andrew Johnson](http://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Johnson-Presidents-President-1865-1869/dp/0805069488/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375892854&sr=1-3&keywords=andrew+johnson+biography). Johnson was probably the worst of the presidents, one whose actions poisoned American politics ever since. The semi-heroic story of his impeachment has made him far more sympathetic than he deserves to be. ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/28 "2013-08-07T16:42:35Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I have read _American Sphinx_, Joseph Ellis’s bio of Jefferson, and it’s important for giving both sides of Jefferson, a man who can be the greatest hero and the greatest villain on alternate Sundays. The one caveat I’d add about _Sphinx_ is that it’s not a good book to start with if one wants to learn about Jefferson because it picks a few parts of Jefferson’s life and expounds on them. It’s an important second book, though, because–as you said–it wipes away some of the facade of Jefferson’s morality. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/29 "2013-08-07T16:44:48Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > Speaking of the other Johnson, there’s [Andrew Johnson](http://www.amazon.com/Andrew-Johnson-Presidents-President-1865-1869/dp/0805069488/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375892854&sr=1-3&keywords=andrew+johnson+biography). Johnson was probably the worst of the presidents, one whose actions poisoned American politics ever since. The semi-heroic story of his impeachment has made him far more sympathetic than he deserves to be. _[Tennessee Johnson](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3pUKEcQoD0)_ ---
**Author:** ![pravnik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8edcca/32.png) [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/30 "2013-08-07T17:01:23Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > Edmund Morris’s trilogy on Theodore Roosevelt (_The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex_ and _Colonel Roosevelt_) is both masterful and fun. Second these, the first one won a Pulitzer and is amazing reading. _American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House_ also won a Pulitzer and got great reviews, but I haven’t gotten around to reading the copy I got for Christmas yet. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/31 "2013-08-07T17:05:37Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Also generally speaking, you should never read multi-volume biographies because by the end you will hate the person that ate up your life. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 5:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/32 "2013-08-07T17:42:17Z")
Thanks for all the feedback. Personally, I enjoy multi-volume biographies. I look forward to more of your suggestions. My preference is for balanced (as much as possible) biographies with as wide a scope (political, social,cultural,economic, scientific) as possible. Multi-volume biographies often encompass such a scope. davidmich ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/33 "2013-08-07T18:04:02Z")
I found Douglas Brinkley’s book on Jimmy Carter at a used book store in the late 90’s. It’s good and covers his life up until about 1994. Out of print but used copies are easily bought at Amazon. > **[The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Journey Beyond the White House:...](https://www.amazon.com/Unfinished-Presidency-Carters-Journey-Beyond/dp/0786115025)** > > The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Journey Beyond the White House \[Brinkley, Douglas, Lewis, Edward\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. The Unfinished Presidency: Jimmy Carter's Journey Beyond the White House ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/34 "2013-08-07T18:12:52Z")
Carl Sandburg’s definitive six volume set on Lincoln. I’ve only read one of the volumes. Spending a year of my life reading/studying one President is just too much for me. > **[Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years & The War Years (Six Volume Set):...](https://www.amazon.com/Abraham-Lincoln-Prairie-Years-War/dp/B00088ASWY)** > > Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years & The War Years (Six Volume Set) \[Sandburg, Carl\] on Amazon.com. \*FREE\* shipping on qualifying offers. Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years & The War Years (Six Volume Set) ---
**Author:** ![davidmich](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e56c9b/32.png) [@davidmich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/davidmich)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/35 "2013-08-07T18:28:27Z")
Good biographies take on difficult, sensitive issues, and that’s what I look forward to in a biography. Woodrow Wilson is another president I’d like to know more about. He’s controversial, as was Roosevelt. I look forward to your suggestions on Wilson. davidmich ---
**Author:** ![Deeg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deeg/32/2955_2.png) [@Deeg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Deeg)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/36 "2013-08-07T18:49:57Z")
> [@pravnik](#): > > Second these, the first one won a Pulitzer and is amazing reading. _American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House_ also won a Pulitzer and got great reviews, but I haven’t gotten around to reading the copy I got for Christmas yet. I must be one of the few people who didn’t like that book. I thought it spent way too much time on a near-sex scandal (I forget now what it was) and stopped reading it. If “People” magazine ever put out a Presidential series it’ll be the first one. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/37 "2013-08-07T19:00:16Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Carl Sandburg’s definitive six volume set on Lincoln. I’ve only read one of the volumes. Spending a year of my life reading/studying one President is just too much for me. > > [Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years & The War Years (Six Volume Set): Sandburg, Carl: 9781199016393: Amazon.com: Books](http://www.amazon.com/Abraham-Lincoln-Prairie-Years-War/dp/B00088ASWY/ref=sr_1_6?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375898852&sr=1-6&keywords=Carl+Sandburg+lincoln) It’s not definitive. Most historians consider it laughable. [Sandburg’s Lincoln within History](http://quod.lib.umich.edu/j/jala/2629860.0020.105?rgn=main;view=fulltext) is an attempt to explain why it caught the public’s attention, but still retains a critical view of the book: > [@](#): > > In 1998, seventy-two years after the publication of its first part, it may seem to have aged rather badly: inaccurate factually, grotesquely distended, and lapsing rather too frequently into a dated and forced “prose poetry” that charms less now than over seventy years ago. … > > Milo Milton Quaife, in the Mississippi Valley Historical Review, was not so generous. In one of the harshest evaluations of the book, he attacked Sandburg’s failure to document his sources, his “naive conception of what constitutes evidence,” and his “carelessness of statement.” He cited nine factual errors in four pages on the Black Hawk War and wondered if the rest of the book was similarly inaccurate. The Prairie Years, he wrote, was nothing but “a hodge podge of miscellaneous information.” … [Sandberg] does identify many of his sources in the text of the works, and the reader who is reasonably familiar with the Lincoln literature is likely to recognize many of the rest of the sources. Unfortunately, such a reader is likely to recognize such unreliable or even fictional sources as the anonymous Diary of a Public Man and Francis Grierson’s Valley of Shadows, which were drawn on as if they were authoritative. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/38 "2013-08-07T19:13:42Z")
Well, I’m glad that I never read all six volumes. 😉 Sandburg wasn’t a researcher or historian. He was primarily a poet. I’ve been very leery of reading any bios on contemporary Presidents because the subject matter is still so political. I mentioned Douglas Brinkley’s book on Jimmy Carter because it focused on him rebuilding his life after a disappointing one term presidency. Brinkley is a history professor at Rice University but even that book isn’t entirely neutral. He lived through the time period that he’s writing about. ---
**Author:** ![syncrolecyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f08c70/32.png) [@syncrolecyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/syncrolecyne)\ **Post date:** [August 7, 2013, 9:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/39 "2013-08-07T21:49:26Z")
The Personal Memoirs of Ulysses S. Grant still stands as the best autobiographical writing by a president - though that book mainly covers his Civil War career. Obama’s memoir may stand the test of time too, but it is mostly on his early life. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2013, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564/40 "2013-08-08T00:08:07Z")
I’d say that if you want a Jackson biography, you should go with Robert Remini’s three volume Jackson bio. Remini also wrote a biography of Martin Van Buren, “Martin Van Buren and the Making of the Democratic Party”, as well as one of John Quincy Adams. For a Reagan biography, even though it was controversial at the time, largely because of some narrative techniques he used, you could do worse than Morris’s “Dutch”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/biographies-of-all-us-presidents/665564.md?page=3)