What To Read

Between Presidents' Day and the news of former president Jimmy Carter entering hospice care at age 98, this has been a week for reflection on the legacies of some of the most impactful leaders in U.S. history. Here are 11 of the best presidential biographies that stand the test of time.

1. His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life

by Jonathan Alter

While Carter has long been cast as an ineffective president, he has inspired admiration for decades for his public service after leaving office. Jonathan Alter's 2020 biography of the enigmatic former president shines light on a complicated and often poorly understood man and his legacy.

The book has received endorsements from noted journalists such as Dan Rather, who declared it "the definitive biography" on Carter, and the New York Times' Peter Baker, who called it "a vivid three-dimensional portrait that explores his virtues and flaws with great insight." Book critic Michael Schaub praised the book for reflecting Carter "as a real person, as flawed as anyone else, and not as a saint," and said: "It's a book that's bound to fascinate anyone with an interest in American history."

2. Truman

by David McCullough

This 1992 biography of the 33rd president won the celebrated popular historian his first of two Pulitzer Prizes. (The second came less than a decade later for his biography of John Adams.) Harvard professor Robert N. Stavins called Truman "a remarkable book about an ordinary man who did great things."

3. First in His Class: A Biography of Bill Clinton

by David Maraniss

Almost everything you need to know about the Clinton presidency can be found in this 1995 title by journalist David Maraniss, according to NPR's Kitty Eisele, who called it "a character study par excellence." A true authority on #42, Maraniss won a Pulitzer for his reporting on then-presidential candidate Clinton only three years earlier.

4. American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson

by Joseph J. Ellis

In his 1997 review for The New York Times, Brent Staples described American Sphinx as "fresh and uncluttered but rich in historical context" and praised Ellis for his clear, nuanced, and hyperbole-free writing. The judging panel of the National Book Foundation agreed, and the book eventually took home the highly coveted award in the nonfiction category.

5. Master of the Senate: The Years of Lyndon Johnson III

by Robert A. Caro

Book three in this colossal four-part biography of the 36th president won Caro both a Pulitzer and the National Book Award. Journalist Ronald Brownstein, a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist himself for his reporting on presidential campaigns, called Caro's classic "the best non-fiction book about modern U.S. politics." At age 87, the author is still working on the last volume of his Johnson biography.

6. Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

by Doris Kearns Goodwin

Bill Gates named this one of his five favorite books, calling it "the best guide to leading a country." The book "feels especially relevant now, when our country is once again facing violent insurrection, difficult questions about race, and deep ideological divides," he said. "Goodwin is one of America’s best biographers, and Team of Rivals is arguably her masterpiece."

7. Washington: A Life

by Ron Chernow

Another prolific biographer of American historical figures, Chernow won the National Book Award in 1990 for his book on the Morgan financial dynasty and has also written acclaimed biographies of John D. Rockefeller, Alexander Hamilton and Ulysses S. Grant, among others. But it is the author's 2010 biography of the nation's first president, which won him both a Pulitzer and the American History Book Prize, that stands out.

Writing for Esquire, literary critic Adam Morgan named it one of the 50 best biographies of all time and said: "Chernow will change your impression of Washington from a boring, frowning statesman to something like an 18th-century punk rocker who liked to dance with women and hunt foxes, all while pulling no punches when it comes to Washington’s military failures and ownership of slaves."

8. John Quincy Adams: Militant Spirit

by James Traub

As the son of John and Abigail Adams, John Quincy was born a son of the revolution. With that distinction also came the expectation that he would one day follow in his father's footsteps and ascend to the presidency. Lucky for author James Traub (and all lovers of American history), Adams kept a journal for nearly all his life, and the 14,000-page document serves as the backbone of this unique biography. The journal naturally provides a fascinating glimpse into Adams' political career, but perhaps more notably it provides readers with one of the most intimate portraits of a president's inner life.

Critic Thomas Filbin praised the author for taking full advantage of the terrific source, writing: "Traub has admirably captured the man inside the public figure, giving us a view of a typical New England grandee, puritanical at his core, molded as a traditionalist republican with no love for pure democracy."

9. Richard Nixon: The Life

by John A. Farrell

Farrell's 2017 biography of the disgraced 37th president was a finalist for the Pulitzer and the winner of several prizes in history writing. In a review for NPR, author Jason Heller praised the book for bringing the "dichotomy between brooding schemer and extroverted leader [that] has long defined the Nixon dynamic... into the most vivid — and the most startling — relief to date." Journalist John Harwood provided glowing praise on Twitter, writing: "It's hard to say emphatically enough how good Jack Farrell's Nixon biography is - in its literary style, scholarship, and analytical acuity... just terrific."

10. And There Was Light: Abraham Lincoln and the American Struggle

by Jon Meacham

Another Lincoln book? We know, but we would be remiss not to include this latest effort by one of the great presidential biographers of recent decades. Meacham has previously published biographies on Thomas Jefferson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Andrew Jackson (for which he won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize) and George H.W. Bush, but his latest book on the 16th, and arguably most consequential American president looks to be at least as good as anything he's written up to this point.

Retired general and current political commentator Barry R. McCaffrey offered this praise: "Just finished Jon Meacham’s magnificent biography of President Lincoln. A brilliant work of great importance. The most important figure in American history. Great wisdom. A political unifier. A man of enormous personal moral courage. The kindest of all men."

11. Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America

by Maggie Haberman

For those with a penchant for masochism, journalist Caspar Henderson says that reading this book "brings all the joy of reliving one of your worst nightmares in painstaking and excruciating detail." We know, we are tired of the Trump books, too. But if you do feel the need to pick up one book about our most recent former president, this is the one that will go down in history, given the author's front-row seat to the action during the Trump era.