Many of the guests on our episodes are prominent historians and biographers who have written in far more depth about each president than we could possibly get into in a single podcast episode. So we’ve put together a reading list to complement the podcast. We’ll update it each week with books that are either mentioned in the newest episode or are written by our featured guests. We’re also including here the books that readers voted the best presidential biographies for The Fix’s reading list.
There are tons of great biographies that won’t make this list, only because we’re focusing here on ones that are directly connected to each episode. But we’d love for all you avid readers out there to chime in with your favorite presidential tomes in the comments section below, so others can see your recommendations. We’ll also be updating the list as we progress through the presidency and pick up additional reading material.
GET CAUGHT UP
Stories to keep you informed
EPISODE 1: George Washington
EPISODE 3: Thomas Jefferson
EPISODE 4: James Madison
EPISODE 6: John Quincy Adams
The list below will be updated with more titles as the episodes are released each week.
EPISODE 7: Andrew Jackson
- Jacksonland, by Steve Inskeep
- American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, by Jon Meacham
EPISODE 8: Martin Van Buren
- Martin Van Buren, by Ted Widmer
- Martin Van Buren: The Romantic Age of American Politics, by John Niven
EPISODE 9: William Henry Harrison
- William Henry Harrison, by Gail Collins
- Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Times, by Freeman Cleaves
- John Tyler: Champion of the Old South, by Oliver P. Chitwood
EPISODE 11: James K. Polk
- The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America, by Walter R. Borneman
EPISODE 12: Zachary Taylor
- Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest, by K. Jack Bauer
EPISODE 13: Millard Fillmore
- Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President, by Robert J. Rayback
EPISODE 14: Franklin Pierce
- Franklin Pierce, by Michael Holt
EPISODE 15: James Buchanan
- President James Buchanan: A Biography, by Philip S. Klein
EPISODE 16: Abraham Lincoln
EPISODE 17: Andrew Johnson
- Andrew Johnson, by Annette Gordon-Reed
EPISODE 18: Ulysses S. Grant
EPISODE 19: Rutherford B. Hayes
- Rutherford B. Hayes, by Hans Trefousse
- Rutherford B. Hayes, and his America, by Harry Barnard
EPISODE 20: James Garfield
- Assassination Vacation, by Sarah Vowell
- Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, by Candice Millard
EPISODE 21: Chester Arthur
- Chester Alan Arthur, by Zachary Karabell
- Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester Alan Arthur, by Thomas C. Reeves
EPISODE 22: Grover Cleveland (22nd and 24th president)
- Grover Cleveland: A Study in Character, by Alyn Brodsky
- Grover Cleveland, by Henry F. Graff
EPISODE 23: Benjamin Harrison
- Benjamin Harrison, by Charles W. Calhoun
- Benjamin Harrison: Hoosier Statesman, by Harry Joseph Sievers
EPISODE 24: William McKinley
- Presidency of William McKinley, by Lewis. L. Gould
EPISODE 25: Theodore Roosevelt
- Theodore Rex, by Edmund Morris
- Mornings on Horseback, by David McCullough
EPISODE 26: William Howard Taft
- The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
- The Life & Times of William Howard Taft, by Harry F. Pringle
EPISODE 27: Woodrow Wilson
- Woodrow Wilson: A Biography, by John Milton Cooper Jr.
EPISODE 28: Warren G. Harding
- The Shadow of Blooming Grove: Warren G. Harding in His Times, by Francis Russell
EPISODE 29: Calvin Coolidge
- Coolidge, An American Enigma, by Robert Sobel
EPISODE 30: Herbert Hoover
- Herbert Hoover, by William E. Leuchtenburg
EPISODE 31: Franklin Roosevelt
- Franklin D. Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom, by Conrad Black
- No Ordinary Time, by Doris Kearns Goodwin
EPISODE 32: Harry S. Truman
- Truman, by David McCullough
- Harry S. Truman, by Robert Dallek
EPISODE 33: Dwight D. Eisenhower
- Eisenhower: Soldier and President, by Stephen E. Ambrose
- Eisenhower in War and Peace, by Jean Edward Smith
EPISODE 34: John F. Kennedy
- A Thousand Days, by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.
- An Unfinished Life, by Robert Dallek
EPISODE 35: Lyndon B. Johnson
- Robert Caro‘s multi-volume set
- Robert Dallek‘s two-volume set
EPISODE 36: Richard Nixon
- All the President’s Men, by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward
- Nixonland, by Richard Perlstein
- Gerald R. Ford, by Douglas Brinkley
EPISODE 38: Jimmy Carter
- Jimmy Carter, by Julian E. Zelizer
EPISODE 39: Ronald Reagan
- President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime, by Lou Cannon
- My Father at 100, by Ron Reagan, Jr.
EPISODE 40: George H.W. Bush
EPISODE 41: Bill Clinton
- First in His Class, by David Maraniss
- The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House, by John F. Harris
EPISODE 42: George W. Bush
- Decision Points, by George W. Bush
- Days of Fire: Bush and Cheney in the White House, by Peter Baker
EPISODE 43: Barack Obama
Note: Throughout the podcast, one reference book that has been very useful in providing an overview of each presidency has been To the Best of My Ability, edited by James M. McPherson.
