Presidents’ Day Book Recommendations

Some of my favorite books on the American presidency.

Good morning, and happy Presidents’ Day — or, as it’s formally called in 5 U.S. Code § 6103: “Washington’s Birthday.”

(Washington’s actual birthday is February 22, or — if you’re a fan of the Julian Calendar, which was in use in the American colonies when Washington was actually born — February 11.)

If you want to learn about the presidents, you can read a million thinkpieces or Substack posts, but there’s no substitute for sitting down and reading a book, and soaking up the knowledge it holds.

One question I often receive for mailbag columns is about books I recommend on American politics and history. I thought Presidents’ Day was as good a day as any to recommend some of my favorites, with a particular focus on books about the American presidents and presidency. If you’re someone who wants to start reading more about presidential history, but doesn’t know where to begin: here are some good starting places.

There have been around 40,000 books written about JFK and 15,000 more on Lincoln, so if you take all 45 presidents (and even knowing that many presidents are the subject of dramatically fewer books), you’re easily looking at a universe of at least 100,000 books to pick from.

That means the below list is by no means exhaustive, but it includes some of the books that most stand out to me when I think about reading about the presidency. If you have favorites that aren’t on here, please leave them in the comments! Here goes…

Best book about a presidential campaign

What It Takes: The Way to the White House by Richard Ben Cramer

I have to start with probably my all-time favorite book, period. What It Takes is the story of the 1988 presidential campaign — but unlike most campaign books, it doesn’t dwell on debates, or TV ads, or other tentpole moments of the year.

Instead, Cramer starts with the observation, “None of my friends ever thought he should be President—much less that he could be,” and goes from there: trying to answer the question of how it is that someone grows to believe that they, above everyone else, deserve to lead a country of hundreds of millions of people.

Cramer embeds himself into the lives of six of the men running that year (including George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, Dick Gephardt… and a young Joe Biden), and tries to discover “how people like us—with dreams and doubts, great talents and ordinary frailties—get to be people like them.” It’s a big book, but it’s so richly written that it glides by easily. If you love politics, you won’t regret picking it up.

Best book about the creation of the presidency

Making the Presidency: John Adams and the Precedents That Forged the Republic by Lindsay Chervinsky

Until I read this book, I didn’t know just how little I knew about John Adams, who is probably one of our most famous presidents by dint of his role as America’s 2nd chief executive — but is constantly overshadowed by George Washington and Thomas Jefferson, the men who came before and after him.

As it turns out, Adams’ time has some pretty clear parallels to our own: contested elections, a January 6th moment, prosecutions of political rivals (including the creation of the Alien Enemies Act, the 1798 law President Trump has recently tried to use), and more.

Washington was sui generis in American history: unanimously elected, and deferred to by everyone across the political spectrum. That means, Chervinsky argues, that the presidency didn’t really start rolling until Adams, who was left to answer the more pertinent question: What does the American presidency look like when it isn’t held by a universally beloved figure? That’s when America really started to think through the optimal balance of power to give the presidency, once someone they didn’t trust as much as Washington was at the helm. As a result, Adams and his contemporaries set many of the precedents that still guide the institution to this day.

Best book about former presidents

The Presidents Club: Inside the World’s Most Exclusive Fraternity by Nancy Gibbs and Michael Duffy

In Federalist No. 72, Alexander Hamilton asked whether it would be destabilizing to have former presidents “wandering among the people like discontented ghosts, and sighing for a place which they were destined never more to possess?” Grover Cleveland once (jokingly?) offered a solution of what we should do with former presidents: “Take them out and shoot them.”

We didn’t take Cleveland’s idea, which means former presidents still walk among us, writing Substack posts (hi there, George W. Bush!) and talking about aliens on podcasts. This book by Gibbs and Duffy is a great look at the relationships among the former presidents. There are some awesome stories in there about former presidents who were once rivals bonding over Air Force One trips to foreign funerals (Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter) or disaster relief efforts (the Bushes and Bill Clinton) which make for a fun read.

Best presidential biography that’s comprehensive and accessible

His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life by Jonathan Alter

I won’t even try to give a best presidential biography here, since there are too many great ones to count, from Robert Caro’s (unfinished) series about LBJ to classics like “John Adams” by David McCullough.

But I wanted to try to recommend one that is both comprehensive (taking you through the president’s whole life) and accessible, that won’t take you down too many rabbit holes (no offense, Mr. Caro) or lose you in the text. This is the one that came to mind.

Alter challenges the classic notion of Carter — that he was a bad president, but a great former president — and actually turns it on its head, arguing the opposite. It’s a fascinating re-examination of the Carter presidency, paired with a rich retelling of his rise (and fall). A very readable and thought-provoking book!

Best book about a presidential assassination

Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President by Candice Millard

I’ve recommended this book in the newsletter before, but every time I do, I hear from people who read it and loved it: so I’m recommending it again!

This is one of my all-time favorites, a book about the assassination of James Garfield that truly reads like a novel. Did you know that early versions of the metal detector and the air conditioner were invented to try to save Garfield after he was shot but before he died? Read this book and you will!

Plus, once you’re done, you can watch it as a new Netflix miniseries starring Michael Shannon, Matthew Macfadyen, and Nick Offerman.

Best book about a presidential convention

The Lincoln Miracle: Inside the Republican Convention That Changed History by Edward Achorn

When we think about Abraham Lincoln, I don’t think we give enough credit to the fact that — at the time of his election — he was a relatively unknown former one-term congressman.

These days, you pretty much have to be a governor, senator, vice president, or celebrity to be in the running to be president. Lincoln had served one term in the lower chamber of Congress a decade ago, and not only maneuvered his way to become president, but also one of the greatest presidents in history. It makes you wonder whether there might be many generational political talents we might be restricting ourselves from now that our modern primary system makes it a lot harder (though not impossible) for unknown quantities to break out.

This book is the story of how Lincoln did it, using one term in the House and a nationally recognized (but failed) Senate campaign as a springboard to the Republican nomination in 1860. Spoiler: if that year’s GOP convention wasn’t held in Lincoln’s home state of Illinois, it’s possible the U.S. never would have had the “Great Emancipator,” and American history might look very different. This book does a great job grounding you in what it was like to be at a raucous 19th century political convention, and also gives a unique look not at Lincoln the statesman, but at Lincoln the political operator and tactician.

Best book of presidential writings

Theodore Roosevelt’s History of the United States: His Own Words, edited by Daniel Ruddy

Theodore Roosevelt was incredibly prolific, writing 18 books — plus numerous speeches, essays, and letters — across his lifetime. Ruddy does something cool here, not just offering a normal edited collection of a president’s words, but putting them in an order that makes sense: specifically, taking TR’s writings about American history and placing them in order of the time period he was writing about, right up until the World War I era when he died.

The result is a look at the first 100+ years of U.S. history, told exclusively through the words of one of our most powerful history buffs. It’s a cool concept, well executed, and made worth reading by Roosevelt’s engaging prose.

Best book about the current president

Confidence Man: The Making of Donald Trump and the Breaking of America by Maggie Haberman

There have been a lot of books written about Donald Trump over the last 10 years, but none beats New York Times correspondent Maggie Haberman’s. If you want to understand Trump and what makes him tick, as well as the patterns that run through his business and political careers, read Confidence Man.

Haberman is currently working on another Trump book, with her Times colleague Jonathan Swan, so read Confidence Man now before the sequel comes out.