The American Presidents

William Howard Taft

The American Presidents
Jeffrey Rosen
Henry Holt and Co.

The only man to serve as president and chief justice, who approached every decision in constitutional terms, defending the Founders’ vision against new populist threats to American democracy

Bill Clinton

The American Presidents
Michael Tomasky; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

The president of larger-than-life ambitions and appetites whose term defined America at the close of the twentieth century

Bill Clinton: a president of contradictions. He was a Rhodes...

Ronald Reagan

The American Presidents
Jacob Weisberg; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

The conservative icon who reshaped American politics and laid the groundwork for the end of the Cold War

In the second half of the twentieth century, no American president defined his...

George W. Bush

The American Presidents
James Mann; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

The controversial president whose time in office was defined by the September 11 attacks and the war on terror

George W. Bush stirred powerful feelings...

John F. Kennedy

The American Presidents
Alan Brinkley; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

The young president who brought vigor and glamour to the White House while he confronted cold war crises abroad and calls for social change at home

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a new...

William Henry Harrison

The American Presidents
Gail Collins; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

The president who served the shortest term—just a single month—but whose victorious election campaign rewrote the rules for candidates seeking America's highest office

William...

Millard Fillmore

The American Presidents
Paul Finkelman; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

The oddly named president whose shortsightedness and stubbornness fractured the nation and sowed the seeds of civil war

In the summer of 1850, America was at a terrible crossroads. Congress...

Andrew Johnson

The American Presidents
Annette Gordon-Reed; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

A Pulitzer Prize-winning historian recounts the tale of the unwanted president who ran afoul of Congress over Reconstruction and was nearly removed from office

Andrew Johnson never...

Jimmy Carter

The American Presidents
Julian E. Zelizer; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

The maverick politician from Georgia who rode the post- Watergate wave into office but whose term was consumed by economic and international crises

A peanut farmer from Georgia, Jimmy...

Lyndon B. Johnson

The American Presidents
Charles Peters; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

The towering figure who sought to transform America into a "Great Society" but whose ambitions and presidency collapsed in the tragedy of the Vietnam War

Few figures in American history...

Franklin Pierce

The American Presidents
Michael F. Holt; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

The genial but troubled New Englander whose single-minded partisan loyalties inflamed the nation's simmering battle over slavery

Charming and handsome, Franklin Pierce of New Hampshire...

Herbert Hoover

The American Presidents
William E. Leuchtenburg; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

The Republican efficiency expert whose economic boosterism met its match in the Great Depression

Catapulted into national politics by his heroic campaigns to feed Europe during and after...

Abraham Lincoln

The American Presidents
George S. McGovern; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

McGovern—a former U.S. senator, presidential candidate, veteran, and historian by training—offers his unique insight into our sixteenth president.

John Tyler

The American Presidents
Gary May; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

The first "accidental president," whose secret maneuverings brought Texas into the Union and set secession in motion

When William Henry Harrison died in April 1841, just one month after...

The Founding Fathers

The American Presidents
Edited by Arthur M. Schlesinger; Read by Richard Rohan
Macmillan Audio

This elegant boxed-set includes biographies of America's first four chief executives in volumes compact enough for the busy listener.

Harry S. Truman

The American Presidents
Robert Dallek; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

Bestselling biographer Dallek chronicles how a plainspoken man from Missouri rose to become one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century.

Zachary Taylor

The American Presidents
John S. D. Eisenhower; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

The rough-hewn general who rose to the nation's highest office, and whose presidency witnessed the first political skirmishes that would lead to the Civil War

Zachary Taylor was a soldier's...

George H. W. Bush

The American Presidents
Timothy Naftali; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., and Sean Wilentz, General Editors
Henry Holt and Co.

The judicious statesman who won victories abroad but suffered defeat at home, whose wisdom and demeanor served America well at a critical time

Richard M. Nixon

The American Presidents
Elizabeth Drew; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

The complex man at the center of America's most self-destructive presidency

In this provocative and revelatory assessment of the only president ever forced out of office, the legendary...

Gerald R. Ford

The American Presidents
Douglas Brinkley; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

The "accidental" president whose innate decency and steady hand restored the presidency after its greatest crisis

When Gerald R. Ford entered the White House in August 1974,...

Calvin Coolidge

The American Presidents
David Greenberg; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

The austere president who presided over the Roaring Twenties and whose conservatism masked an innovative approach to national leadership

He was known as "Silent Cal." Buttoned up and...

James A. Garfield

The American Presidents
Ira Rutkow; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

The ambitious self-made man who reached the pinnacle of American politics—only to be felled by an assassin's bullet and to die at the hands of his doctors

James A. Garfield...

Andrew Jackson

The American Presidents
Sean Wilentz; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

The towering figure who remade American politics—the champion of the ordinary citizen and the scourge of entrenched privilege

"It is rare that historians manage both Wilentz's deep...

James Monroe

The American Presidents
Gary Hart; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

The former senator and presidential candidate offers a provocative new assessment of the first "national security president"

James Monroe is remembered today primarily for...

Benjamin Harrison

The American Presidents
Charles W. Calhoun; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

The scion of a political dynasty ushers in the era of big government

Politics was in Benjamin Harrison's blood. His great-grandfather signed the Declaration and his grandfather, William...

Martin Van Buren

The American Presidents
Ted Widmer; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

The first president born after America's independence ushers in a new era of no-holds-barred democracy

The first "professional politician" to become president, the slick and...

Ulysses S. Grant

The American Presidents
Josiah Bunting III; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

The underappreciated presidency of the military man who won the Civil War and then had to win the peace as well

As a general, Ulysses S. Grant is routinely described in glowing terms-the...

Chester Alan Arthur

The American Presidents
Zachary Karabell; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

The Gilded Age bon vivant who became America's unlikeliest chief executive-and who presided over a sweeping reform of the system that nurtured him

Chester Alan Arthur never dreamed that...

James Buchanan

The American Presidents
Jean H. Baker; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

A provocative reconsideration of a presidency on the brink of Civil War

Almost no president was as well trained and well prepared for the office as James Buchanan. He had served in the...

Warren G. Harding

The American Presidents
John W. Dean; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

President Nixon's former counsel illuminates another presidency marked by scandal

Warren G. Harding may be best known as America's worst president. Scandals plagued him: the Teapot Dome...

George Washington

The American Presidents
James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

A premier leadership scholar and an eighteenth-century expert define the special contributions and qualifications of our first president

Revolutionary hero, founding president, and...

James K. Polk

The American Presidents
John Seigenthaler; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

The story of a pivotal president who watched over our westward expansion and solidified the dream of Jacksonian democracy

James K. Polk was a shrewd and decisive commander in chief,...

Franklin Delano Roosevelt

The American Presidents
Roy Jenkins; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

A masterly work by the New York Times bestselling author of Churchill and Gladstone

A protean figure and a man of massive achievement, Franklin Delano Roosevelt...

William McKinley

The American Presidents
Kevin Phillips; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

A bestselling historian and political commentator reconsiders McKinley's overshadowed legacy

By any serious measurement, bestselling historian Kevin Phillips argues, William McKinley...

John Adams

The American Presidents
John Patrick Diggins; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

A revealing look at the true beginning of American politics

Until recently rescued by David McCullough, John Adams has always been overshadowed by Washington and Jefferson. Volatile,...

Woodrow Wilson

The American Presidents
H. W. Brands; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

A comprehensive account of the rise and fall of one of the major shapers of American foreign policy

On the eve of his inauguration as President, Woodrow Wilson commented, "It would be...

Thomas Jefferson

The American Presidents
Joyce Appleby; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

An illuminating analysis of the man whose name is synonymous with American democracy

Few presidents have embodied the American spirit as fully as Thomas Jefferson. He...

Dwight D. Eisenhower

The American Presidents
Tom Wicker; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

An American icon and hero faces a nation-and a world-in transition

A bona-fide American hero at the close of World War II, General Dwight Eisenhower rode an enormous wave of popularity into...

Rutherford B. Hayes

The American Presidents
Hans Trefousse; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

A leader of the Reconstruction era, whose contested election eerily parallels the election debacle of 2000

The disputed election of 1876 between Rutherford B. Hayes and Samuel Tilden,...

Grover Cleveland

The American Presidents
Henry F. Graff; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

A fresh look at the only president to serve nonconsecutive terms.

Though often overlooked, Grover Cleveland was a significant figure in American presidential history. Having run for...

John Quincy Adams

The American Presidents
Robert V. Remini; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

A vivid portrait of a man whose pre- and post-presidential careers overshadowed his presidency.

Chosen president by the House of Representatives after an inconclusive election against...

James Madison

The American Presidents
Garry Wills; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

A bestselling historian examines the life of a Founding Father.

Renowned historian and social commentator Garry Wills takes a fresh look at the life of James Madison, from his rise to...

Theodore Roosevelt

The American Presidents
Louis Auchincloss; Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., General Editor
Henry Holt and Co.

An intimate portrait of the first president of the 20th century.