• The Best Jimmy Carter Books - Stayin Alive: The 1970s and the Last Days of the Working Class by Jefferson Cowie
  • The Best Jimmy Carter Books - Panic at the Pump: The Energy Crisis and the Transformation of American Politics in the 1970s by Meg Jacobs
  • The Best Jimmy Carter Books - Keeping Faith: Memoirs of a President by Jimmy Carter
  • The Best Jimmy Carter Books - His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life by Jonathan Alter
  • The Best Jimmy Carter Books - Thirteen Days in September: The Dramatic Story of the Struggle for Peace by Lawrence Wright

The Best Jimmy Carter Books, recommended by Robert Lieberman

For good books to understand Jimmy Carter and his presidency, it’s important to understand the context in which he was elected and served as president, argues political scientist Robert Lieberman. Here, he recommends five books on Jimmy Carter, winner of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize: “Carter was who he seemed to be, which is not something you often say about successful politicians.”

  • The best books on JFK - JFK: Coming of Age in the American Century, 1917-1956 by Fredrik Logevall
  • The best books on JFK - Prelude to Leadership: The Postwar Diary of John F. Kennedy by John F Kennedy
  • The best books on JFK - Profiles in Courage by John F Kennedy
  • The best books on JFK - Counselor: A Life at the Edge of History by Ted Sorensen
  • The best books on JFK - The Best and the Brightest by David Halberstam

The best books on JFK, recommended by Fredrik Logevall

Of the thousands of books written about JFK, America’s iconic 35th president, which ones should you read first? Fredrik Logevall, professor of history and international affairs at Harvard University, talks us through five key books, starting with the first volume of his biography, tracking JFK’s coming of age in the years that also saw America transforming from economic powerhouse to global superpower.

  • The best books on Thomas Jefferson - Jefferson and the Virginians: Democracy, Constitutions, and Empire by Peter Onuf
  • The best books on Thomas Jefferson - Jefferson and Hamilton: The Rivalry that Forged a Nation by John Ferling
  • The best books on Thomas Jefferson - Jefferson: Architect of American Liberty by John B. Boles
  • The best books on Thomas Jefferson - Madison and Jefferson by Andrew Burstein & Nancy Isenberg
  • The best books on Thomas Jefferson - "Those Who Labor for My Happiness": Slavery at Thomas Jefferson’s Monticello by Lucia Stanton

The best books on Thomas Jefferson, recommended by Andrew Burstein

Thomas Jefferson is famous for having written the Declaration of Independence, with its ringing claim that “all men are created equal”.Ā  In modern times he has been castigated for hypocrisy, given his ownership of slaves and his failure to campaign for abolition. Here, historian Andrew Burstein discusses Jefferson’s wider political career and whether it is fair to judge his attitude to slavery by contemporary standards.

  • The best books on Benjamin Franklin - The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin by Gordon S. Wood
  • The best books on Benjamin Franklin - Benjamin Franklin: The Shaping of Genius: the Boston Years by Arthur Bernon Tourtellot
  • The best books on Benjamin Franklin - The Puritans: A Transatlantic History by David D. Hall
  • The best books on Benjamin Franklin - The Enlightenment in America by Henry May
  • The best books on Benjamin Franklin - William Penn’s Legacy: Politics and Social Structure in Provincial Pennsylvania 1726-1755 by Alan Tully

The best books on Benjamin Franklin, recommended by D.G. Hart

The Founding Fathers of the United States were a remarkable bunch of people, but Benjamin Franklin might have been the most remarkable of them all. Coming from humble stock, he became a businessman, scientist, diplomat and politician—a giant of the Enlightenment. Historian D.G. Hart sheds some light on his character and background and puts him in his broader social and political context.

  • The best books on Abraham Lincoln - Lincoln on the Verge: Thirteen Days to Washington by Ted Widmer
  • The best books on Abraham Lincoln - Lincoln's Sword: The Presidency and the Power of Words by Douglas L Wilson
  • The best books on Abraham Lincoln - Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words that Remade America by Garry Wills
  • The best books on Abraham Lincoln - Emancipating Lincoln: The Proclamation in Text, Context, and Memory by Harold Holzer
  • The best books on Abraham Lincoln - They Knew Lincoln by John E Washington

The best books on Abraham Lincoln, recommended by Ted Widmer

He came from humble beginnings and never went to high school. Going into the presidency, he had limited political experience and lacked business, legislative and military achievements. The one thing he did not lack was a moral compass, says historian and author Ted Widmer. He picks the best books on the ups and downs and Shakespearean-style plot twists that were the life of Abraham Lincoln, the 16th president of the United States.

  • The best books on Joe Biden - What It Takes by Richard Ben Cramer
  • The best books on Joe Biden - Matters of Principle by Mark Gitenstein
  • The best books on Joe Biden - Where the Light Enters by Jill Biden
  • The best books on Joe Biden - Promise Me, Dad by Joe Biden
  • The best books on Joe Biden - The Cure at Troy by Seamus Heaney

The best books on Joe Biden, recommended by Ronald A. Klain

On January 20th, 2021, Joe Biden became the 46th President of the United States. Here Ronald A. Klain, the veteran lawyer who is once again serving as Biden’s chief of staff, recommends books that show the man behind the public persona including his love of Irish poetry, the string of terrible personal tragedies that have affected his life and career, and his leading role in blocking a Supreme Court appointment that would’ve decimated abortion rights.

  • The best books on The US Cabinet - The Process of Government under Jefferson by Noble Cunningham
  • The best books on The US Cabinet - The Politics of the US Cabinet by Jeffrey E. Cohen
  • The best books on The US Cabinet - Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin
  • The best books on The US Cabinet - Theodore Rex by Edmund Morris
  • The best books on The US Cabinet - The Man Who Ran Washington by Peter Baker & Susan Glasser

The best books on The US Cabinet, recommended by Lindsay Chervinsky

In contrast to many other countries, the secretaries who serve in the United States cabinet aren’t chosen from among the country’s elected officials but entirely reflect the president’s personal choices. Here, presidential historian Lindsay Chervinsky, author of The Cabinet: George Washington and the Creation of an American Institution, talks us through the role of the cabinet and recommends which books to read to understand more about it.