I have a goal to read a substantive biography of every United States president. (Here’s why.) This is where I’m tracking what I’ve read and when, with links to my reviews as applicable.
Current POTUS status: 19 out of 45
George Washington — His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph Ellis (October 2011)
John Adams — John Adams by David McCullough (January 2009)
Thomas Jefferson — American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson by Joseph Ellis (December 2011)
James Madison — James Madison: A Biography by Ralph Ketchum (August 2013)
James Monroe
John Quincy Adams — John Quincy Adams by Paul Nagel (January 2013)
Andrew Jackson — Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times by H.W. Brands (May 2013)
Martin Van Buren
William Henry Harrison
John Tyler — John Tyler by Gary May (June 2018)
James Polk — A Country of Vast Designs by Robert Merry (March 2015)
Zachary Taylor
Millard Fillmore
Franklin Pierce
James Buchanan — Worst. President. Ever. by Robert Strauss (October 2016)
Abraham Lincoln — Team of Rivals by Doris K. Goodwin (December 2008)
Andrew Johnson
Ulysses Grant
Rutherford Hayes — Rutherford B. Hayes: Warrior and President by Ari Hoogenboom (June 2013)
James Garfield
Chester Arthur — Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester Alan Arthur by Thomas Reeves (December 2016)
Grover Cleveland
Benjamin Harrison
William McKinley — President McKinley: The Art of Stealthy Leadership by Robert Merry (April 2017)
Theodore Roosevelt — The Edmund Morris trilogy of The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, and Colonel Roosevelt (June 2011)
William Taft
Woodrow Wilson — Woodrow Wilson by John Milton Cooper (August 2010)
Warren Harding
Calvin Coolidge — Coolidge by Amity Shlaes (February 2014)
Herbert Hoover — Herbert Hoover in the White House by Charles Rappleye (December 2015)
Franklin Roosevelt
Harry Truman — Truman by David McCullough (September 2018)
Dwight Eisenhower
John Kennedy
Lyndon Johnson
Richard Nixon
Gerald Ford
Jimmy Carter
Ronald Reagan
George Bush — Destiny and Power: The American Odyssey of George Bush by Jon Meacham (March 2016)
Bill Clinton
George W. Bush
Barack Obama
Donald Trump
Joe Biden