The Essential Presidential Book Shelf

A selective Readers' and Collectors'Guide

By Tom Trescott and Dan Weinberg

Abraham Lincoln Book Shop, Inc.
357 West Chicago Ave.
Chicago, IL 60610

We are proud to present the third edition (updated August 2001) of our check-list/guide to be used in assembling a basic collection of biographies of the Presidents of the United States. This newly updated bibliography represents just a sampling of the works available; we have not attempted to place before you all the essential titles on this vast subject, but instead have focused on the best full life studies.

WE SUGGEST YOU USE THIS AS A CHECKLIST AND
ADVISE US WHICH BOOKS YOU SEEK.

1. GEORGE WASHINGTON (Federalist, 1789-1797)
Flexner, James Thomas. GEORGE WASHINGTON. Boston: Little, Brown & Co., 1965-1972. 4 vols., fts., illus., illus. eps., maps, map eps.

THE FORGE OF EXPERIENCE (1732-1775). 1965.
IN THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION (1775-1783). 1968.
AND THE NEW NATION (1783-1793). 1970.
ANGUISH AND FAREWELL (1793-1799). 1972.

Freeman, Douglas Southall. GEORGE WASHINGTON: A BIOGRAPHY. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1948-1957. 7 vols., fts., illus., maps, map eps.

Volumes One & Two. YOUNG WASHINGTON. 1948
Volumes Three & Four. PLANTER AND PATRIOT; LEADER OF THE REVOLUTION. 1951.
Volume Five. VICTORY WITH THE HELP OF FRANCE. 1952.
Volume Six. PATRIOT AND PRESIDENT. 1954.
Volume Seven. FIRST IN PEACE. By John Alexander Carroll and Mary Wells Ashworth. 1957.

Freeman, Douglas Southall. WASHINGTON: AN ABRIDGEMENT IN ONE VOLUME BY RICHARD HARWELL OF THE SEVEN VOLUME GEORGE WASHINGTON. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1968. 780p., ft., illus., illus. eps., maps.

Randall, Willard Sterne. GEORGE WASHINGTON: A LIFE. New York: Henry Holt, 1997. 548p., maps.

2. JOHN ADAMS (Federalist, 1797-1801)
Ferling, John. JOHN ADAMS: A LIFE. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1992. 535p., illus.

McCullough, David. JOHN ADAMS. New York: 2001. 751p., illus., illus. eps.

Smith, Page. JOHN ADAMS. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1962. 2 vols., 1170p., illus.

3. THOMAS JEFFERSON (Democratic-Republican, 1801-1809)
Cunningham, Noble E., Jr. IN PURSUIT OF REASON: THE LIFE OF THOMAS JEFFERSON. Baton Rouge and London: Louisiana State University Press, 1987. 414p., illus.

Malone, Dumas. JEFFERSON AND HIS TIME. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1948-1981. 6 vols., fts., illus., maps.

Volume One. JEFFERSON THE VIRGINIAN. 1948.
Volume Two. JEFFERSON AND THE RIGHTS OF MAN. 1951.
Volume Three. JEFFERSON AND THE ORDEAL OF LIBERTY. 1962.
Volume Four. JEFFERSON THE PRESIDENT: FIRST TERM, 1801-1805. 1970.
Volume Five. JEFFERSON THE PRESIDENT: SECOND TERM, 1805-1809. 1974.
Volume Six. THE SAGE OF MONTICELLO. 1981.

Peterson, Merrill D. THOMAS JEFFERSON AND THE NEW NATION: A BIOGRAPHY. New York: Oxford University Press, 1970. 1072p., ft., illus.

4. JAMES MADISON (Democratic-Republican, 1809-1809)
Brant, Irving. JAMES MADISON. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1941-1961. 6 vols., fts., illus.

Volume One. THE VIRGINIA REVOLUTIONIST. 1941.
Volume Two. THE NATIONALIST, 1780-1787. 1948.
Volume Three. FATHER OF THE CONSTITUTION, 1787-1800. 1950.
Volume Four. SECRETARY OF STATE, 1800-1809. 1953.
Volume Five. PRESIDENT, 1809-1812. 1956.
Volume Six. COMMANDER IN CHIEF, 1812-1836. 1961.

Brant, Irving. THE FOURTH PRESIDENT: A LIFE OF JAMES MADISON. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1970. 681p.

Ketcham, Ralph Louis. JAMES MADISON: A BIOGRAPHY. New York: Macmillan, 1971. 753p., illus.

Ruland, Robert A. JAMES MADISON: THE FOUNDING FATHER. New York: Macmillan, 1987. 287p., illus.

5. JAMES MONROE (Democratic-Republican, 1817-1825)
Ammon, Harry. JAMES MONROE. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1971. 706p., ft.

Cresson, William P. JAMES MONROE. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1946. 577p., ft., illus.

Styron, Arthur. THE LAST OF THE COCKED HATS: JAMES MONROE & THE VIRGINIA DYNASTY. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1945. 480p., ft., illus.

6. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS (Democratic-Republican, 1825-1829)
Bemis, Samuel F. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS AND THE FOUNDATIONS OF AMERICAN FOREIGN POLICY; JOHN QUINCY ADAMS AND THE UNION. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1949-56. 2 vols. (588p.; 546p.), ft., plates, maps, fold. maps.

Hecht, Marie B. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS: A PERSONAL HISTORY OF AN INDEPENDENT MAN. New York: Macmillan, 1972. 682p., illus.

Parsons, Lynn Hudson. JOHN QUINCY ADAMS. Madison: Madison House, 1998. 284p., illus., map

7. ANDREW JACKSON (Democrat, 1829-1837)
James, Marquis. ANDREW JACKSON: BORDER CAPTAIN; PORTRAIT OF A PRESIDENT. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1933-1937. 2 vols. (461p.; 627p.), fts., plates, maps, map eps.

Parton, James. THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. New York: Mason Brothers, 1859-60. 3 vols. (636p.; 672p.; 734p.), fts., fold. facsim.

Remini, Robert V. ANDREW JACKSON…. New York: Harper & Row, 1977-1984. 3 vols., illus., maps.

…AND THE COURSE OF AMERICAN EMPIRE, 1767-1821. 1977.
… AND THE COURSE OF AMERICAN FREEDOM, 1822-1832. 1981.
… AND THE COURSE OF AMERICAN DEMOCRACY, 1833-1845. 1984.

Remini, Robert V. THE LIFE OF ANDREW JACKSON. New York: Harper & Row, 1988. 412p., illus., maps.

8. MARTIN VAN BUREN (Democrat, 1837-1841)
Alexander, Holmes. AMERICAN TALLEYRAND: THE CAREER OF MARTIN VAN BUREN. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1935. 430p., illus.

Lynch, Denis Tilden. AN EPOCH AND A MAN: MARTIN VAN BUREN AND HIS TIMES. New York: Horace Liveright, 1929. 566p., ft., plates.

Niven, John. MARTIN VAN BUREN AND THE ROMANTIC AGE OF AMERICAN POLITICS. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1983. 736p., illus.

9. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON (Whig, 1841)
Cleaves, Freeman. OLD TIPPECANOE: WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON AND HIS TIME. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1939. 422p., ft., illus., maps.

Goebel, Dorothy B. WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON: A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. Indianapolis: Indiana Library & Historical Dept., 1926. 456p., ft., plates.

10. JOHN TYLER (Whig, 1841-1845)
Chitwood, Oliver Perry. JOHN TYLER: CHAMPION OF THE OLD SOUTH. New York: Appleton-Century, 1939. 496p., ft

Seager, Robert, II. AND TYLER TOO: A BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN & JULIA TYLER. New York: McGraw Hill, 1963. 681p.

11. JAMES K. POLK (Democrat, 1845-1849)
McCormac, Eugene Irving. JAMES K. POLK: A POLITICAL BIOGRAPHY. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1922. 746p.

Sellers, Charles Grier, Jr. JAMES K. POLK: JACKSONIAN; CONTINENTALIST. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1957-1966. 2 vols. (526p.; 513p.), illus., maps.

12. ZACHARY TAYLOR (Whig, 1849-1850)
Bauer, K. Jack. ZACHARY TAYLOR: SOLDIER, PLANTER, STATESMAN OF THE OLD SOUTHWEST. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1985. 348p., illus., maps.

Dyer, Brainerd. ZACHARY TAYLOR. Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1946. 455p., ft., illus., maps.

Hamilton, Holman. ZACHARY TAYLOR: SOLDIER OF THE REPUBLIC; SOLDIER IN THE WHITE HOUSE. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1941-1951. 2 vols. (335p.; 496p.), fts., illus.

13. MILLARD FILLMORE (Whig, 1850-1853)
Rayback, Robert J. MILLARD FILLMORE: BIOGRAPHY OF A PRESIDENT. Buffalo: Buffalo Historical Society Publications, 1959. 470p., illus.

14. FRANKLIN PIERCE (Democrat, 1853-1857)

Nichols, Roy Franklin. FRANKLIN PIERCE: YOUNG HICKORY OF THE GRANITE HILLS. Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania Press, 1931. 615p., ft., plates. (Revised edition --- 1958, 625p.)

15. JAMES BUCHANAN (Democrat, 1857-1861)
Klein, Philip S. PRESIDENT JAMES BUCHANAN: A BIOGRAPHY. University Park, PA: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 506p., illus.

16. ABRAHAM LINCOLN (Republican, 1861-1865)

For our Extensive Lincoln Bibliography, visit the Essential Lincoln Bookshelf

Donald, David Herbert. LINCOLN. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1995. 714p., illus.

Neely, Mark E., Jr. THE LAST BEST HOPE OF EARTH: ABRAHAM LINCOLN AND THE PROMISE OF AMERICA. Cambridge and London: Harvard University Press, 1993. 214p., illus.

Oates, Stephen B. WITH MALICE TOWARD NONE: THE LIFE OF ABRAHAM LINCOLN. New York: Harper & Row, 1977. 492p., illus.

Sandburg, Carl. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: THE PRARIE YEARS; THE WAR YEARS. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Company, 1926-1939. 6 vols. (PRARIE 2 vols.; WAR 4 vols.), fts., illus., maps.

Thomas, Benjamin P. ABRAHAM LINCOLN: A BIOGRAPHY. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1952. 548p., ft., illus., maps.

JEFFERSON DAVIS (President of the Confederate States of America, 1861-1865)
Cooper, William J., Jr. JEFFERSON DAVIS, AMERICAN. New York: Knopf, 2000. 757p., illus., maps.

Davis, William C. JEFFERSON DAVIS: THE MAN AND HIS HOUR. New York: HarperCollins, 1991. 784p., ft., illus.

Strode, Hudson. JEFFERSON DAVIS. New York: Harcourt, Brace & World, 1955-1966. 4 vols., fts., map eps.

AMERICAN PATRIOT, 1808-1861. 1955.
CONFEDERATE PRESIDENT. 1959.
TRAGIC HERO, THE LAST TWENTY-FIVE YEARS, 1864-1889. 1964.
PRIVATE LETTERS, 1823-1889. 1966.

17. ANDREW JOHNSON (Democrat-Union, 1865-1869)
Stryker, Lloyd Paul. ANDREW JOHNSON: A STUDY IN COURAGE. New York: Macmillan, 1929. 881p., ft., plates.

Trefousse, Hans L. ANDREW JOHNSON: A BIOGRAPHY. New York and London: W.W. Norton, 1989. 463p., illus.

18. ULYSSES S. GRANT (Republican, 1869-1877)
Lewis, Lloyd. CAPTAIN SAM GRANT. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1950. 512p., ft. Catton, Bruce. GRANT MOVES SOUTH; GRANT TAKES COMMAND. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1960-1969. 564p; 556p., fts., maps.

McFeely, William S. GRANT: A BIOGRAPHY. New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1981. 592p., ft., illus.

Perret, Geoffrey. ULYSSES S. GRANT: SOLDIER AND PRESIDENT. New York: Random House, 1997. 542p., illus., maps.

Simpson, Brooks D. ULYSSES S. GRANT: TRIUMPH OVER ADVERSITY, 1822-1865. Boston and New York: Houghton Mifflin, 2000. 533p., ft., illus., maps.

Smith, Jean Edward. GRANT. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2001. 781p., illus., maps.

19. RUTHERFORD B. HAYES (Republican, 1877-1881)
Barnard, Harry. RUTHERFORD B. HAYES AND HIS AMERICA. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merill, 1954. 606p., ft., illus.

Hoogenboom, Ari. RUTHERFORD B. HAYES: WARRIOR AND PRESIDENT. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1995. 626p., illus.

20. JAMES A. GARFIELD (Republican, 1881)
Peskin, Allan. JAMES ABRAM GARFIELD. Kent, OH: Kent State University Press, 1978. 716p., ft.

Taylor, John M. GARFIELD OF OHIO: THE AVAILABLE MAN. New York: W. W. Norton, 1970. 336p., ft., illus.

21. CHESTER A. ARTHUR (Republican, 1881-1885)
Reeves, Thomas C. GENTLEMAN BOSS: THE LIFE OF CHESTER ALAN ARTHUR. New York: Knopf, 1975. 500p., ft., illus.

22. GROVER CLEVELAND (Democrat, 1885-1889)
Brodsky, Alyn. GROVER CLEVELAND: A STUDY IN CHARACTER. New York: St. Martin's Press, 2000. 436p., illus.

Nevins, Allan. GROVER CLEVELAND: A STUDY IN COURAGE. New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1932. 832p., ft., plates.

23. BENJAMIN HARRISON (Republican, 1889-1893)
Sievers, Harry J. BENJAMIN HARRISON. 1952-1968. 3 vols., ft., illus., maps.

HOOSIER WARRIOR, 1833-1865. Chicago: Henry Regnery Co., 1952.
HOOSIER STATESMAN, FROM THE CIVIL WAR TO THE WHITE HOUSE, 1865-1888. New York: University Publishers, 1959.
HOOSIER PRESIDENT, THE WHITE HOUSE AND AFTER. Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1968.

24. GROVER CLEVELAND (Democrat, 1893-1897)

See list for twenty-second president.

25. WILLIAM McKINLEY (Republican, 1897-1901)
Leech, Margaret. IN THE DAYS OF McKINLEY. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1959. 686p., illus.

Morgan, H. Wayne. WILLIAM McKINLEY AND HIS AMERICA. Syracuse: Syracuse University Press, 1963. 595p., ft., illus.

26. THEODORE ROOSEVELT (Republican, 1901-1909)
Brands, H.W. TR: THE LAST ROMANTIC. New York: BasicBooks, 1997. 897p., illus.

Harbaugh, William H. POWER AND RESPONSIBILITY: THE LIFE AND TIMES OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT. New York: Farrar, Straus & Cudahy, 1961. 568p.

Miller, Nathan. THEODORE ROOSEVELT: A LIFE. New York: William Morrow and Company, 1992. 624p., illus.

Morris, Edmund. THE RISE OF THEODORE ROOSEVELT. New York: Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, 1979. 886p., illus., maps. THEODORE REX. New York: Random House, 2001. 772p., illus., map.

Pringle, Henry F. THEODORE ROOSEVELT: A BIOGRAPHY. New York: Harcourt, Brace & Co., 1931. 627p., ft., illus.

27. WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT (Republican, 1909-1913)
Duffy, Herbert S. WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT: A BIOGRAPHY. New York: Minton, Balch & Co., 1930. 345p., ft., plates.

Pringle, Henry F. THE LIFE AND TIMES OF WILLIAM HOWARD TAFT. New York: Farrar and Rinehart, 1939. 2 vols., 1106p., fts., illus.

28. WOODROW WILSON (Democrat, 1913-1921)
Baker, Ray Stannard. WOODROW WILSON: LIFE & LETTERS. New York: Doubleday, 1927-1939. 8 vols., fts., plates, facsims.

Volume One. YOUTH, 1856-1890. 1927.
Volume Two. PRINCETON, 1890-1910. 1927.
Volume Three. GOVERNOR, 1910-1913. 1931.
Volume Four. PRESIDENT, 1913-1914. 1931.
Volume Five. NEUTRALITY, 1914-1915. 1935.
Volume Six. FACING WAR, 1915-1917. 1937.
Volume Seven. WAR LEADER, APRIL 6,1917 - FEBRUARY 28,1918. 1939.
Volume Eight. ARMISTICE, MARCH - NOVEMBER 11, 1918. 1939.

Heckscher, August. WOODROW WILSON. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1991. 743p., illus.

Link, Arthur S. WILSON. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1947-1965. 5 vols., illus., plates.

THE ROAD TO THE WHITE HOUSE. 1947.
THE NEW FREEDOM. 1956.
THE STRUGGLE FOR NEUTRALITY, 1914-1915. 1960.
CONFUSIONS AND CRISES, 1915-1916. 1964.
CAMPAIGNS FOR PROGRESSIVISM AND PEACE, 1916-1917. 1965.

Walworth, Arthur. WOODROW WILSON: I AMERICAN PROPHET; II WORLD PROPHET. New York: Longmans, Green and Company, 1958. Revised edition, New York: W. W. Norton, 1978. 2 vols. (454p.; 438p.), fts.

29. WARREN G. HARDING (Republican, 1921-1923)
Russell, Francis. THE SHADOW OF BLOOMING GROVE: WARREN G. HARDING IN HIS TIMES. New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968. 691p.

30. CALVIN COOLIDGE (Republican, 1923-1929)
McCoy, Donald R. CALVIN COOLIDGE: THE QUIET PRESIDENT. New York: Macmillan, 1967. 472p., illus.

White, William Allen. PURITAN IN BABYLON: THE STORY OF CALVIN COOLIDGE. New York: Macmillan, 1938. 460p., ft., illus.

31. HERBERT HOOVER (Republican, 1929-1933)
Burner, David. HERBERT HOOVER: A PUBLIC LIFE. New York: Knopf, 1979. 433p., illus.

Lyons, Eugene. HERBERT HOOVER: A BIOGRAPHY. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1964. 444p., illus. eps.

Nash, George H. THE LIFE OF HERBERT HOOVER. New York and London: W.W. Norton, 1983-96. 3 vols., illus.

THE ENGINEER, 1874-1914. 1983.
THE HUMANITARIAN, 1914-1917. 1988.
MASTER OF EMERGENCIES, 1917-1918. 1996.

32. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT (Democrat, 1933-1945)
Burns, James MacGregor. ROOSEVELT: THE LION AND THE FOX; THE SOLDIER OF FREEDOM. New York: Harcourt, Brace, Jovanovich, 1956-1970. 2 vols. (553p.; 722p.), illus.

Davis, Kenneth S. FDR: A HISTORY. New York: Random House, 1972-2000. 5 vols.

THE BECKONING OF DESTINY, 1882-1928. 1972.
THE NEW YORK YEARS, 1928-1933. 1985.
THE NEW DEAL YEARS, 1933-1937. 1986.
INTO THE STORM, 1937-1940. 1993.
THE WAR PRESIDENT, 1940-1943. 2000.

Freidel, Frank. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1952-1973. 4 vols., illus.

THE APPRENTICESHIP. 1952.
THE ORDEAL. 1954.
THE TRIUMPH. 1956.
LAUNCHING THE NEW DEAL. 1973.

Freidel, Frank. FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT: A RENDEZVOUS WITH DESTINY. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1990. 710p., illus.

33. HARRY S. TRUMAN (Democrat, 1945-1953)
Ferrell, Robert H. HARRY S. TRUMAN: A LIFE. Columbia, MO: University of Missouri Press, 1994. 501p., illus.

Hamby, Alonzo L. A MAN OF THE PEOPLE: A LIFE OF HARRY S. TRUMAN. New York and Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1995. 760p., illus.

McCullough, David. TRUMAN. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1992. 1117p., illus.

34. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER (Republican, 1953-1961)
Ambrose, Stephen E. EISENHOWER: SOLDIER, GENERAL OF THE ARMY, PRESIDENT-ELECT; THE PRESIDENT & ELDER STATESMAN. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1983-84. 2 vols. (640p.; 752p.), illus., map eps.

Lee, R. Alton. DWIGHT D. EISENHOWER: SOLDIER AND STATESMAN. Chicago: Nelson-Hall, 1981. 379p., illus.

Lyon, Peter. EISENHOWER: PORTRAIT OF THE HERO. Boston: Little, Brown and Company, 1974. 991p., illus.

35. JOHN F. KENNEDY (Democrat, 1961-1963)

Hamilton, Nigel. JFK: RECKLESS YOUTH. New York: Random House, 1992. 898p., illus.

Parmet, Herbert S. JACK: THE STRUGGLES OF JOHN F. KENNEDY; JFK: THE PRESIDENCY OF JOHN F. KENNEDY. New York: Dial Press, 1980-1983. 2 vols. (586p.; 407p.), illus.

Reeves, Thomas C. A QUESTION OF CHARACTER: A LIFE OF JOHN F. KENNEDY. New York: The Free Press, 1991. 510p., illus.

36. LYNDON B. JOHNSON (Democrat, 1963-1969)

Caro, Robert A. THE YEARS OF LYNDON JOHNSON: THE PATH TO POWER; MEANS OF ASCENT. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1982-1990. 2 vols. (882p.; 506p.), illus.

Dallek, Robert. LONE STAR RISING: LYNDON JOHNSON AND HIS TIMES, 1908-1960; FLAWED GIANT: LYNDON JOHNSON AND HIS TIMES, 1861-1973. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991-98. 2 vols. (721p.; 754p.), illus.

Kearns, Doris. LYNDON JOHNSON AND THE AMERICAN DREAM. New York: Harper & Row, 1976. 432p.

37. RICHARD M. NIXON (Republican, 1969-1974)
Ambrose, Stephen E. NIXON. New York: Simon & Schuster, 1987-91. 3 volumes, illus.

THE EDUCATION OF A POLITICAN, 1913-1962. 1987.
THE TRIUMPH OF A POLITICAN, 1962-1972. 1989.
RUIN AND RECOVERY, 1973-1990. 1991.

Morris, Roger. RICHARD MILHOUS NIXON: THE RISE OF AN AMERICAN POLITICIAN. New York: Henry Holt, 1990. 1005p., illus.

38. GERALD R. FORD (Republican, 1974-1977)
We are still in waiting for the definitive biography, or even a recommendable one.

39. JIMMY CARTER (Democrat, 1977-1981)
We are still in waiting for the definitive biography, or even a recommendable one.

40. RONALD REAGAN (Republican, 1981-1989)
Morris, Edmund. DUTCH: A MEMOIR OF RONALD REAGAN. New York: Random House, 1999. 874p., illus.

Pemberton, William E. EXIT WITH HONOR: THE LIFE AND PRESIDENCY OF RONALD REAGAN. Armonk, NY: 1998. 295p., illus.

41. GEORGE BUSH (Republican, 1989-1993)
We are still in waiting for the definitive biography, or even a recommendable one.

42. BILL CLINTON (Democrat, 1993-2001)
We are still in waiting for the definitive biography, or even a recommendable one.

43. GEORGE W. BUSH (Republican, 2001-?)
We need to get more removed from his presidency before we have a title to put on this list.