Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission

A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House

Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. · 1,087 pages

Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power

Robert Dallek · 752 pages

With the publication of his magisterial biography of John F. Kennedy, An Unfinished Life, Robert Dallek cemented his reputation as one of the greatest historians of our time. Now, in this epic joint biography, he offers a provocative, groundbreaking portrait of a pair of outsize leaders whose unlikely partnership dominated the world stage and changed the course of history.More than thirty years af

Truman

David McCullough · 1,120 pages

Jack Kennedy: Elusive Hero

Chris Matthews · 448 pages

Listening In: The Secret White House Recordings of John F. Kennedy

Ted Widmer · 320 pages

A uniquely unscripted, insider account of Kennedy and his cabinet grappling with the day-to-day business of the White House and guiding the nation through a hazardous era of uncertainty. Features extensively annotated transcripts of the recordings and a foreword by Caroline Kennedy.

The Reagan Diaries

Ronald Reagan · 696 pages

One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon

Tim Weiner · 376 pages

Draws on recently declassified documents to chronicle one of the most disastrous presidencies in U.S. history, presenting a portrait of a brilliant man overcome by his deep insecurities and his distrust of his cabinet, Congress, and the American people. Here is the first history of President Richard Nixon covering all of his secret tapes and documents, many declassified in the past two years. Awa

JFK's Last Hundred Days: The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President

Thurston Clarke · 432 pages

JFK's Last Hundred Days reexamines the last months of the President's life to show a man in the midst of great change, finally on the cusp of making good on his extraordinary promise.

The General vs. the President: MacArthur and Truman at the Brink of Nuclear War

H.W. Brands · 480 pages

"From master storyteller and historian H.W. Brands, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, comes the riveting story of how President Harry Truman and General Douglas MacArthur squared off to decide America's future in the aftermath of World War II. At the height of the Korean War, President Harry S. Truman committed a gaffe that sent shock waves around the world. When asked by a reporter about t

The Death of a President: November 1963

William Manchester · 736 pages

An account of the assassination of President Kennedy and the days after culled from "evidence and recollection, scenes and moods, quotations and opinions from an enormous number of observers and participants." Pub W.

Brothers: The Hidden History of the Kennedy Years

David Talbot · 478 pages

Robert F. Kennedy was the first conspiracy theorist about his brother's murder. In this new account of the Kennedy years, David Talbot explains why - even on 22 November 1963 - RFK had reason to believe that dark forces were at work in Dallas.

The Kennedy Detail: JFK's Secret Service Agents Break Their Silence

Gerald Blaine, Lisa McCubbin · 448 pages

Mrs. Kennedy: The Missing History of the Kennedy Years

Barbara Leaming

A Country of Vast Designs: James K. Polk, the Mexican War and the Conquest of the American Continent

Robert W. Merry · 576 pages

In a one-term presidency, Polk completed the story of America's Manifest Destiny -- extending its territory across the continent, from sea to sea, by threatening England and manufacturing a controversial and unpopular two-year war with Mexico that Abraham Lincoln, in Congress at the time, opposed as preemptive. Robert Merry tells this story through powerful debates and towering figures. - Jacket f

Tried by War: Abraham Lincoln as Commander in Chief

James M. McPherson · 340 pages

James McPherson, a bestselling historian of the Civil War, illuminates how Lincoln worked with—and often against— his senior commanders to defeat the Confederacy and create the role of commander in chief as we know it. Though Abraham Lincoln arrived at the White House with no previous military experience (apart from a couple of months spent soldiering in 1832), he quickly established himself as th

The Defining Moment: FDR's Hundred Days and the Triumph of Hope

Jonathan Alter · 432 pages

This is the story of a political miracle--the perfect match of man and moment. FDR took office in 1933 as America touched bottom. Banks were closing, millions of people lost everything--the Great Depression had caused a national breakdown. Journalist Alter brings us closer than ever before to the Roosevelt magic. Facing the gravest crisis since the Civil War, instead of circumventing Congress and

The Bully Pulpit: Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft, and the Golden Age of Journalism

Doris Kearns Goodwin · 910 pages

The gap between rich and poor has never been wider. Legislative stalemate paralyzes the country. Corporations resist federal regulations. Spectacular mergers produce giant companies. The influence of money in politics deepens. Bombs explode in crowded streets. Small wars proliferate far from our shores. A dizzying array of inventions speeds the pace of daily life. These unnervingly familiar headli

James Madison

Garry Wills, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. · 184 pages

"The eternal conundrum about James Madison - a key framer of the U.S. Constitution, a formidable political figure, and a man of penetrating analytical intellect and tremendous foresight - is why, when he became chief executive, did he steer the ship of state with such an unsteady hand? Why was this man, whose pre- and post-presidential careers contributed so significantly to the future course of A

Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America

Walter R. Borneman · 422 pages

In Polk, Walter R. Borneman gives us the first complete and authoritative biography of a president often overshadowed in image but seldom outdone in accomplishment. James K. Polk occupied the White House for only four years, from 1845 to 1849, but he plotted and attained a formidable agenda: He fought for and won tariff reductions, reestablished an independent Treasury, and, most notably, brought

Martin Van Buren

Ted Widmer, Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. · 208 pages

Thirteen Days: A Memoir of the Cuban Missile Crisis

Robert F. Kennedy

Killing Reagan: The Violent Assault That Changed a Presidency

Bill O'Reilly, Martin Dugard · 320 pages

Just two months into his presidency, Ronald Reagan lay near death after a gunman's bullet came within inches of his heart. His recovery was nothing short of remarkable -- or so it seemed. But Reagan was grievously injured, forcing him to encounter a challenge that few men ever face. Could he silently overcome his traumatic experience while at the same time carrying out the duties of the most power

President Nixon: Alone in the White House

Richard Reeves · 702 pages

"Who was Richard Nixon? The most amazing thing about the man was not what he did as president, but that he became president. In President Nixon, Richard Reeves has used thousands of new interviews and recently discovered or declassified documents and tapes - including Nixon's tortured memos to himself and unpublished sections of H. R. Haldeman's diaries - to offer a nuanced and surprising portrait

JFK and the Unspeakable: Why He Died and Why It Matters

James W. Douglass · 514 pages

In this fascinating and disturbing book James Douglass presents a compelling account of why President John F. Kennedy was assassinated and why the unmasking of this truth remains crucial for the future of our country and the world. Drawing on a vast field of investigation, including many sources available only in recent years, Douglass lays out a sequence of steps by JFK that transformed him, o