
Happy President's Day! What better day to jump into the amazing world of presidential biographies. Our list of the best of the best for all 44 presidents -- culled entirely from reader suggestions is below. We initially compiled the list below in 2012. See a book released since then that merits inclusion on the list? Just email me at chris.cillizza@washpost.com and I will add it!
* George Washington: Washington: A Life, by Ron Chernow; His Excellency: George Washington, by Joseph J. Ellis.
* John Adams: John Adams, by David McCullough; Passionate Sage: The Character and Legacy of John Adams, by Joseph J. Ellis.
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* James Madison: James Madison: A Biography, by Ralph Ketchem.
* James Monroe: The Last Founding Father: James Monroe and a Nation's Call to Greatness, by Harlow Giles Unger.
* John Quincy Adams: John Quincy Adams (The American Presidents Series), by Robert V. Remini.
* Andrew Jackson: American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House, by Jon Meacham; The Life of Andrew Jackson, by Robert V. Remini.
* Martin Van Buren: Martin Van Buren (The American Presidents Series), by Ted Widmer; Martin Van Buren : The Romantic Age of American Politics, by John Niven.
* William Henry Harrison: William Henry Harrison (The American Presidents Series) by Gail Collins; Old Tippecanoe: William Henry Harrison and His Times, by Freeman Cleaves.
* John Tyler: John Tyler (The American Presidents Series), by Gary May; John Tyler: Champion of the Old South, by Oliver P. Chitwood.
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* James K. Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America, by Walter R. Borneman.
* Zachary Taylor: Zachary Taylor: Soldier, Planter, Statesman of the Old Southwest, by K. Jack Bauer.
* Millard Fillmore: Millard Fillmore: Biography of a President, by Robert J. Rayback
* Franklin Pierce: Franklin Pierce (The American Presidents Series), by Michael Holt.
* James Buchanan: President James Buchanan: A Biography, by Philip S. Klein.
* Andrew Johnson: Andrew Johnson (The American Presidents Series), by Annette Gordon-Reed.
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* Ulysses S. Grant: Grant, by Jean Edward Smith; Grant: A Biography, by William S. McFeeley.
* Rutherford B. Hayes: Rutherford B. Hayes, by Hans Trefousse (The American Presidents Series); Rutherford B. Hayes, and his America, by Harry Barnard.
* James Garfield: Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President, by Candice Millard.
*Chester Arthur: Chester Alan Arthur (The American Presidents Series), by Zachary Karabell; Gentleman Boss: The Life of Chester Alan Arthur, by Thomas C. Reeves.
* Grover Cleveland (the 22nd and 24th president): Grover Cleveland: A Study in Character, by Alyn Brodsky; Grover Cleveland (The American Presidents Series), by Henry F. Graff.
* Benjamin Harrison: Benjamin Harrison (The American Presidents Series), by Charles W. Calhoun; Benjamin Harrison: Hoosier statesman, by Harry Joseph Sievers.
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* William McKinley: Presidency of William McKinley, by Lewis. L. Gould.
* Theodore Roosevelt: Edmund Morris's Theodore Roosevelt Trilogy; Mornings on Horseback: The Story of an Extraordinary Family, a Vanished Way of Life and the Unique Child Who Became Theodore Roosevelt, by David McCullough.
* William Howard Taft: The Life & Times of William Howard Taft, by Harry F. Pringle.
* Woodrow Wilson: Woodrow Wilson: A Biography, by John Milton Cooper Jr.
* Warren G. Harding: The Shadow of Blooming Grove: Warren G. Harding in His Times, by Francis Russell; Warren G. Harding (The American Presidents Series), by John W. Dean.
* Calvin Coolidge: Coolidge, An American Enigma, by Robert Sobel.
* Herbert Hoover: Herbert Hoover (The American Presidents Series), by William E. Leuchtenburg.
*Franklin Roosevelt: Franklin D. Roosevelt: Champion of Freedom, by Conrad Black; No Ordinary Time, by Doris Kearns Goodwin.
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*Harry S. Truman: Truman, by David McCullough; Harry S. Truman (The American Presidents Series), by Robert Dallek.
*Dwight D. Eisenhower: Eisenhower: Soldier and President, by Stephen E. Ambrose; Eisenhower in War and Peace, by Jean Edward Smith.
*John F. Kennedy: A Thousand Days, by Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.; An Unfinished Life, by Robert Dallek.
*Lyndon B. Johnson: Robert Caro's multi-volume set; Robert Dallek's two-volume set.
*Richard Nixon: The three-volume set by Steven Ambrose; Nixonland, by Richard Perlstein.
*Gerald Ford: Gerald R. Ford (The American Presidents Series) by Douglas Brinkley.
*Jimmy Carter: Jimmy Carter, by Julian E. Zelizer (The American Presidents Series).
*Ronald Reagan: President Reagan: The Role of a Lifetime, by Lou Cannon; My Father at 100, by Ron Reagan, Jr.
*George H.W. Bush: George H.W. Bush (The American Presidents Series), by Timothy Naftali; D
*Bill Clinton: First in His Class, by David Maraniss; The Survivor: Bill Clinton in the White House, by John F. Harris.
*George W. Bush: Days of Fire by Peter Baker; Bush by Jean Edward Smith
*Barack Obama: Barack Obama: The Story, by David Maraniss; The Bridge: The Life and Rise of Barack Obama, by David Remnick.
* Donald Trump: Trump Revealed by Michael Kranish and Marc Fisher
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