Presidential biographies: you've lived through the ups and the downs of more than a few presidential administrations, and here's your chance to know even more. We've consulted the experts on presidential biographies from different eras

Bookmarks, May-June, 2008

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Kendrick A. Clements

HISTORIAN

Kendrick A. Clements is the author of Woodrow Wilson: World Statesman (1987), The Presidency of Woodrow Wilson (1992), and Hoover, Conservation, and Consumerism: Engineering the Good Life (2000).

Woodrow Wilson

By August Heckscher (1991)

There is, unfortunately, no single, great one-volume biography of Woodrow Wilson. For the general reader, a good choice is Heckschler's volume, a well-written, comprehensive biography. It is especially good in its portrayal of Wilson's childhood and early career but a little outdated in its presentation of the events of his presidency.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Woodrow Wilson

Profiles in Power

By John A. Thompson (2002)

A brief alternative to Heckschler's volume, Thompson's biography offers original insights into Wilson's national and international policies. But both Heckscher and Thompson make clear why Wilson is usually ranked among the top five American presidents.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Herbert Hoover

A Public Life

By David Burner (1979)

This is a standout among the biographies of Herbert Hoover. Although now out of print, it is widely available in libraries and from used-book dealers. It is a sympathetic but not fawning interpretation of one of our most intelligent but least successful presidents. In writing it, Burner mastered an enormous amount of source material and distilled it into a readable single volume that covers Hoover's early career as a mining engineer, his extraordinary achievements in providing relief to civilians in Europe during and after World War I, his years as secretary of commerce, his long postpresidential career, and his presidency.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Allen C. Guelzo

HISTORIAN

Allen C. Guelzo is the Henry R. Luce Professor of Civil War Era Studies at Gettysburg College and the author of several influential books on Abraham Lincoln, including Abraham Lincoln: Redeemer President (1999) and Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation: The End of Slavery of America (2004), both of which won The Lincoln Prize.

Abraham Lincoln

A Biography

By Benjamin P. Thomas (1952)

Despite the enormous amount of material on Lincoln published in the last 50 years, Thomas's single volume is still the best-balanced overview of Lincoln's life. Thomas is neither a starry-eyed worshipper of Lincoln nor a cheap critic. He depicts the major issues (and mysteries) of Lincoln's life with admirable restraint--and with an eminently readable narrative style.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

Andrew Jackson (3 VOLS.)

By Robert V. Remini

This magnificent three-volume survey of the life of the furious and controversial seventh president is one of the monuments of presidential biography. Remini fully captures Jackson's colorful life, yet his admiration for the man does not temper his hard-edged portrayal of his many flaws. In the end, however, Jackson remains for Remini the principal figure in the democratizing of America.

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

American Sphinx

The Character of Thomas Jefferson

By Joseph J. Ellis (1997)