100 Books Like Alice

John Quincy Adams is considered the most accomplished presidential son in U.S. history, as well as one of the most important and influential Americans since the nation’s founding. His lackluster one-term presidency and his cold demeanor, however, have left him with a tainted reputation—and yet his years both before and after his presidency are practically unparalleled in their achievements. John Quincy Adams: A Public Life, a Private Life by Paul C. Nagel is definitely the best distillation of Adams’s enormous life into one volume. Nagel covers the entirety of the great man’s public career while also digging into his complex psyche. I walked away from this book shocked and appalled at all I did not know of the younger Adams and his contributions to the creation of the American republic, and left with a voracious hunger to learn even more.

Abraham Lincoln may be the most written about president (and person) in American history, but his children have been relatively relegated to innocuous side characters who all have a few good stories about them. Lincoln’s Sons by Ruth Painter Randall is still the go-to book for anyone interested in the Lincoln boys, as well as their relationships with their parents. In addition to their early years in Springfield and the famous antics of Willie and Tad in the White House, Randall also follows the boys after the death of their father. She explains the sad life of Tad from 1865 until his early death in 1871, and gives a full accounting of Robert’s impressive legacy as lawyer, businessman, public servant, and protector of his father’s legacy—for decades the only book to do so. There have been a few other books ostensibly about the Lincoln boys in the years since Randall’s… show more.

The memoirs of presidential children are often self-serving jeremiads about the difficulty of growing up in their father’s shadow. My Father at 100 is no such book. It is a fascinating, heart-warming, deeply touching (as well as overlooked and misunderstood) portrait of an iconic president through the eyes of one of the people who knew him best. Ron, who grew up in the 60s and is a political liberal who often disagreed with many of his father’s opinions and public policies, in this book avoids politics and instead simply “attempts to come to grips” with the father he grew up with. Part researched history, part memoir, and part travelogue to Reagan-related locations around the country, this is a wonderful book that is just an honest study of a man and a search for the truth of his life and the meaning of that life as only a son could write. 

George W. Bush, even today, 14 years after leaving the presidency, is a controversial president. But as with all presidents, to understand their politics and policies you have to first understand their personality and character. That’s what I like about this book: Bruni seeks to explain and understand who Bush was as a man—a man who, although the son of a president, never seemed destined to lead a nation and the world and yet ultimately faced one of the greatest crises in US history. Bruni, a former New York Times reporter who covered Bush as presidential nominee and president, shows W.’s weaknesses and strengths, his somewhat surprising life journey of serious endeavors for an often less-than-serious man, and ultimately how the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, changed Bush’s entire outlook and demeanor, thrusting him into an unprecedented challenge that elevated the laid-back good-time guy to a serious and dedicated leader.… show more.

Will-Weber extensively researched the drinking habits of every U.S. president from George Washington to Barack Obama to compose this outstanding volume. Mint Juleps is brimming with fascinating facts. Did you know that the Carters, who were Southern Baptists, were much heavier drinkers than the Reagans? (Ronald Reagan, who effectively imposed the twenty-one-year drinking age on all fifty states, was the son of an alcoholic and wary of alcohol abuse). I think that I enjoyed the profile of George Washington the most, who not only plotted American independence over a pint or two but distilled his own applejack brandy as well.

When I read this book as a student, I knew exactly the kind of book I would want to write if I ever got the chance—a book that would bring people of the past to life as Edmund Morris had with T.R. The author first imagined the work as a screenplay, and it shows on every page.

The chapters unfold like scenes in a great, ambitious movie. Roosevelt is set free from his cartoonish reputation and emerges as a complex, brilliant, protean figure, fascinating in each stage of his extraordinary life.

This is easily the best single-volume account of Roosevelt’s life. Dalton writes with an understated verve and an attention to detail that will pull along even biography-averse readers. While Morris’s trilogy is still the definitive account, Dalton’s is more persuasive, as she is more willing to cast a skeptical eye on Roosevelt’s excesses and shortcomings.

“Far and away, life's best prize is the chance to work hard at work worth doing.” I loved this book because it tells us exactly what we should be doing now: rolling up our sleeves and getting into the arena. The federal bureaucracy of the early 20th century was smaller but no less entrenched than it is here in the 21st. And Congress was, if anything, even harder to deal with then than it is now (despite the lack of TV cameras).

How can any president hope to get anything important accomplished? TR shows us how. His instructions to his cabinet secretaries often include three words: “I want results.” He also shows us how to work with, and sometimes around or even through, the titans of industry to build the economy and avoid labor strife. This book should be a must-read for anybody who wants to lead anything, be it… show more.

The middle book of Morris’ definitive biography of Roosevelt (following The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and preceding Colonel Roosevelt) brought me into the White House along with 42-year-old TR as he was thrust into the presidency after William McKinley’s assassination in 1901.

Thus begins an administration like nothing the country had ever seen or likely will ever see again. Morris takes what could be simply a dry accounting of Roosevelt’s accomplishments—and failures—in office and makes them into a story that’s almost like a novel. If you’ve ever wondered why Roosevelt is on Mount Rushmore, this book will tell you why.

Over a century later, his accomplishments still greatly impact American life, and not just in the area of conservation, for which he is perhaps most remembered. Way ahead of his time on things like civil rights and women’s suffrage, TR was not afraid to take on the entrenched political… show more.

Despite being written in 1961, Harbaugh’s work remains the best one-volume biography of Theodore Roosevelt.

I found the book extremely thorough and even handed. I also believe it is a great work to introduce those who have not read a book about Theodore Roosevelt before. Harbaugh, who taught at the University of Virginia for many years, explains the complex issues Roosevelt confronted with great clarity making this survey about the Rough Rider a great choice for anyone who is interested in learning about one of the most fascinating figures the United States has ever produced.