Books like Eleanor vs. Ike — picked by fans

My mother turned me into a passionate fan of presidents and First Ladies at the age of four, when she took me to see Senator John F. Kennedy as he campaigned for the presidency in 1960. During my first visit to Val-Kill, Eleanor Roosevelt’s home at Hyde Park, NY, I discovered a photo of Mrs. Roosevelt and JFK, smiling broadly as they exited her cottage. It’s now the cover of my book, which follows the intriguing relationship between two of America’s most powerful political dynasties, sometimes allied and sometimes clashing, and how the future president and former First Lady found common ground to launch a women’s rights movement once Eleanor helped Jack win the White House. 

My mother turned me into a passionate fan of presidents and First Ladies at the age of four, when she took me to see Senator John F. Kennedy as he campaigned for the presidency in 1960. During my first visit to Val-Kill, Eleanor Roosevelt’s home at Hyde Park, NY, I discovered a photo of Mrs. Roosevelt and JFK, smiling broadly as they exited her cottage. It’s now the cover of my book, which follows the intriguing relationship between two of America’s most powerful political dynasties, sometimes allied and sometimes clashing, and how the future president and former First Lady found common ground to launch a women’s rights movement once Eleanor helped Jack win the White House. 

My mother turned me into a passionate fan of presidents and First Ladies at the age of four, when she took me to see Senator John F. Kennedy as he campaigned for the presidency in 1960. During my first visit to Val-Kill, Eleanor Roosevelt’s home at Hyde Park, NY, I discovered a photo of Mrs. Roosevelt and JFK, smiling broadly as they exited her cottage. It’s now the cover of my book, which follows the intriguing relationship between two of America’s most powerful political dynasties, sometimes allied and sometimes clashing, and how the future president and former First Lady found common ground to launch a women’s rights movement once Eleanor helped Jack win the White House. 

My mother turned me into a passionate fan of presidents and First Ladies at the age of four, when she took me to see Senator John F. Kennedy as he campaigned for the presidency in 1960. During my first visit to Val-Kill, Eleanor Roosevelt’s home at Hyde Park, NY, I discovered a photo of Mrs. Roosevelt and JFK, smiling broadly as they exited her cottage. It’s now the cover of my book, which follows the intriguing relationship between two of America’s most powerful political dynasties, sometimes allied and sometimes clashing, and how the future president and former First Lady found common ground to launch a women’s rights movement once Eleanor helped Jack win the White House. 

As an American history major in college, I planned an academic career. But a professor teaching my Civil War seminar said, “You are more interested in history as it affects the present. You should be a journalist.” So I was and am but always viewing current events through history. In my writing, as a journalist and author, I try to place people and places within a time frame, emphasizing links to the past. The Civil War era has loomed large in my work since so much of our story is rooted there. My appetite for historical nonfiction remains undimmed, and wherever I travel, I find that the past is always present.

In 2008, I accidentally started watching The West Wing, and it changed my life–leading me ultimately to start writing seriously and then to move to DC, where I lived for ten years. I would not have ever guessed that a TV show could have such an impact, but I repeatedly met people in DC who had similar stories. I wrote an essay about the fandom for my literary journalism class during my MFA, and that became the starting point for my anthology. I interviewed dozens of fellow fans, many of whom had moving stories of the show’s impact on their lives. It was a really special experience.

As a historian of the U.S. presidency, I have long been fascinated by the ways in which aspirants for the White House energize and harness popular support for their candidacy. Tracing the development of electioneering practices from the early 1800s to today has been fascinating. Is there a connection between the hickory sprigs worn by Andrew Jackson’s supporters and the MAGA hats worn by Donald Trump’s supporters? Between the political rallies of William Henry Harrison and those of every modern presidential candidate? Between the derision leveled at politically active women in the 1830s and that directed at Sarah Palin and Hilary Rodham Clinton in the twenty-first century? You betcha!

I'm a long-time contributor to Reader's Digest (and former contributing editor), specializing in narrative nonfiction who has covered social and geopolitical issues for the magazine. I'm also a political junkie who loves to dig into little-known aspects of history and current events. 

As a journalist covering the Future of Work and Silicon Valley in the 2010s, I encountered pioneering social entrepreneurs and newly minted tech billionaires whose ideologies attracted millions and have since shaped our culture, economy, and society. I've curated some of the most impactful books that informed my understanding of their ambitions and how work is evolving, as well as the thought leaders who inspired them. Engaging with this content and integrating it over the last decade has transformed my worldview, leading me to a more fulfilling, peaceful, and creative life—but it’s been quite the journey!

I joined the Nixon administration as a White House Fellow upon Harvard Law School graduation in 1969, so I wasn’t part of Nixon’s 1968 campaign. I served for five years, rising to associate director of the Domestic Council and ending as deputy counsel on Nixon’s Watergate defense team. Given my personal involvement at the time, coupled with extensive research over the past fifteen years, I’m among the foremost authorities on the Watergate scandal, but essentially unknowledgeable about people and events preceding the Nixon presidency. My five recommended books have nicely fill that gap – principally by friends and former colleagues who were actually “in the arena” during those heady times.