My Presidential Reading Project :: The Book List

My Goal :: To read a biography for each President of the United States, in addition to a work of nonfiction and popular fiction corresponding to the time period of each presidential term. (Follow this link for an expanded explanation of my Presidential Reading Project.)

What follows is a running list of the books I have read thus far. The years in office for each president are included, along with links to book reviews when available.

1 – George Washington (1789-1797)
Biography :: His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph J. Ellis (2004)
Nonfiction :: Valiant Ambition: George Washington, Benedict Arnold, and the Fate of the American Revolution by Nathaniel Philbrick (2016)
Fiction :: Charlotte Temple by Susanna Rowson (1791/94)

2 – John Adams (1797-1801)
Biography :: John Adams by David McCullough (2002)
Nonfiction ::
Fiction :: Wieland by Charles Brockdon Brown (1798)

3 – Thomas Jefferson (1801-1809)
Biography :: Thomas Jefferson by R. B. Bernstein (2003) and American Sphinx by Joseph J. Ellis (1997)
Nonfiction :: Undaunted Courage: Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson, and the Opening of the American West by Stephen Ambrose (1996)
Fiction :: Knickerbocker’s History of New York by Washington Irving (1809)

4 – James Madison (1809-1817)
Biography :: James Madison by Garry Wills (2002)
Nonfiction :: Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation by Joseph J. Ellis (2000)
Fiction :: Waverley by Sir Walter Scott (1814)

5 – James Monroe (1817-1825)
Biography :: James Monroe by Gary Hard (2005)
Nonfiction :: Wedding of the Waters: The Erie Canal and the Making of a Great Nation by Peter L. Bernstein (2005)
Fiction :: A New England Tale by Catherine Maria Sedgwick (1822)

6 – John Quincy Adams (1825-1829)
Biography :: John Quincy Adams by Lynn Hudson Parsons (1998)
Nonfiction :: The Birth of Modern Politics: Andrew Jackson, John Quincy Adams and the Election of 1828 by Lynn Hudson Parsons (2009)
Fiction :: The Last of the Mohicans by James Fenimore Cooper (1826)

7 – Andrew Jackson (1829-1837)
Biography :: American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House by Jon Meacham (2008)
Nonfiction :: Henry Clay: The Essential American by David S. Heidler and Jeanne T. Heidler (2010)
Fiction ::

8 – Martin Van Buren (1837-1841)
Biography :: The American Talleyrand: The Career and Contemporaries of Martin Van Buren by Holmes Alexander (1935)
Nonfiction ::
Fiction ::