I expect this to be a work in progress, so I will update it as I get comments and as things change. So you know, my idea of a definitive book is contemporary, well written, and if possible not insanely long. In many cases, I will go with authors that have a good reputation.
You'll also find that most of the people listed here have biographies on PBS's American Experience where you can get a good idea of their life in just a few hours.
You might notice the lack of women and people of color on here. This can partly be explained by the diminished role women and African-Americans were allowed to play for much of our history. Even considering that, I still don't feel good about it. The best I can say is that we'll eagerly await the definitive treatments of Margaret Thatcher, Hillary Clinton, Indira Ghandi and Golda Meir - and Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Dubois, Booker T. Washington, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Stokely Carmichael,
George Washington
*His Excellency: George Washington by Joseph Ellis
Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow
I don't know which of these is better. I read the Ellis biography and found it to be pretty good. I get the feeling though that Chernow's is more comprehensive.
John Adams
*John Adams by David McCullough
This is an amazing book.
Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson by RB Bernstein
American Sphinx by Joseph Ellis
Again, not sure which is the better book. Both are contemporary. Ellis is pretty popular and has written a lot on this time period. Also, The Hemingses of Monticello by Annette Gordon-Reed (professor at New York Law School) won the Pulitzer Prize. I haven't read it, but have it on my list.
Alexander Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
This book is very well regarded. I really want to read this, but it keeps falling behind other priorities.
Benjamin Franklin
Benjamin Franklin: An American Life by Walter Isaacson
The First American by H.W. Brands
I don't know which is better, although I think I have seen Isaacson's book more often.
Andrew Jackson
American Lion* by John Meacham
Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times by H.W. Brands
I read Meacham's book because it was shorter. I regret that decision. The book spent more time on gossip than important policy and refused to engage in much criticism of the Indian Removal Policy or any analysis of the national bank decision. How this book won the Pulitzer is beyond me.
Abraham Lincoln
Team of Rivals* by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Great book. Can't wait for the movie.
Ulyses S. Grant
Jean Edward Smith's Grant seems well regarded and contemporary.
John Waugh's U.S. Grant seems to provide a good analysis of Grant's changed reputation.
And now the very prolific H.W. Brands has a Grant biography: The Man Who Saved the Union: Ulysses Grant in War and Peace. I don't know which I will read. I really like Brands' writing, but I might want to mix it up and give Smith a try.
Teddy Roosevelt
Edmund Morris has a three volume set (The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt, Theodore Rex, and Colonel Roosevelt) that seems to the best available. The prolific H.W. Brands has a single volume biography titled T.R. The Last Romantic.
Franklin D. Roosevelt
No Ordinary Time by Doris Kearns Goodwin
Traitor to His Class* by H.W. Brands
FDR by Jean Edward Smith
I am reading Traitor by Brands. It is really good and includes a good amount on Eleanor's life as well. And since I am liking it so much, I will probably read the Teddy Roosevelt and maybe the Jackson biographies by Brands.
Eleanor Roosevelt
It seems that Blanche Wiesen Cook's series is the best available. It currently stands at two volumes and goes through the first years of FDR's presidency and could easily run two more volumes. I wish there was something shorter.
Harry Truman
Truman by David McCullough
McCullough's biography is by far the most highly regarded and probably helped change opinions on his presidency.
Dwight D. Eisenhower
Eisenhower: Soldier and President by Stephen Ambrose
The one volume condensation or the full two volume work by Ambrose seems to be the best out there. There is also one by Jean Edward Smith - Eisenhower in War and Peace.
John F. Kennedy
An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 by Robert Dallek
Malcolm X
Malcolm X: A Life of Reinvention* by Manning Marable
The Autobiography of Malcolm X: As Told to Alex Haley*
I have read both books and I think everyone should read both. The Autobiography gives Malcolm's view (with some editing by Alex Haley) whereas Manning Marable's biography should be considered more objective and also adds a lot of historical context and analysis.
Lyndon Johnson
Robert Caro's trilogy is the most comprehensive and contemporary. Caro is a great writer and is able to find all the good stories. However, the sheer size of it probably scares most people away. Other options include Robert Dallek's two volume set and Doris Kearns Goodwin's single volume.
Richard Nixon - Barack Obama
For the modern presidents (Nixon - Obama) it is probably too early for really good biographies. There are American Experience series for Nixon, Carter, Reagan and George HW Bush. Woodward wrote two books on Clinton covering his first couple years in office and his reelection. There is also a book called Dead Center on Clinton's presidency, but it is more of a study of leadership (I read it in an undergrad political science class). Woodward also wrote three or four books on Bush's presidency as well as one so far on Obama (focusing on his administration's foreign policy debates).
* books I have read
