A place for people interested in US presidential/political history.
Member Introductions
Since we have a few new people on here, I thought it would be good to have a space to say who we are, what brought us here, what we'd like to get out of this, etc.
I'll get things started!
I'm Mike and I work as a copy editor in New York. I live in Connecticut with my wife, new baby, and two pugs. I started this group after seeing how many people there are, like me, reading their way through a bio of each president. I've become more engaged in this project than I ever imagined and I'm already thinking about all the deeper dives I can do once I make it all the way through. I'm fascinated by the presidency, political history, and on a larger level, how power is accumulated and put into use by these people. I hope that, by talking to all of you, I can discover new takes that I haven't considered and have a space to flesh out some of the threads I'm noticing throughout these many lives.
So tell us all a little something about yourself and what you hope to see here.




Hi there!
I’m Susie, an audiovisual archivist recently graduated from library school, preparing for my first job at the Library of Congress. I spent a year working in audiovisual archives at the JFK Presidential Library and Museum and became fascinated with the NARA Presidential Library system, my goal being to visit each and every one! I’ve devoured a lot of literature, as well as primary source material, on the Kennedys, obviously, but I am a big FDR/ER buff. I stumbled across Mike’s Twitter one day and all of his fabulous tweets on presidential biographies, and the rest, as they say, is history! Happy to be here and looking forward to getting better acquainted with y’all!
So glad to have you on here, Susie!
Hi folks, my name is Liam and I've been a long-time US politics / history nut since my schooldays, not particularly common in Scotland!! Think my interest was stoked by a particularly enthusiastic teacher who used to have a friend send him copies of the NYT which he'd then pass onto me (bearing in mind this was 20-odd yrs ago, pre-Internet)
I still live on the West Coast of Scotland with my wife and two young boys but my interest in POTUS, SCOTUS, Civil War and all things US politics continues. I've read a few presidential bios, certainly not one for each yet but will work my way through steadily. Looking forward to interacting with people who share my enthusiasm because that's obviously harder here in UK.
Take care all, L
Hey Liam! Nice to meet you. The west coast of Scotland sounds beautiful. My wife and I spent a few days in Edinburgh and took a day trip to Glasgow, but we didn't get out much other than up to Loch Ness and a Highlands bus day tour. Such touristy stuff.
Would love to visit again sometime later, after my son is old enough to appreciate it.
It's really interesting meeting someone who's interested in the history of politics in a foreign country to them. I don't expect that your interest in U.S. history was spawned by exhausting the storied history of your own islands and the European mainland? Or are you some kind of freaky genius?
Far from it Guy, have read a few histories of Scotland & UK (& some European stuff) but always just preferred the US. I think it's because the US is essentially still a young country, almost still an experiment whereas much of Europe has roots going back 1000+ years. In many ways the very founding of the US was a reaction against the European (obviously mainly British) way of doing things and that's what interests me.
Still, we have our own convulsions here over EU at the moment, big vote tomorrow which could have big consequences!!
Yeah, it's pretty scary!
Thanks for joining, Liam! Looking forward to the perspective from across the pond!
I am a big history fan, and while I love presidential biographies I am not one to even attempt to read them in order. I also tend to get sidetracked with other historical events and characters along the way –whether it’s a biography on Hubert Humphrey after reading about LBJ, or recently reading of David Remnick’s biography of Muhammad Ali “King of the World” (which was fantastic). I am a worker side labor lawyer by day, and as a parent with two kids 3 and under, I have much less time to read than before. I try to balance my reading between non-fiction with novels as well as a reading group. Looking forward to this group.
Thanks, Dave! I'm planning on branching out into non-presidential political history once I cross the finish line. So I'll be counting on you to steer me toward some of your favorites!
Hi everyone, glad to be here. I am a presidency expert for UVA's Miller Center. I wear many hats there, but mainly I am social media manager and researcher for the presidential oral history program.
I worked at various presidential sites, but before all that, got the presidency bug in high school. I read every biography up until Taylor for a Goodreads book club, then moved to moderate the presidency series for Goodreads History Book Club for awhile. It was fun to read more books on presidents.
Looking forward to talking with all of you about POTUS. I salute all biographies in order readers. Hope to pick it up again!
So glad to have you on board, Bryan! I'm sure you can bring a lot of great knowledge to our group. Thanks for joining!
Hi everyone - I'm Steve and for the past 2 1/2 years I've been on a journey to find & read all of the best presidential biographies on each of the presidents.
I originally intended to read just the best bio of each POTUS but quickly realized I had no way of determining which was "the best"...so decided to read several on each president and quickly ended up with a list of 226 bios (and still growing). I started with 6 biographies of George Washington in Dec 2012 and am up to FDR currently (15 biographies). I should finish up in about 2 years - at which point I'll go back and read all the biographies I've been told I missed the first time through (as well as those published after I finished up that particular president).
So far the best bios I've found have been on Washington, Adams, Jackson, Grant and TR. But I've also enjoyed Garfield, Jefferson and others. The president who I think has the least interesting biography compared to his potential is Van Buren, the president I've found most fascinating so far is TR and the president I'm most impressed with is probably Lincoln.
I'm told that the Caro series on LBJ will change my world but I won't get there for another 10-12 months...
So great to have you here, Steve! I've been a big fan of your site and have relied on your reviews to help me pick out the best options for my first run through. And I have to say, you have yet to steer me wrong!
Hi everyone! My name is Brian and I work for Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Virginia. I first became obsessed with American History in general, and presidential history in particular, in high school. Since then, I've been reading anything and everything I can get my hands on. My goal right now is to read a single biography on each president, and I have 13 to go. Unfortunately, I didn't have a plan when I started, so I've been jumping around quite a bit. I just finished a biography on McKinely and next up is Zachary Taylor. Maybe my next go around will be chronological. Other than presidential history, I'm also interested in hiking and traveling. Looking forward to learning from everyone here!