President's Day Reading List

Below is a selection of UPM books about U.S. Presidents that will help make your Presidents Day much more educational. These will give readers a much fuller picture of our current and former presidents, as well as first ladies.

Race and the Obama Phenomenon: The Vision of a More Perfect Multiracial Union, edited by G. Reginald Daniel and Hettie V. Williams

Now available in paperback, these essays examine the 2008 and 2012 elections as well as the events of President Obama's first term. Written by preeminent race scholars from multiple disciplines, the volume brings together competing perspectives on race, gender, and the historic significance of Obama's election and reelection.

American Cyclone: Theodore Roosevelt and His 1900 Whistle-Stop Campaign, by John M. Hilpert

Biographers have chronicled every significant period of Roosevelt's life with one exception--his nomination for the vice presidency. This campaign was Roosevelt's debut as a candidate for national office. American Cyclone presents the story of his campaign, a whirlwind effort highlighted by an astounding whistle-stop tour of 480 communities across twenty-three states. Eighteen of those states gave a plurality of votes to the McKinley-Roosevelt ticket, a gain of five states for the Republicans over 1896. Particularly important, as it was this election that allowed him to ascend to the presidency the next year following McKinley’s death

The President's Ladies: Jane Wyman and Nancy Davis, by Bernard F. Dick

Ronald Reagan, the only U.S. president to have been divorced, married not one but two Hollywood actresses. In The President’s Ladies author Bernard Dick weaves together a fascinating story of Reagan and his two wives—Jane Wyman and Nancy Davis— all three actors who left an indelible mark on both political and popular culture. This book is actually three biographies in one, linking fascinating connections among Wyman, Reagan, and Davis.


Thomas Jefferson on Wine, by John Hailman

This book is a good reminder that President’s, even the founding fathers have other interests besides government. Hailman provides unprecedented insight into Jefferson's character from a unique perspective. Here the third president's fascination with scores of wines from his student days at Williamsburg to his lengthy retirement years at Monticello is covered in detail often using Jefferson's own words from hundreds of immensely readable and surprisingly modern letters on the subject.

Scoop: The Evolution of a Southern Reporter by Jack Nelson and edited by Barbara Matusow

While this book is not directly about a president, Jack Nelson was a former Washington Bureau Chief for the Los Angeles Times and covered four presidential terms.