What are some good biographies on the first 6 US presidents and more

by Trixzle098

I'm looking for trustworthy biographies on George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams and Alexander Hamilton

Takeoffdpantsnjaket

Fwiw we have a booklist of recommended presidential biographies [here] (https://www.reddit.com/r/AskHistorians/wiki/books/biographies).

Washington: A Life by Ron Chernow is a fantastic look at our first president and will be highly recommended by virtually everyone. It won a Pulitzer in the biography category.

John Adams by David McCullough would be my recommendation for an Adams bio. McCullough does a great job of detailing the accomplishments and actions of our second president. So good, in fact, that HBO made a mini series based off of it. It won a Pulitzer in the biography category.

For Jefferson, I really enjoyed John Meacham's "The Art of Power" which covers the life and times of our third president well. Many others do, too, and you will never beat the level of detail in Dumas Malone's six volume set Jefferson and his Time, which was finished in 1983. Just make sure read something post '98 or attach an addendum to it that covers the modern understanding of the Jefferson-Hemings relationship - Annette Gordon Reed has a few great options, like The Hemingses of Monticello which won her a Pulitzer (as does Lucia Stanton). Joseph Ellis's American Sphinx is another good one, and while Art of Power has been called a "False Giant" biography (I don't feel it was, tbh), Sphinx is definitely on the other end of that spectrum. Both of these won national book awards. Malone's bio won not only a Pulitzer in history but he also was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his work.

For Hamilton, again Chernow gets the nod. His bio Alexander Hamilton inspired some folks to make a musical and it has caused a massive surge in modern popularity for the founder. The bio itself is well written and comprehensive, and Chernow a well respected biographer.

Joseph Ellis also wrote Founding Brothers which details six founders and their involvement with each other in creating our nation. Its not too long but has a good bit of details in it and helps blend everything together a bit.

Madison and Jefferson is a dual bio by Andrew Burstein and Nancy Isenberg that covers - as you guessed - Madison and Jefferson. At over 800 pages, it has plenty on both.

I havent read any on Monroe or J.Q. peraonally, so I will have to defer to the booklist recommendations on those.

If you want a more in depth analysis of any books I've listed just let me know which one and I'm happy to oblige.