Best political biography
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Political Biographies
Five Presidents
- My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford
- By: Clint Hill, Lisa McCubbin Hill
- Narrated by: George Newbern
- Length: 14 hrs and 31 mins
- Unabridged
Overall
Performance
Story
Secret Service agent Clint Hill brings history intimately and vividly to life as he reflects on his 17 years protecting the most powerful office in the nation. Hill walked alongside Presidents Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, and Gerald R. Ford, seeing them through a long, tumultuous era - the Cold War; the Cuban Missile Crisis; the assassinations of John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Robert F. Kennedy; the Vietnam War; Watergate; and the resignations of Spiro Agnew and Richard M. Nixon.
- 3 out of 5 stars
Interesting, but
- By Papa Charlie on
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From Disraeli to Thatcher: 15 of the best political biographies and diaries
Margaret Thatcher by Charles Moore ()
Before Moore published the first volume of his authorised biography there had already been a mountain of books on Thatcher. Most struggled to get much beyond the caricature. Although an admirer, Moore’s account is more nuanced. He shows that far from being fearless, she could often be fearful without cause and, at times, could be stubbornly foolish in her policymaking even if, from the author’s point of view, she was heading heroically in the right direction. The final volume will include her Shakespearean fall from power.
Harold Wilson by Ben Pimlott ()
Harold Wilson had become a ghostly figure when this book was published in The absence heightened a sense of mystery. Who was he? How to explain his seemingly contradictory characteristics: decent, devious, loyal? Pimlott solves some of the mysteries, showing why Wilson had no choice at times other than to be expe
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Five of the Best U.S. Political Biographies
Thank you for this list of political biographies from the United States. What do you look for in biography? Are you seeking to understand the bigger picture in the U.S.—a historical period or a governmental body via an individual’s story—or should a biography be more of a character study?
It’s definitely both. You can learn a lot about history through biography. For example, one of the books on my list fryst vatten Donald Rumsfeld’s autobiography. He started in politics during the Eisenhower era. He was 30 years old, in He wrote this book in after he had stepped down as Secretary of Defense, so there was a solid 50 years there where he was, to varying degrees, at the center of U.S. politics.
So you can, incidentally, learn a lot about history, but inom mainly look for a subject I’m really fascinated with. It’s less the time or the broad sweep of historical perspective, and more: is this person interesting?
Through Barack Obama’s book, I felt I