After completing my Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies last year, I turned my attention to the best biographies of anyone (with a small detour to catch up on some long-neglected fiction). This is my projected road-map for the upcoming year as of August 15, 2020.
Blue titles indicate Pulitzer Prize WINNERS. Blue italicized titles indicate Pulitzer Prize finalists. Bold indicates a new release.
| Thomas Jefferson(*) | Thomas Jefferson: A Life (1993) by Willard Sterne Randall | REVIEW (3½ stars) |
| William Henry Seward | Seward: Lincoln’s Indispensable Man (2012) by Walter Stahr | REVIEW (3½ stars) |
| Walt Disney | Walt Disney: The Triumph of the American Imagination (2006) by Neal Gabler | REVIEW (4¼ stars) |
| FDR (*) | Man of Destiny: FDR and the Making of the American Century (2015) by Alonzo Hamby | REVIEW (3½ stars) |
| George Patton | Patton: A Genius for War (1995) by Carlo D’Este | REVIEW (4 stars) |
| Andrew Carnegie | Andrew Carnegie (2006) by David Nasaw | REVIEW (4¼ stars) |
| Herbert Hoover(*) | Herbert Hoover in the White House: The Ordeal of the Presidency (2016) by Charles Rappleye | REVIEW (4 stars) |
| JP Morgan | Morgan: American Financier (1999) by Jean Strouse | REVIEW (3 stars) |
| James Monroe(*) | James Monroe: A Life (2020) by Tim McGrath | REVIEW (3¾ stars) |
| Queen Victoria | Victoria: The Queen: An Intimate Biography of the Woman Who Ruled an Empire (2016) by Julia Baird | REVIEW (4 stars) |
| Ulysses S. Grant(*) | Grant (2017) by Ron Chernow | REVIEW (4½ stars) |
| Winston Churchill | Churchill: Walking with Destiny (2018) by Andrew Roberts | REVIEW (3¾ stars) |
| Leonardo da Vinci | Leonardo da Vinci (2017) by Walter Isaacson | REVIEW (4¼ stars) |
| John Tyler (*) | President without a Party: The Life of John Tyler (2020) by Christopher Leahy | REVIEW (4¼ stars) |
| Sherman | The Scourge of War: The Life of William Tecumseh Sherman (2020) by Brian Holden Reid | late Aug |
| George Custer | Custer’s Trials: A Life on the Frontier of a New America (2015) by T.J. Stiles | mid Sept |
| John D. Rockefeller, Sr. | Titan: The Life of John D. Rockefeller, Sr. (1998) by Ron Chernow | late Sept |
| Mark Twain | Mark Twain: A Life (2005) by Ron Powers | mid Oct |
| George Washington (*) | Washington (1968 abridgment) by Douglas Southall Freeman | late Oct |
| John Hay, John Nicolay | Lincoln’s Boys: John Hay, John Nicolay, and the War for Lincoln’s Image (2013) by Joshua Zeitz | early Nov |
| Warren Buffett | The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life (2008) by Alice Schroeder | late Nov |
| Andrew Jackson(*) | The Rise of Andrew Jackson (2018) by David Heidler and Jeanne Heidler | mid Dec |
| John Calhoun | John C. Calhoun: American Portrait (1950) by Margaret Coit | late Dec |
| Charles Lindbergh | Lindbergh (1998) by A. Scott Berg | tbd |
| Dwight Eisenhower(*) | The Age of Eisenhower (2018) by William Hitchcock | tbd |
| Henry Kissinger | Kissinger: A Biography (1992) by Walter Isaacson | tbd |
| Sir Walter Raleigh | Sir Walter Raleigh (2002) by Raleigh Trevelyan | tbd |
| Jimmy Carter(*) | His Very Best: Jimmy Carter, a Life (2020) by Jonathan Alter | tbd |
| John Marshall | John Marshall: Definer of a Nation (1996) by Jean Edward Smith | tbd |
| John Wayne | John Wayne: American (1995) by Randy Roberts | tbd |
| William McKinley(*) | President McKinley: Architect of the American Century (2017) by Robert Merry | tbd |
| Eleanor Roosevelt | Eleanor Roosevelt: The Early Years (1884-1933) (Vol 1) (1992) by Blanche Wiesen Cook | [2021] |
| Eleanor Roosevelt: The Defining Years (1933-1938) (Vol 2) (1999) by Blanche Wiesen Cook | [2021] | |
| Eleanor Roosevelt: The War Years and After (1939-1962) (Vol 3) (2016) by Blanche Wiesen Cook | [2021] |
* Follow-up biography for my Journey Through the Best Presidential Biographies.
Every book I review has been purchased by me. TheBestBiographies.com is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.
