Books like The accidental president by A. J. Baime

A detailed biography of Ulysses S. Grant, former Union general and 18th President of the United States, by historian Ron Chernow, examining his military campaigns and presidency.

The Bully Pulpit traces the complex friendship and bitter rivalry of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft, showing how their 1912 presidential battle reshaped the Republican Party and weakened progressivism.

Joseph J. Ellis offers a comprehensive, scholarly biography of George Washington, drawing on newly catalogued papers to illuminate Washington’s military, presidential, and personal life within the context of eighteenth‑century America.

"When President James Garfield was shot, no one in the United States was more dismayed than his Vice President, Chester Arthur. For years Arthur had been perceived as unfit to govern, not only by critics and his fellow citizens but by his own conscience. From his promising start, Arthur had become a political hack, a shill for Roscoe Conkling, and Arthur knew better even than his detractors that he failed to meet the high standard a president must uphold. And yet, from the moment President Arthur took office, he proved to be not just honest but courageous, going up against the very forces that had controlled him for decades. Arthur surprised everyone--and gained many enemies--when he swept house and courageously took on corruption, civil rights for blacks, and issues of land for Native Americans. His short presidency proved to be a turning point of American history, in many ways a preview of our own times, and is a sterling example of how someone can 'rise to the occasion.' This beautifully written biography tells the dramatic, untold story of a virtually forgotten American president, a machine politician and man-about-town in Gilded Age New York who stumbled into the highest office in the land only to rediscover his better self, right when his nation needed him"--Provided by publisher.

The definitive biography of president Franklin Delano Roosevelt for young adult readers, from National Book Award finalist Albert Marrin ; Brought up in a privileged family, Franklin Delano Roosevelt had every opportunity in front of him. As a young man, he found a path in politics and quickly began to move into the public eye. That ascent seemed impossible when he contracted polio and lost the use of his legs. But with a will of steel he fought the disease and public perception of his disability to become president of the United States of America. This biography explores the life of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, a fascinating, complex man, who was born into privilege, struggled the confines of polio, and became a strong leader as the thirty-second president of the United States.

A first‑hand account of Dwight D. Eisenhower’s ascent to Allied command during World War II, revealing the challenges and decisions that shaped the European campaign.