Gift guide · 12 books

Gifts for the political junkie

Caro, Chernow, Woodward and Bernstein: the political books people reread, from every era and side.

Paid links. If you buy a book through these links, Bookshop.org pays us a small commission and sends a share of the sale to independent bookstores.

The Path to Power (opens Bookshop.org)

The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Volume 1

Robert A. Caro · 1982

Robert Caro follows Lyndon Johnson from the Texas Hill Country through his early congressional career, and shows how he learned to win and use political power.
The Power Broker (opens Bookshop.org)

Robert Moses and the Fall of New York

Robert A. Caro · 1974

Robert Caro's Pulitzer-winning biography of Robert Moses shows how an unelected official reshaped New York with highways, parks and bridges for four decades.
Team of Rivals (opens Bookshop.org)

The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln

Doris Kearns Goodwin · 2005

Doris Kearns Goodwin tells how Lincoln put his three chief Republican rivals, Seward, Chase and Bates, in his cabinet and managed them through the Civil War.
The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt (opens Bookshop.org)

Edmund Morris · 1979

Edmund Morris follows Theodore Roosevelt from a sickly New York childhood through the Rough Riders and the vice presidency until McKinley's assassination in 1901.
Alexander Hamilton (opens Bookshop.org)

Ron Chernow · 2004

Ron Chernow's biography of Hamilton, from his birth in the Caribbean to his death in the 1804 duel with Aaron Burr, inspired the Broadway musical.
Reagan (opens Bookshop.org)

The Life

H.W. Brands · 2015

Historian H.W. Brands follows Ronald Reagan from Illinois to Hollywood, the governorship and two terms as president, and credits and criticizes his record.
The Making of the President 1960 (opens Bookshop.org)

Theodore H. White · 1961

Theodore White's Pulitzer-winning inside account of the Kennedy-Nixon race set the template for the modern campaign book, with primaries, conventions and the first televised debates.
The Boys on the Bus (opens Bookshop.org)

Timothy Crouse · 1973

Timothy Crouse, a Rolling Stone reporter, rode with the press corps covering the 1972 campaign and describes how pack journalism shapes what voters see.
What It Takes (opens Bookshop.org)

The Way to the White House

Richard Ben Cramer · 1992

Richard Ben Cramer profiles six 1988 presidential candidates, among them Bush, Dole, Biden and Dukakis, in a long account of why people put themselves through a campaign.
All the President's Men (opens Bookshop.org)

Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward · 1974

Washington Post reporters Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein recount how they followed the Watergate break-in to the Nixon White House, in the reporters' own words.
Nixonland (opens Bookshop.org)

The Rise of a President and the Fracturing of America

Rick Perlstein · 2008

Progressive historian Rick Perlstein traces how Richard Nixon used the resentments of the 1960s and early 1970s to win the presidency and split the country.
Game Change (opens Bookshop.org)

Obama and the Clintons, McCain and Palin, and the Race of a Lifetime

John Heilemann and Mark Halperin · 2010

Political reporters John Heilemann and Mark Halperin draw on hundreds of insider interviews to tell the 2008 campaign, from the Clinton-Obama primary to the choice of Sarah Palin.