Presidential Biographies

I’ve never read many biographies. I’ve always been a very fiction-oriented person, and where interests do extend into non-fiction realms, I’ve always been drawn more to science and technology than to personal or political history.

So, naturally, it makes perfect sense that I’ve now decided that I need to read one biography for each US President. I suppose it’s not totally random–certainly though the past couple of presidential elections, my interest in politics has increased considerably. But more and more of my fiction ideas are tending toward concepts rooted in historical events, so it’s time I started giving myself more solid grounding in the subjects that are inspiring me.

First up: John Adams. David McCullogh’s tome is on its way to me from the Wilmington Public Library at this very moment.

And yes, there’s a reason I’m starting with Adams — the Boston Comics Roundtable is working on its fourth issue, which will be on the theme of Boston history. I still need to script something for the issue, and I figure I might as well combine my current research project with my upcoming writing project and kill two birds at once by reading about a president from the Boston area. Otherwise, I do plan to go in order.

So–who has recommendations of particularly good presidential biographies I should read?