American Politics & the Presidency
Individual topics classified under "American Politics & the Presidency", ranked by how many awards the books carrying each one have won combined. Open a topic to see its most-awarded books.
- 1
American politics
21 books
13
wins
206
score
- A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt · Geoffrey C. Ward3 wins · 36 score
- Means of Ascent: The Years of Lyndon Johnson, Vol. II · Robert A. Caro2 wins · 27 score
- The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt · Edmund Morris2 wins · 24 score
- Robert Kennedy and His Times · Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.1 win · 16 score
- Grover Cleveland: A Study in Courage · Allan Nevins1 win · 12 score
- 2
Colonial America
22 books
13
wins
175
score
- The Life and Times of Cotton Mather · Kenneth Silverman2 wins · 20 score
- Covered with Night: A Story of Murder and Indigenous Justice in Early America · Nicole Eustace1 win · 16 score
- Our Savage Neighbors: How Indian War Transformed Early America · Peter Silver2 wins · 13 score
- Benjamin Franklin · Carl Van Doren1 win · 12 score
- Paul Revere and the World He Lived In · Esther Forbes1 win · 12 score
- 3
Founding Fathers
17 books
9
wins
138
score
- American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson · Joseph J. Ellis1 win · 16 score
- Founding Brothers: The Revolutionary Generation · Joseph J. Ellis1 win · 15 score
- John Adams · David McCullough1 win · 15 score
- Jefferson and His Time · Dumas Malone1 win · 12 score
- Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution · Jack N. Rakove1 win · 12 score
- 4
Abraham Lincoln
17 books
9
wins
127
score
- Lincoln at Gettysburg: The Words That Remade America · Garry Wills1 win · 20 score
- The Fiery Trial: Abraham Lincoln and American Slavery · Eric Foner2 wins · 20 score
- A History of the Civil War, 1861–1865 · James Ford Rhodes1 win · 12 score
- Abraham Lincoln: The War Years · Carl Sandburg1 win · 12 score
- Reveille in Washington, 1860–1865 · Margaret Leech1 win · 12 score
- 5
American presidency
15 books
7
wins
110
score
- A Thousand Days: John F. Kennedy in the White House · Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr.2 wins · 24 score
- Eleanor and Franklin: The Story of Their Relationship, Based on Eleanor Roosevelt's Private Papers · Joseph P. Lash2 wins · 24 score
- The Life of Andrew Jackson, 2 vols. · Marquis James1 win · 12 score
- Theodore Roosevelt: A Biography · Henry F. Pringle1 win · 12 score
- The Passage of Power · Robert Caro1 win · 5 score
- 6
Franklin D. Roosevelt
6 books
6
wins
89
score
- A First-Class Temperament: The Emergence of Franklin Roosevelt · Geoffrey C. Ward3 wins · 36 score
- Roosevelt: The Soldier of Freedom · James MacGregor Burns2 wins · 24 score
- Franklin D. Roosevelt and American Foreign Policy, 1932–1945 · Robert Dallek1 win · 16 score
- Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt · H.W. Brands0 wins · 7 score
- Franklin D. Roosevelt · Frank Freidel0 wins · 4 score
- 7
American democracy
8 books
6
wins
81
score
- American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House · Jon Meacham1 win · 15 score
- The Rise of American Democracy: Jefferson to Lincoln · Sean Wilentz1 win · 15 score
- The Age of Jackson · Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr.1 win · 12 score
- The Disruption of American Democracy · Roy Franklin Nichols1 win · 12 score
- The Significance of Sections in American History · Frederick Jackson Turner†1 win · 12 score
- 8
American South
6 books
6
wins
68
score
- Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs · Sally Mann1 win · 16 score
- South to America: A Journey Below the Mason-Dixon To Understand the Soul of a Nation · Imani Perry1 win · 15 score
- The Race Beat: The Press, the Civil Rights Struggle, and the Awakening of a Nation · Gene Roberts and Hank Klibanoff1 win · 15 score
- Slaves in the Family · Edward Ball1 win · 12 score
- Black Like Me · John Howard Griffin1 win · 5 score
- 9
George Washington
7 books
5
wins
71
score
- Washington's Crossing · David Hackett Fischer1 win · 16 score
- Washington: A Life · Ron Chernow1 win · 15 score
- George Washington, vols. I-VII · Douglas Southall Freeman† with John Alexander Carroll and Mary Wells Ashworth1 win · 12 score
- George Washington: Anguish and Farewell, 1793–1799 · James Thomas Flexner1 win · 12 score
- An Imperfect God: George Washington, His Slaves, and the Creation of America · Henry Wiencek1 win · 8 score
- 10
American legal history
10 books
5
wins
63
score
- Sweet Taste of Liberty: A True Story of Slavery and Restitution in America · W. Caleb McDaniel1 win · 12 score
- The Life of John Marshall, 4 vols. · Albert J. Beveridge1 win · 12 score
- Border Law: The First Seminole War and American Nationhood · Deborah Rosen1 win · 8 score
- The Transformation of American Law, 1780–1860 · Morton J. Horwitz1 win · 8 score
- A Question Of Freedom: The Families Who Challenged Slavery from the Nation's Founding to the Civil War · William G. Thomas III1 win · 5 score
- 11
Lyndon B. Johnson
4 books
5
wins
57
score
- 12
1960s American politics
3 books
5
wins
53
score
- Parting the Waters: America in the King Years, 1954–63 · Taylor Branch4 wins · 41 score
- Before the Storm: Barry Goldwater and the Unmaking of the American Consensus · Rick Perlstein1 win · 8 score
- The Liberal Hour: Washington and the Politics of Change in the 1960s · G. Calvin Mackenzie and Robert Weisbrot0 wins · 4 score
- 13
American colonial history
4 books
5
wins
48
score
- White over Black: American Attitudes Toward the Negro, 1550–1812 · Winthrop D. Jordan2 wins · 20 score
- People of Paradox: An Inquiry Concerning the Origins of American Civilization · Michael Kammen1 win · 12 score
- Arming America: The Origins of a National Gun Culture · Michael Bellesiles1 win · 8 score
- The Americans: The Colonial Experience · Daniel J. Boorstin1 win · 8 score
- 14
Political corruption
6 books
4
wins
65
score
- Huey Long · T. Harry William2 wins · 24 score
- The Power Broker: Robert Moses and the Fall of New York · Robert Caro,1 win · 16 score
- Praying for Sheetrock: A Work of Nonfiction · Melissa Fay Greene1 win · 13 score
- Russian Diary: A Journalist's Final Account of Life, Corruption and Death in Putin's Russia · Anna Politkovskaya0 wins · 4 score
- The Rascal King: The Life and Times of James Michael Curley, 1874-1958 · Jack Beatty0 wins · 4 score
- 15
Thomas Jefferson
6 books
3
wins
60
score
- American Sphinx: The Character of Thomas Jefferson · Joseph J. Ellis1 win · 16 score
- Inventing America: Jefferson's Declaration of Independence · Garry Wills1 win · 16 score
- Jefferson and His Time · Dumas Malone1 win · 12 score
- Jefferson and His Time: The Sage of Monticello · Dumas Malone0 wins · 8 score
- Jefferson and Monticello: The Biography of a Builder · Jack McLaughlin0 wins · 4 score
- 16
Political power
3 books
3
wins
44
score
- 17
American founding fathers
4 books
3
wins
39
score
- 18
Early American Republic
4 books
3
wins
39
score
- The Era of Good Feelings · George Dangerfield2 wins · 20 score
- The Age of Federalism: The Early American Republic, 1788–1800 · Stanley Elkins, Eric McKitrick1 win · 8 score
- Empire of Liberty: A History of the Early Republic, 1789–1815 · Gordon S. Wood0 wins · 7 score
- The Shaping of America: A People's History of the Young Republic · Page Smith0 wins · 4 score
- 19
Theodore Roosevelt
3 books
3
wins
39
score
- 20
New Deal
6 books
3
wins
38
score
- Fear Itself: The New Deal and the Origins of Our Time · Ira. Katznelson1 win · 8 score
- Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal, 1932–1940 · William E. Leuchtenburg1 win · 8 score
- The Brains Trust · Rexford Guy. Tugwell1 win · 8 score
- Traitor to His Class: The Privileged Life and Radical Presidency of Franklin Delano Roosevelt · H.W. Brands0 wins · 7 score
- The Dream and the Deal: The Federal Writers Project, 1935–43 · Jerre Mangione0 wins · 4 score
- 21
Constitutional history
6 books
3
wins
34
score
- The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics · Don E. Fehrenbacher1 win · 12 score
- The Creation of the American Republic, 1776–1787 · Gordon S. Wood1 win · 8 score
- Slavery in the Structure of American Politics, 1765–1820 · Donald L. Robinson1 win · 5 score
- The Creation of the American Republic · Gordon S. Wood0 wins · 4 score
- The Sacred Fire of Liberty: James Madison and the Founding of the Federal Republic · Lance Banning0 wins · 4 score
- 22
U.S. Constitution
5 books
2
wins
39
score
- We the People: A History of the U.S. Constitution · Jill Lepore1 win · 15 score
- Original Meanings: Politics and Ideas in the Making of the Constitution · Jack N. Rakove1 win · 12 score
- Unruly Americans and the Origins of the Constitution · Woody Holton0 wins · 5 score
- Novus Ordo Seclorum: the Intellectual Origins of the Constitution · Forrest McDonald0 wins · 4 score
- Original Intent and the Framers of the Constitution: A Disputed Question · Harry V. Jaffa0 wins · 3 score
- 23
Presidential leadership
4 books
2
wins
35
score
- Abraham Lincoln: The War Years · Carl Sandburg1 win · 12 score
- No Ordinary Time: Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II · Doris Kearns Goodwin1 win · 12 score
- Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln · Doris Kearns Goodwin0 wins · 7 score
- The Presidential Character: Predicting Performance in the White House · James David Barber0 wins · 4 score
- 24
Benjamin Franklin
4 books
2
wins
34
score
- Benjamin Franklin · Carl Van Doren1 win · 12 score
- Benjamin Franklin, Self-Revealed · William Cabell Bruce1 win · 12 score
- The First American: The Life and Times of Benjamin Franklin · H.W. Brands0 wins · 7 score
- The First Scientific American: Benjamin Franklin and the Pursuit of Genius · Joyce Chaplin0 wins · 3 score
- 25
Presidential biography
3 books
2
wins
34
score
- 26
Woodrow Wilson
5 books
2
wins
33
score
- 27
Nixon administration
5 books
2
wins
32
score
- The Price of Power: Kissinger in the Nixon White House · Seymour Hersh2 wins · 20 score
- Nixon and Kissinger: Partners in Power · Robert Dallek0 wins · 4 score
- Watergate: A New History · Garrett M. Graff0 wins · 4 score
- The Rehnquist Choice: The Untold Story of the Nixon Appointment That Redefined the Supreme Court · John W. Dean0 wins · 3 score
- The Mysterious Mrs. Nixon: The Life and Times of Washington’s Most Private First Lady · Heath Hardage Lee0 wins · 1 score
- 28
Constitutional amendments
3 books
2
wins
24
score
- 29
Supreme Court
3 books
2
wins
21
score
- 30
Religion and politics
6 books
1
win
40
score
- The Evangelicals: The Struggle to Shape America · Frances FitzGerald1 win · 22 score
- Crisis in Watertown: The Polarization of an American Community · Lynn Eden0 wins · 4 score
- Pilate: The Biography of an Invented Man (about Pontius Pilate) · Ann Wroe0 wins · 4 score
- White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement · Allan Lichtman0 wins · 4 score
- Culture Wars: The Struggle to Define America · James Davison Hunter0 wins · 3 score
- 31
Political polarization
7 books
1
win
38
score
- Doppelganger · Naomi Klein1 win · 12 score
- Paper Girl: A Memoir of Home and Family in a Fractured America · Beth Macy0 wins · 7 score
- Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning On the American Right · Arlie Russell Hochschild0 wins · 6 score
- The Undertow: Scenes from a Slow Civil War · Jeff Sharlet0 wins · 4 score
- Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party · Geoffrey Kabaservice0 wins · 3 score
- 32
McCarthyism
4 books
1
win
26
score
- 33
Declaration of Independence
3 books
1
win
23
score
- 34
Early American politics
4 books
1
win
22
score
- 35
Watergate scandal
3 books
1
win
22
score
- 36
Democracy
3 books
1
win
18
score
- 37
Health care policy
3 books
1
win
15
score
- 38
Immigration policy
3 books
1
win
11
score
- 39
War on drugs
3 books
1
win
11
score
- 40
American conservatism
3 books
0
wins
13
score
- Strangers in Their Own Land: Anger and Mourning On the American Right · Arlie Russell Hochschild0 wins · 6 score
- White Protestant Nation: The Rise of the American Conservative Movement · Allan Lichtman0 wins · 4 score
- Rule and Ruin: The Downfall of Moderation and the Destruction of the Republican Party, From Eisenhower to the Tea Party · Geoffrey Kabaservice0 wins · 3 score
- 41
Education
3 books
0
wins
10
score
- 42
Margaret Thatcher
3 books
0
wins
10
score
Recent Standout Topics (2020+)
- 1Political polarization1 win
- 2Colonial America1 win
- 3Abraham Lincoln0 wins
- 4American politics0 wins
Where This Data Comes From
- Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Nonfiction2012–2026
- Anisfield-Wolf Book Award1936–2026
- Baillie Gifford Prize for Non-Fiction1999–2026
- Bancroft Prize1948–2026
- Cundill History Prize2008–2026
- Financial Times and Standard Chartered Business Book of the Year Award2005–2026
- J. Anthony Lukas Book Prize1999–2026
- James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Biography1919–2025
- Kirkus Prize for Nonfiction2014–2026
- Los Angeles Times Book Prize for Biography1981–2025