The Best Books To Learn About President Calvin Coolidge
(You can view the rest of our presidential Best Book lists by going to our Best US President Books page, or for a more in-depth look at how we found and ranked the books you can visit our Best Book About Every United States President article.)
Calvin Coolidge Quick Facts |
| President Number | 30 |
| Terms In Office | 1 & 18/48ths |
| Years | 1923-1929 |
| Political Party | Republican |
| Vice President | Vacant / Charles G. Dawes |
| Home State | Massachusetts |
| Presidential Pet | Several Dogs, Raccoons, Donkey, Canaries, Goose, Bobcat, Lion Cubs, Pygmy Hippopotamus, Wallaby, Black Bear, etc. |
| Campaign Slogan | “Keep Cool and Keep Coolidge” |
| Articles Used in Ranking | 13 |
| Number of Unique Books | 17 |
The Best Book About Calvin Coolidge
(Appears on 5 Lists)
Coolidge, An American Enigma by Robert Sobel
Lists It Appears On:
- At Times Dull
- Best Presidential Bios
- Library of Congress
- Presidents USA
- The Washington Post
When Ronald Reagan moved into the White House, he ordered Calvin Coolidge’s portrait to be moved next to Lincoln’s and Jefferson’s in a place of high honor. Most Americans today have forgotten Coolidge’s legacy; but Reagan knew well that Coolidge’s programs in the 1920s presaged the conservative movement toward smaller government and reduced taxes. Historian Robert Sobel looks at Coolidge’s impressive record as president—his four tax cuts, his yearly budget surplus, his success shrinking the debt—in this expansive biography of a forgotten American icon.
#2-3
(Appears on 4 Lists)
Calvin Coolidge: The Quiet President by Donald R. McCoy
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Presidential Bios
- Library of Congress
- Mandi Lindner
- Presidents USA
Coolidge by Amity Shlaes
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Presidential Bios
- Mashable
- Presidents USA
- The Tailored Man
Amity Shlaes, author of The Forgotten Man, delivers a brilliant and provocative reexamination of America’s thirtieth president, Calvin Coolidge, and the decade of unparalleled growth that the nation enjoyed under his leadership. In this riveting biography, Shlaes traces Coolidge’s improbable rise from a tiny town in New England to a youth so unpopular he was shut out of college fraternities at Amherst College up through Massachusetts politics. After a divisive period of government excess and corruption, Coolidge restored national trust in Washington and achieved what few other peacetime presidents have: He left office with a federal budget smaller than the one he inherited. A man of calm discipline, he lived by example, renting half of a two-family house for his entire political career rather than compromise his political work by taking on debt. Renowned as a throwback, Coolidge was in fact strikingly modern—an advocate of women’s suffrage and a radio pioneer. At once a revision of man and economics, Coolidge gestures to the country we once were and reminds us of qualities we had forgotten and can use today.
#4-7
(Appear on 2 Lists)
A Puritan in Babylon: The Story of Calvin Coolidge by William Allen White
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Presidential Bios
- Library of Congress
“Honest, shrewd, sentimental, resolute, American primitive,” this is how the author characterizes President Coolidge. The storry of the Coolidge period, a stirring drama, hangs on the undramatis and slight figure of the man who dominated the era, and by his qualities rather than by his words or deeds gave it substance and direction.
Calvin Coolidge by David Greenberg
Lists It Appears On:
- All The Presidents Books
- Library of Congress
He was known as “Silent Cal.” Buttoned up and tight-lipped, Calvin Coolidge seemed out of place as the leader of a nation plunging headlong into the modern era. His six years in office were a time of flappers, speakeasies, and a stock market boom, but his focus was on cutting taxes, balancing the federal budget, and promoting corporate productivity. “The chief business of the American people is business,” he famously said.
Calvin Coolidge: The Man From Vermont by Claude M. Fuess
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Presidential Bios
- Library of Congress
Many of the earliest books, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are now extremely scarce and increasingly expensive. We are republishing these classic works in affordable, high quality, modern editions, using the original text and artwork.
The Presidency of Calvin Coolidge by Robert H. Ferrell
Lists It Appears On:
- Library of Congress
- Presidents USA
Robert Ferrell, one of America’s most distinguished historians, offers the first book-length account of the Coolidge presidency in thirty years, drawing on the recently opened papers of White House physician Joel T. Boone to provide a more personal appraisal of the thirtieth president than has previously been possible. Ferrell shows Coolidge to have been a hard-working, sensitive individual who was a canny politician and a clever judge of people. He reveals how after being dubbed the “odd little man from Vermont” by the press, Coolidge cultivated that image in order to win the 1924 election. Alas, Coolidge’s long-suffering wife often had to serve as a safety valve for his temper.
#8-17
(Appear on 1 List)
A City in Terror: Calvin Coolidge and the 1919 Boston Police Strike by Rosalind Russell
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
On September 9, 1919, an American nightmare came true. The entire Boston police force deserted their posts, leaving the city virtually defenseless. Women were raped on street corners, stores were looted, and pedestrians were beaten and robbed while crowds not only looked on but cheered.
Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge by Calvin Coolidge
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
Calvin Coolidge and the Coolidge Era: Essays on the History of the 1920s by John Earl Haynes
Lists It Appears On:
- Library of Congress
These twelve essays, originally presented to a 1995 Library of Congress symposium, seek to reassess the history of the 1920s in accordance with the latest research.
Calvin Coolidge on The Founders: Reflections on the American Revolution & the Founding Fathers by David Pietrusza
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
Grace Coolidge and Her Era: The Story of a President’s Wife by Ishbel Ross
Lists It Appears On:
- Library of Congress
This is a biography of Mrs. Calvin Coolidge. The author interviewed scores of people who had known or crossed paths with Mrs. Coolidge in her lifetime. John Coolidge, only surviving son of President and Mrs. Coolidge and his wife, Florence Trumbull Coolidge, cooperated both at their house in Farmington, Connectieut, and at their summer place in Plymouth, Vermont, where Calvin Coolidge was born. They allowed letters and pictures, in addition to sharing with the author many personal recollections of Mrs. Coolidge.
Hollywood by Gore Vidal
Lists It Appears On:
- NY Times
In his brilliant and dazzling new novel, Gore Vidal sweeps us into one of the most fascinating periods of American political and social change. The time is 1917. In Washington, President Wilson is about to lead the United States into the Great War. In California, a new industry is born that will transform America: moving pictures. Here is history as only Gore Vidal can re-create it: brimming with intrigue and scandal, peopled by the greats of the silver screen and American politics, from Charlie Chaplin and Douglas Fairbanks to Franklin D. Roosevelt and the author’s own grandfather, the blind Senator Gore. With Hollywood, Vidal once again proves himself a superb storyteller and a perceptive chronicler of human nature’s endless deceptions.
Silent Cal’s Almanack: The Homespun Wit and Wisdom of Vermont’s Calvin Coolidge by David Pietrusza
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
The Life of Calvin Coolidge by Horace Green
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Presidential Bios
The Preparation of Calvin Coolidge by Robert A. Woods
Lists It Appears On:
- Best Presidential Bios
Why Coolidge Matters: Leadership Lessons from America’s Most Underrated President by Charles C. Johnson
Lists It Appears On:
- Presidents USA
Imagine a country in which strikes by public-sector unions occupied the public square; where foreign policy wandered aimlessly as America disentangled itself from wars abroad and a potential civil war on its southern border; where racial and ethnic groups jostled for political influence; where a war on illicit substances led to violence in its cities; where technology was dramatically changing how mankind communicated and moved about—and where the educated harbored increasing contempt for the philosophic underpinnings of our republic.
The Best Calvin Coolidge Book Lists Consulted
| Source | Article |
| All The Presidents Books | One Through Forty-Two or Forty-Three |
| At Times Dull | Janet’s Presidential Biography Project & Blog |
| Best Presidential Bios | The Best Presidential Biographies |
| Huffington Post | Presidents’ Day History: The Must-Reads Of Presidential Biographies |
| Library of Congress | Selected Bibliography |
| Mandi Lindner | 44 Presidents and Their Definitive Biographies |
| Mashable | Why I’m spending a year reading about every U.S. president |
| NY Times | Good Books About Bad Presidents |
| Presidential History | Presidential Resources |
| Presidential History (Again) | Pulitzer Prize Winning Books About Presidents |
| Presidents USA | FURTHER INFORMATION ABOUT CALVIN COOLIDGE |
| The Tailored Man | The 44 Best Presidential Biographies |
| The Washington Post | The Fix’s list of best presidential biographies |
