H.W. Brands

He went to Jesuit High School, where he was a National Merit Scholar and a three sport athlete. He enrolled at Stanford University and studied history and mathematics, getting an undergrad degree in history in the year 1975. After he graduated he worked for one year doing sales in the family cutlery business working as a traveling salesman, with a territory that spanned across the West from the Pacific and on to Colorado.

The best place to start is The American Presidents series, the earliest of H.W. Brands's multi-book series: it opens with Theodore Roosevelt (2002) and runs to 45 books across 2002–2017, ending with Bill Clinton (2017). H.W. Brands's other series stand alone, so they can be read in any order.

H.W. Brands has 101 books catalogued in this guide, published between 1988 and 2026. 52 of them belong to 4 named series — the largest being The American Presidents series with 45 books — and 49 are standalone titles, collections or anthologies.

Read each series in publication order — the numbered entries in each series follow the year each book first appeared. H.W. Brands's series do not depend on one another, so they can be started in any order; by start date they are Presidential Rhetoric and Political Communication (2000–2006, 2 books), Foreign Relations and the Presidency (2000, 1 book) and The American Presidents (2002–2017, 45 books), plus 1 more.

This guide splits H.W. Brands's 101 books into 4 named series and 49 titles that stand alone or appear only in collections: The American Presidents (45 books, 2002–2017); Discovering America (4 books, 2011–2013); Presidential Rhetoric and Political Communication (2 books, 2000–2006); Foreign Relations and the Presidency (1 book, 2000).