Obama’s account of his path to the White House and his first term, from the 2008 campaign to the raid on Bin Laden. He reads it himself. Rated 4.9 stars by more than 56,000 listeners.

Bush organizes his memoir around the biggest decisions of his life and presidency, from giving up drinking to 9/11, Iraq and Hurricane Katrina. A candid, decision-by-decision account.

Carter looks back on ninety years: his Georgia boyhood, his Navy submarine service, the White House and the decades of work after it. A short, reflective listen, read by Carter himself.

Robert Kennedy’s near hour-by-hour account of the October 1962 standoff with the Soviet Union, told from inside the room with his brother, the President. Short and tense.

McCullough’s Pulitzer-winning life of Harry Truman covers the atomic bomb, the start of the Cold War and Korea. It is very long, but an absorbing portrait of the man in the middle of it all.

Chernow follows Ulysses S. Grant from failed businessman to Civil War general and president, and reshapes his legacy along the way. A huge listen, rated 4.9 stars by more than 14,000 listeners.

Goodwin’s Lincoln Prize winner shows how Lincoln brought his bitter political rivals into his cabinet and held the Union together. The inspiration for the film Lincoln.

Chernow’s biography of the immigrant orphan who helped build the American financial system, and the book behind the Broadway musical. Scott Brick carries the 36 hours well.

Mandela’s memoir of his early life, his fight to end apartheid, his 27 years in prison and the road to the presidency. Honest about his own flaws, and a story of forgiveness and perseverance.

Andrew Roberts draws on newly available papers and diaries to show the man behind the myth, failures as well as finest hour. A 50-hour commitment, narrated by Stephen Thorne.

Goodwin draws on Lincoln, Theodore and Franklin Roosevelt and Lyndon Johnson to show how leadership is built, tested and sometimes lost. Rated 4.8 stars by more than 4,300 listeners.

Malcolm X’s life story, told to Alex Haley, from a troubled youth to the Nation of Islam and his break from it. Laurence Fishburne’s narration gives it real force. Rated 4.9 stars by nearly 14,000 listeners.

Pulitzer winner Robert Massie follows the German princess who became Russia’s most powerful empress, as a ruler and as a flesh-and-blood woman. Rated 4.5 stars by more than 2,600 listeners.

Malala’s story of life under the Taliban in Pakistan’s Swat Valley, her campaign for girls’ education and the attack that nearly killed her. Rated 4.6 stars by more than 12,000 listeners.

Michelle Obama on her Chicago childhood, her career, her marriage and eight years in the White House. She reads it herself, and listeners have rated it 4.9 stars more than 180,000 times.

Susan Rice traces her path from a Washington childhood to UN ambassador and national security adviser under Obama, with candid reflections on the crises she handled. Read by Rice.

Madeleine Albright, America’s first woman Secretary of State, recounts her years at the center of Clinton-era foreign policy, from the Middle East to the Balkans. She reads it herself.

Kamala Harris on her upbringing, her years as a prosecutor and her rise in politics, and the values she says shaped them. She reads it herself; rated 4.7 stars by more than 5,400 listeners.

Tapper and Thompson report on how concerns about President Biden’s age and capacity were handled by his inner circle and his party. Widely discussed and debated since publication.

Ginsburg’s speeches, opinions and writings, with context from her biographers, on gender equality, landmark cases and her friendship with Justice Scalia. Includes some recordings of Ginsburg herself.