Publications

The Center for Presidential History seeks to publish the fruits of its labor, in collaboration with participating scholars and institutions from all over the world.  Below you will find information on the books for which the CPH has secured publishing contracts, as well as the conferences and public events associated with these books.

Southern ladies bookSouthern First Ladies: Culture and Place in White House Historyedited by Katherine A.S. Sibley 
(University Press of Kansas, 2021)

This book was born out of a CPH conference in March 2018, under the able leadership of Dr. Katherine Sibley (St. Joseph's University). Southern First Ladies explores the ways in which geographical and cultural backgrounds molded a group of influential first ladies. Each chapter uses the lens of "Southernness" to define and better understand the characteristics, actions, and activism of seventeen first ladies, from Martha Washington to Laura Bush.

 

Fourteen Points bookFourteen Points for the Twenty-First Century: A Renewed Appeal for Cooperative Internationalism, edited by Richard H. Immerman and Jeffrey A. Engel 
(University Press of Kentucky; Studies in Conflict, Diplomacy, and Peace)

This publication began as a CPH seminar in September 2016, as we sought to reflect on the broad 21st century applications of Woodrow Wilson’s famous Fourteen Points from 1918. We gathered brilliant minds from all sorts of fields--global health, international development, investment, business consulting, history, cybersecurity, and more--and asked them: how would one of Wilson’s 14 points apply in a fresh way in the 21st century? This book is the answer.

 

Last card bookThe Last Card: Inside George W. Bush's Decision to Surge in Iraq
edited by Hal Brands, William Inboden, Jeffrey Engel and Timothy Sayle
(Cornell University Press, 15 September 2019)

Based on the oral history work done by the Center for Presidential History in its Collective Memory Project, this publication is edited by four scholars including CPH Director Jeffrey Engel and Postdoctoral Fellow Timothy Andrews Sayle (now of the University of Toronto). There is an event in October 2019 for the publication of the book and website.

 

Historian and Chief bookHistorian in Chief: How Presidents Interpret the Past to Shape the Future
edited by Seth Cotlar and Richard J. Ellis
(The University of Virginia Press, 23 April 2019)

This publication started as a conference held at SMU in October 2016, hosted by SMU’s Center for Presidential History, and contains chapters by SMU's Edward Countryman and Postdoctoral Fellow Aaron Crawford.

 

Impeachment bookImpeachment: An American History
edited by Jon Meacham, Timothy Naftali, Peter Baker, and Jeffrey Engel
(Modern Library, 16 October 2018)

Center for Presidential History Director Jeffrey Engel was an author and editor of this publication which was the subject of an event hosted by the CPH in February 2019.

 

Columns to charactersColumns to Characters: The Presidency and the Press Enter the Digital Age
edited by Stephanie A. Martin
(Texas A&M University Press, 1 November 2017)

This upcoming publication started as a conference held at SMU on February 17, 2015, co-sponsored by SMU’s Center for Presidential History, Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility, and Meadows School of the Arts’ Divisions of Communication Studies and Journalism.

 

when life strikes bookWhen Life Strikes the President: Scandal, Death, and Illness in the White House
(Oxford University Press, released on 4 April 2017)

This book started as a conference held at SMU on February 18-19, 2014, co-sponsored by SMU’s Center for Presidential History, Cary M. Maguire Center for Ethics and Public Responsibility, and John Goodwin Tower Center for Political Studies, as well as The Sixth Floor Museum at Dealey Plaza and the George W. Bush Presidential Library and Museum.

 

Faith in the new bookFaith in the New Millennium: The Future of American Religion and Politics
edited by Darren Dochuk and Matthew Sutton
(Oxford University Press, released on 24 December 2015)

This book stems from a conference held at SMU on November 6, 2014, in partnership with the Danforth Center for Religion and Politics at Washington University in Saint Louis. The conference was titled, "Religion and Politics in 21st Century America."

 

The four freedoms bookThe Four Freedoms: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Evolution of an American Idea (Oxford University Press, released on 21 December 2015)

View information on the accompanying conference, hosted on November 7, 2013, including video of the event, featuring contributing authors Drs. Frank Costigliola (UConn), Linda Eads (SMU), Jeffrey Engel (SMU), Matthew Jones (London School of Economics), William Hitchcock (Virginia), and Tisa Wenger (Yale).