Presidents

The retired Army officer who testified about President Trump's call to the president of Ukraine, talks about the experience and the price he paid. Vindman's new memoir is Here, Right Matters.

In his first interview with Terry Gross, Obama talks about what he misses most about being president and reflects on the turmoil of the Trump White House. Obama's new memoir is 'A Promised Land.'

Jack Goldsmith, former legal counsel to George W. Bush's White House, says no matter when Trump leaves office, his successor will face tough questions about how to reconstruct the battered presidency.

Wash. Post reporters Carol Leonnig and Philip Rucker discuss presidential rages, erratic decision-making and other troubling tendencies of the Trump presidency. Their new book is A Very Stable Genius.

Two ethics lawyers who worked for President Bush and President Obama, respectively, outline their concerns about a Donald Trump presidency.

In Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989, the historian looks at crucial moments in which a president risked his political career for the good of the country.

In his new book, New York Times journalist Tim Weiner paints a portrait of a president overwhelmed by wars at home and abroad, whose self-destructive behavior resulted in "political suicide."

In Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln, historian Doris Kearns Goodwin explains how the 16th president brought into his cabinet three powerful men who politically opposed him. She spoke with Fresh Air's Terry Gross in 2005.

This interview was originally broadcast on Nov. 8, 2005.

Vanity Fair's Todd Purdum followed President Obama and his advisers around for a day this summer. He says the modern-day presidency would be unrecognizable to previous chief executives -- "thanks to the enormous bureaucracy, congressional paralysis, systematic corruption and disintegrating media."

Matt Latimer, speechwriter to President George W. Bush during his last months in office, says his old boss didn't always stick to the script. His new tell-all memoir recounts more than one startling comment that Latimer says his boss made behind closed doors.