Arthur Schlesinger Jr (1917–2007), known today as the architect of John F. Kennedy’s presidential legacy—and the myth of Camelot—blazed an extraordinary path from Harvard University to war-time London to the West Wing. The son of a pioneering historian—and a two-time Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner in his own right—Schlesinger redefined the art of presidential biography. A Thousand Days, remains influential and has cemented Schlesinger’s place as one of the nation’s greatest political image-makers.

In this vivid account, Richard Aldous draws on oral history, rarely seen archival documents and the official Schlesinger papers to craft a portrait of a brilliant and controversial historian who framed America’s rise to global empirialism.