Lincoln's Greatest Speech

In 2002 White authored Lincoln's Greatest Speech: The Second Inaugural. A Washington Post and San Francisco Chronicle bestseller, The New York Times selected it a Notable Book for 2002.^[5] James M. McPherson declared, "Lincoln thought the Second Inaugural to be his greatest speech—even more profound than the Gettysburg Address. Ronald C. White's remarkable analysis of the Second Inaugural will convince readers that Lincoln was right." David Herbert Donald called the book "both learned and accessible".^[6]

The Eloquent President

In 2005 White authored The Eloquent President: A Portrait of Lincoln Through His Words,^[7] a Los Angeles Times bestseller and a selection of the History Book Club. The Wall Street Journal observed, "Lincoln's eloquence was of ... a rare kind. Ronald C. White captures its qualities admirably ... in this outstanding book."^[8] The Washington Post judged it "splendid.... The Eloquent President is an insightful, highly readable exploration of genius."^[9]

A. Lincoln: A Biography

A. Lincoln: A Biography was published in 2009 during the bicentennial of Lincoln's birth.^[10] It was a New York Times, Washington Post, and Los Angeles Times bestseller. USA Today stated, "If you read one book about Lincoln, make it A. Lincoln." The biography was named one of the best books of 2009 by The Washington Post, Philadelphia Inquirer, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, Christian Science Monitor, and Barnes & Noble. Harold Holzer wrote: "Each generation requires—and seems to inspire—its own masterly one-volume Lincoln biography, and scholar Ronald C. White has crowned the bicentennial year with an instant classic for the twenty-first century."^[11] In 2010 A. Lincoln won a Christopher Award, which salutes books that "affirm the highest values of the human spirit".^[12]

In his review of A. Lincoln, historian David W. Blight wrote, "this thoroughly researched book belongs on the A-list of major biographies of the tall Illinoisan; it's a worthy companion for all who admire Lincoln's prose and his ability to see into, and explain, America's greatest crisis."^[13] Reviewer Phillip C. Stone wrote:

Ronald White's A. Lincoln: A Biography is readable, thorough, and thoughtful.... In a particularly insightful way, White describes Lincoln's development into a mature man, a successful politician and superior lawyer. He handles Lincoln's religious development particularly well. An early freethinker, Lincoln never joined a church but became increasingly religious. Even as a young man he appeared to be uninterested in joining the fundamentalist Baptist group of his parents, but he was certainly influenced by the Calvinistic determinism of his parents' faith. Later, when he became acquainted with well-educated and intellectual pastors, his interest in metaphysical matters grew and matured. In the same evolutionary way that his political and personal strengths developed, his religious views became stronger, partly because of his intellectual development and partly in response to the despair and anguish he experienced from the 1862 death of his son Willie and the hundreds of thousands of war casualties.^[14]

American Ulysses

In 2016, White published American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant, which became an instant New York Times bestseller.^[15] General (Ret.) David H. Petraeus declared, "Certain to be recognized as the classic work on Grant, American Ulysses is a monumental examination of one of the most compelling figures in American history." Jon Meacham wrote, "In this thorough and engaging new book, Ronald C. White restores U. S. Grant to the pantheon of great Americans." Presidential historian Richard Norton Smith stated, "Employing a perspective as fresh as his newly tapped sources, White at last solves the Grant Enigma—reconciling in character and ability the hero of Appomattox with the (allegedly) failed President. It is the biography that Grant deserves, and that only a scholar of the first rank can deliver."

Reviewer Richard G. Mannion, states regarding American Ulysses:

Scholarship of Ulysses S. Grant advances itself significantly with this marvelously written, meticulously researched biography of a man whose public memory not so long ago was in such decline that even "dogs did not like him". With 667 pages of text, over 100 pages of notes and an extensive bibliography which appears to include everything with "Grant" written on it other than a fifty-dollar bill, this book holds great appeal for both the scholar and casual reader alike.^[16]

Lincoln in Private: What His Most Personal Reflections Tell Us About Our Greatest President

In 2021, White published Lincoln in Private, which, according to historian Andrew F. Lang, examines "109 surviving fragments or notes that feature what [Lincoln] called his 'best' (though often 'disconnected') thoughts. In scrawled penmanship, Lincoln explored a range of subjects: the mysteries of nature, a lawyer's public reputation, the immorality of slavery, the active role of God in human affairs. These notes—some no more than a few sentences, others multiple paragraphs—were not, according to Lincoln's personal secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay, 'written to be seen by men'".^[17]

On Great Fields: The Life and Unlikely Heroism of Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain

In 2023, White published On Great Fields, a biography of Union General Joshua Chamberlain, who, as a colonel, played a decisive role in the Union victory at Gettysburg. Professor of American Literature Randall Fuller wrote:

The author is good at tracing Chamberlain's early life and his transformation from junior professor of rhetoric to unlikely war hero. He is somewhat more understated about the difficulties Chamberlain experienced once he returned to civilian life.... Historians of the postwar years describe a period in which white Northerners and Southerners slowly reunited at the expense of the African-American citizens freed by the conflict.... Chamberlain's life conforms to this dynamic..... "But for me," Mr. White concludes, "Chamberlain remains a hero nonetheless, a leader committed to magnanimity in the divided nation of his time".^[18]