Biographies
The best starting point for understanding Hoover's life and career are two biographies written in the 1970s: David Burner's 'Herbert Hoover: A Public Life' and 'Herbert Hoover: Forgotten Progressive' by Joan Hoff Wilson. Burner's is the best single-volume account of Hoover's life, one that demonstrates the continuity between his early years and later career. Wilson offers a shorter introduction, one which argues that Hoover was a far more progressive figure than his post-Depression reputation would suggest.

For a more comprehensive examination of Hoover's early years, the source to turn to is George Nash's detailed three-volume study, 'The Life of Herbert Hoover: The Engineer 1874-1914 (Life of Herbert Hoover, Vol. 1)', 'Life of Herbert Hoover: The Humanitarian, 1914-1917 (Life of Herbert Hoover, Vol. 2)', and 'The Life of Herbert Hoover: Masters of Emergencies, 1917-1918 (Life of Herbert Hoover, Vol 3)'. Though ending at the beginning of Hoover's public career, they are indispensable for his time as an engineer, philanthropist, and wartime bureaucrat. An interesting examination of Hoover through his passion for fishing is made by Hal Elliott Wert in 'Hoover The Fishing President: Portrait of the Private Man and His Life Outdoors'. His post-presidential career is the subject of Richard Norton Smith's 'An Uncommon Man: The Triumph of Herbert Hoover', which covers the remarkable three-decade period during which he remained an active figure in public life. Hoover's wife Lou has also received her share of biographical attention; see 'Lou Henry Hoover: Activist First Lady (Modern First Ladies)' and 'An Independent Woman : The Life of Lou Henry Hoover (Contributions in American History)' for two recent accounts of her life.

Specialized Studies
Hoover's career as an engineer has been best covered by Nash's biography cited above. Nash also recounts Hoover's 73-year long relationship with his alma mater in 'Herbert Hoover and Stanford University (Hoover Institution Press Publication)'. For an examination of Hoover's activities during the First World War, see the various essays in 'Herbert Hoover: The Great War and Its Aftermath, 1914-23 (Herbert Hoover Centennial Seminars, No. 1)'. 'American Food in the World War and Reconstruction Period: Operations of the Organizations under the Direction of Herbert Hoover, 1914 to 1924' offers a good source of information dealing with his role in food regulation and relief. Gary Dean Best's 'The Politics of American Individualism: Herbert Hoover in Transition, 1918-1921' looks at his views on the economic consequences of the Versailles Treaty and how they shaped his views on postwar political economy.

Hoover's tenure as Secretary of Commerce has been well-covered, both in terms of its importance in the Republican administrations of the 1920s and for the insights it holds into his subsequent policies as president. A good starting point for this period is the essays contained in 'Herbert Hoover As Secretary of Commerce: Studies in New Era Thought and Practice (Herbert Hoover Centennial Seminars ; 2)', which provide a multifaceted examination of his service in that office. For Hoover's vision for economic growth, he efforts to implement it as Commerce Secretary in the 1920s, and his attempts to reformulate it in response to the Great Depression, read William Barber's 'From New Era to New Deal : Herbert Hoover, the Economists, and American Economic Policy, 1921-1933 (Historical Perspectives on Modern Economics)'.

Hoover's involvement in monetary policy as Commerce Secretary is the subject of Silvano Wueschner's 'Charting Twentieth-Century Monetary Policy: Herbert Hoover and Benjamin Strong, 1917-1927 (Contributions in Economics and Economic History)'. For his use of economic policy to manage foreign relations during this period, see 'Herbert Hoover and Economic Diplomacy;'. In 'Hoover, Conservation, and Consumerism: Engineering the Good Life', Kendrick Clements describes how Hoover developed an environmental policy based on his professed values of consumerism and individualism. His continued efforts for famine relief even after he became Commerce Secretary are the subject of Benjamin Weissman's 'Herbert Hoover and Famine Relief to Soviet Russia: 1921-1923 (Publications Ser. : No. 134)', which makes a case for its purely humanitarian intentions.

The best overview of Hoover's presidency, is the relevant volume in the American Presidency Series published by the University of Kansas Press, Martin Fausold's 'The Presidency of Herbert C. Hoover (American Presidency Series)'. Any judgement of his tenure as president, of course, must address his response to the Depression, the central event of his time in the White House. The best single-volume overview of the Depression in America is 'The Great Depression : America 1929-1941' by Robert McElvaine, while David Kennedy has a good account of Hoover's efforts to deal with the depression in his Pulitzer Prize-winning 'Freedom from Fear : The American People in Depression and War, 1929-1945 (Oxford History of the United States)'.

In his classic 'The Crisis of the Old Order : 1919-1933, The Age of Roosevelt, Volume I (The Age of Roosevelt)' Arthur Schlesinger provides the case against Hoover's response as president; more sympathetic examinations of his policies can be found in 'Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression.', 'The poverty of abundance; Hoover, the Nation, the depression', and 'The interregnum of despair: Hoover, Congress, and the depression'. The creation of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and its operation during Hoover's presidency is covered by James Stuart Olson in 'Herbert Hoover and the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, 1931-1933'. In 'Bylines in Despair: Herbert Hoover, the Great Depression, and the U.S. News Media' Louis Liebovich argues that Hoover's flawed understanding of the press was the key to his doomed relations with them.

Needless to say, not every aspect of Hoover's presidency was tied up with the depression. Warren Cohen as a good short introduction to the forign policy of the period in his book 'Empire Without Tears: America's Foreign Relations, 1921-1933', while 'Herbert Hoover's Latin-American policy' looks at his approach to that continent. For his defense policies and relations with the military, John R. M. Wilson's 'Herbert Hoover and the Armed Forces: A Study of Presidential Attitudes and Policy (Modern American History : New Studies and Outstanding Dissertatio)' is the best starting point. For his relations with black America and his failed effort to remove race as a basis for politics, see Donald J. Lisio's 'Hoover, Blacks, and Lily-Whites: A Study of Southern Strategies (Fred W Morrison Series in Southern Studies)'. James D. Calder's 'The Origins and Development of Federal Crime Control Policy: Herbert Hoover's Initiatives' examines Hoover's active interest in fereal law enforcement and his efforts to introduce more scientific methods.

For the Bonus Marchers incident, which did more than any other single event to seal Hoover's fate in the 1932 presidential election, see Donald J. Lisio's 'The President and Protest: Hoover, Macarthur, and the Bonus Riot', which is good on Hoover's motives, and Paul Dickson's and Thomas Allen's more recent 'The Bonus Army : An American Epic'. Gary Dean Best has provided a detailed, if excessively sympathetic, account of Hoover's post-presidential career in 'Herbert Hoover, the Postpresidential Years, Vol. 1: 1933-1945' and 'Herbert Hoover, the Postpresidential Years, 1933-1964, Vol. 2: 1946-1964'.

Writings
Hoover was among the more prolific authors to have occupied the White House. The most important of these were the three volumes of his memoirs, 'The memoirs of Herbert Hoover;: Years of adventure, 1874-1920', 'The memoirs of Herbert Hoover: The cabinet and the presidency, 1920-1933', and 'The Memoirs of Herbert Hoover, Vol. 3: The Great Depression, 1929-1941'. Together they offer a detailed defense of his record, though one shaded by his subsequent bitterness. This is also reflected in 'The Ordeal of Woodrow Wilson', his account of working with Wilson during the First World War. His correspondence with the president during this period has been edited by Francis William O'Brien and published as 'The Hoover-Wilson wartime correspondence, September 24, 1914, to November 11, 1918' and 'Two Peacemakers in Paris: The Hoover-Wilson Post-Armistice Letters, 1918-1920'.

Hoover's first book 'Principles of Mining: Valuation Organization and Administration Copper Gold Lead Silver Tin and Zinc' was praised upon its release and remained a standard text for years afterwards. His ideology was expressed in 'American Individualism' and restated after his experiences as president in 'Challenge to Liberty (Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Era of the New Deal)'. His campaign speeches were collected in 'The new day;: Campaign speeches of Herbert Hoover, 1928', while those he gave after he left the White House were published in a series of volumes, including 'Addresses upon the American Road, 1933-1938', 'Addresses upon the American road, 1940-1941,', and 'Addresses upon the American road: World War II, 1941-1945'