Jared Cohen, bestselling author, to release 'Life After Power,' new book on seven former US presidents

A compelling new book is arriving in timely fashion early in this election year of 2024 as the major party candidates are almost certain to be two former U.S. presidents.

"Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House" by New York Times bestselling author Jared Cohen will be published by Simon & Schuster on Feb. 13, 2024. It puts this year's presidential election into sharp perspective. 

Ahead of the book's release, Fox News Digital will begin publishing an exclusive series of excerpts from the book detailing what's at stake this year and revealing the instructive post-White House careers of seven former presidents — each of whom charted his own course beyond the years as chief executive.

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The pieces will be accompanied by original and exclusive video interviews from Fox News Digital with Cohen about "Life After Power."

"While I started writing the book in 2019, it comes out at a time that proves highly relevant to the news cycle," Cohen said of the new book.

Jared Cohen's new book is "Life After Power: Seven Presidents and Their Search for Purpose Beyond the White House" (Simon & Schuster, Feb. 13, 2024), which he began writing in 2019.  (Fox News Digital; Jared Cohen/Simon & Schuster)

"For the first and only time since 1892, we will have a rematch between presidents who are nominees of the two major parties," Cohen said. "It last happened in 1892 with Benjamin Harrison as the Republican and Grover Cleveland as the Democrat."

"Life After Power" covers the post-White House years of Thomas Jefferson; John Quincy Adams; Grover Cleveland; William Howard Taft; Herbert Hoover; Jimmy Carter; and George W. Bush.

Yet, "differently from today," Cohen also told Fox News Digital, "Cleveland never lost the popular vote. But the fact that we are here again shows just how much we have deviated from our country's political evolution."

The New York City-based Cohen is covering the post-White House years of Thomas Jefferson; John Quincy Adams; Grover Cleveland; William Howard Taft; Herbert Hoover; Jimmy Carter; and George W. Bush.

Cohen covers seven presidents in his new book "Life After Power," including Thomas Jefferson, Grover Cleveland, Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush.  (Fox News Digital; Hulton Archive/Getty Images/National Archives/Newsmakers)

Regarding the 2024 presidential election, Cohen said the almost-certain rematch between President Biden and former President Trump "features the two oldest candidates in history, both of whom are less popular than they were four years ago.

"Part of why we are in this situation," he added, "is that there are two presidents who don't want to give up power. The rest of the world looks to America — and when our presidents hold on, it sets the tone for the rest of the world."

‘We will need heavy hitters’

The new book examines the post-presidential lives of Thomas Jefferson, John Quincy Adams, Grover Cleveland, William Howard Taft, Herbert Hoover, Jimmy Carter and George W. Bush. 

Among the topics of urgent interest, he said, is "the current crisis of American universities — and what Thomas Jefferson, the father of the University of Virginia, would have to say about them."

IVY LEAGUE SCHOOLS FOUNDED TO PROMOTE VIRTUE, GODLINESS HAVE ‘DRIFTED RADICALLY’ AND ‘FORGOTTEN THEIR ROOTS’

Think of it, he said. 

"As rector of UVA at 82 years old, Jefferson fought off a social justice uprising at the very university he founded." He goes into the incident in great detail in the book.

"As rector of UVA at 82 years old, Jefferson fought off a social justice uprising at the very university he founded," said Cohen of the University of Virginia (pictured). Jefferson founded the university in 1819 after serving as U.S. president from 1801 to 1809.  (Will Pryce/Construction Photography/Avalon/Getty Images)

Today, added Cohen, "Congress is dysfunctional and has a record-low approval rating. And yet after leaving office, John Quincy Adams, our sixth president, went on to serve nine terms in the House of Representatives — where he took a radical abolitionist movement and over the years mainstreamed it."

Also, "when today's wars are over, we will need heavy hitters who can help rebuild. Former presidents have a history of winning the peace." 

"By taking these seemingly unrelatable presidents and observing their transitions during the most humbling years, we can learn a lot about how to manage our own transitions."

He cited Taft on the League of Nations; Hoover after World War II; and Carter in his many decades post-presidency. 

Regarding Carter, who is 99 years old, Cohen said that "this is the first major book about the Carter post-presidency since Jimmy Carter entered hospice care."

Carter, who served as 39th president from 1977 to 1981, entered hospice care in early 2023. He is the longest-lived U.S. president. 

Former President Jimmy Carter is 99 years old and in hospice care at his home in Georgia. He's among the presidents profiled in "Life After Power."  (Ida Mae Astute/American Broadcasting Companies via Getty Images)

Cohen noted, "We have a record number of former presidents alive today. We should expect that record to climb higher in the years to come. This is the first serious study of the post-presidency."

When he began work on this book, Cohen said he "thought I was looking at former presidents to shed light on how to find purpose in the twilight years of life. Not surprisingly, as a 42-year-old writing this book, I ended up tackling a much larger question of 'What's next?'"

This is a question, he said, that "all of us will ask many times throughout our lives. And by taking these seemingly unrelatable presidents and observing their transitions during the most humbling years, we can learn a lot about how to manage our own transitions."

In "Life After Power," Cohen examines the life of George W. Bush post-presidency, plus the lives of six other U.S. presidents and their contributions to American society once they left the White House. Cohen spent time interviewing Bush in Kennebunkport, Maine, for the new book.  (Fox News)

A record 4.1 million Americans will hit "the retirement age of 65 this year — it's what some call a ‘silver tsunami.' This book is a new angle on how they can decide how they want to spend the next chapter of their lives."

Pre-publication praise has been coming in for the book, including from former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, who said, "Jared Cohen captures, with great humor and depth, the introspection and actions taken by Americans who have been entrusted with great power finding purpose when their time on the main stage is over. The wonderful mix of the personal and historical will leave every reader asking themselves about purpose in life."

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Cohen has long studied former occupants of the White House. His previous book, "Accidental Presidents: Eight Men Who Changed America," looked in detail at the lives of John Tyler; Millard Fillmore; Andrew Johnson; Chester Arthur; Theodore Roosevelt; Calvin Coolidge; Harry Truman; and Lyndon B. Johnson. It was a New York Times bestseller.

Stay tuned for a series of nine exclusive excerpts at Fox News Digital, beginning later this week, from the new book "Life After Power" by Jared Cohen.

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