Alexis Coe

NEW EXCLUSIVE
  • Presidential Historian
  • New York Times Bestselling Author, 'You Never Forget Your First'
  • Host, 'Presidents are People Too!' Podcast
  • Contributor to the New Yorker, The New York Times, Paris Review, and Many More

Presidential historian and New York Times bestselling author Alexis Coe is heralded for her lively, genre-defying, myth-busting essays, books, documentaries, and podcasts. Both of Coe’s books were critically acclaimed: Alice+Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis was praised by the New Yorker as having “the liveliness of a novel,” and her instant New York Times bestselling biography of George Washington, You Never Forget Your First, made every major publication’s Best Books of 2020, including TIME Magazine’s 100 Books To Read and an NPR Concierge “Best Book of the Year.” Coe has been sought-after for speaking engagements at Columbia, West Point, Georgetown, Sarah Lawrence, NYU, The New School, the University of San Francisco, and many others, and has given talks sponsored by Hulu, Chanel, and Madewell.

Coe regularly contributes to the New York Times, the New Yorker, the New Republic, Paris Review, Elle, and many others. She has appeared on CNN, the History Channel, C-SPAN, and CBS. Coe served as a consulting producer on the History Channel’s three-part series on Washington, hosted The Wing’s award-winning podcast No Man’s Land, and co-hosted Audible’s Presidents Are People Too! podcast, which recasts each of the American presidents as real-life people, complete with flaws, quirks, triumphs, scandals, and bodily ailments. Known for her engaging, informative, and charismatic delivery, Coe consistently receives rave reviews: "Alexis was a delight, and gave us important context for today's events at both of her talks” (Enoch Pratt Free Library) and "We had a terrific event.  Alexis Coe was amazing.” (Muskingum County Library System)

 



Alexis Coe headshot
Past Hosts Include:
  • Muskingum County Library System
  • Enoch Pratt Free Library
  • The Wing
  • NYHS
  • HistoryCon
  • Mount Vernon
  • WBUR City Space
Rave Reviews About Alexis Coe as a Speaker
Alexis was a delight, and gave us important context for today's events at both of her talks.

Book Talk - George Washington: You Never Forget Your First - But You Do Misremember Him | NYU Law [1:05:41] - Get Sharable Link
Talks & Conversations with Alexis Coe
Expand all >

Disrupt like George Washington: How the Founding-est Father Managed to Build, Not Break

America inspired an age of revolutions, yet no country was as successful, peaceful, or happy, and George Washington deserves much credit. His feats off the battlefield–superior management, ethics, conduct, and public relations campaigns–were integral to the infant nation’s rapid success. As soon as ...

America inspired an age of revolutions, yet no country was as successful, peaceful, or happy, and George Washington deserves much credit. His feats off the battlefield–superior management, ethics, conduct, and public relations campaigns–were integral to the infant nation’s rapid success. As soon as independence was declared in Philadelphia, Washington insisted he was leading a revolution, not a rebellion, and the world took notice. By the end of the war, even the most loyal colonists preferred Washington’s ragtag army of farmers and laborers’ to the British and Hessian soldiers who exploited and abused them. Join New York Times bestselling author and award-winning Presidential Historian Alexis Coe to learn how the great military statesman, spin doctor, and spy secured America’s place among ancient superpowers.

Free Market or Die: How George Washington Went From Risk-Averse Colonist to Reluctant Revolutionary

When news of the Boston Tea Party reached George Washington in Virginia, he was thrilled – until he learned that private property had been destroyed! The ambitious colonist had been frustrated by Parliament’s whims and exploited by London’s merchants, too, but hope springs eternal in the heart of a ...

When news of the Boston Tea Party reached George Washington in Virginia, he was thrilled – until he learned that private property had been destroyed! The ambitious colonist had been frustrated by Parliament’s whims and exploited by London’s merchants, too, but hope springs eternal in the heart of a risk-averse entrepreneur – and the risks couldn’t be higher. A ragtag army of colonists was unlikely to defeat the greatest naval power in the world, but if defeated, men like Washington would be hanged, his property confiscated, and his family left in peril. And yet, two years after the Boston Tea Party, Washington stuffed himself into a military uniform he hadn’t worn since he was a bachelor and rode to Philadelphia, where he would be named the first General of the Continental Army. Join New York Times bestselling author and award-winning Presidential Historian Alexis Coe to learn what transformed George Washington from a risk-averse entrepreneur to a reluctant Revolutionary.

Frenemies: How George Washington and the Founding Fathers Rallied Around a Cause – Until They Couldn’t

The founding fathers are often presented as a monolith, but in reality, they were anything but. A common enemy unified them, but once the British were defeated and a country to be run, the ideologically opposed, economically and geographically diverse group of white men came dangerously close to des ...

The founding fathers are often presented as a monolith, but in reality, they were anything but. A common enemy unified them, but once the British were defeated and a country to be run, the ideologically opposed, economically and geographically diverse group of white men came dangerously close to destroying the country – and each other. Washington, who was the only president to hold office without declaring a political party, directly contributed to the rise of partisanship. Join New York Times bestselling author and award-winning Presidential Historian Alexis Coe and learn why George Washington was estranged from Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe at the time of his death.

The First Founder: George Washington

By the time of his death, George Washington had led the world’s two greatest startups – The Continental Army and America – and was one of the largest landholders and whiskey distillers in America. But as a young man, he was so poor, he couldn’t feed his horse, attend school, or tempt a wife. Before ...

By the time of his death, George Washington had led the world’s two greatest startups – The Continental Army and America – and was one of the largest landholders and whiskey distillers in America. But as a young man, he was so poor, he couldn’t feed his horse, attend school, or tempt a wife. Before Washington became a great general or president, he was an ambitious colonist who wanted to be at the center of his country’s story, and how to succeed in that country, and what it was called, changed over time. Marrying the richest widow in Virginia helped, but a series of strategic moves and an unshakeable vision for the future. Join New York Times bestselling author and award-winning Presidential Historian Alexis Coe to learn about America’s founding-est founding fathers.

Abigail Adams: Thwarted Entrepreneur

“If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation,” Abigail Adams wrote, and she meant it. During the American Revolution, John Adams dined with the kings an ...

“If particular care and attention is not paid to the ladies, we are determined to foment a rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any laws in which we have no voice, or representation,” Abigail Adams wrote, and she meant it. During the American Revolution, John Adams dined with the kings and queens of Europe while Abigail struggled to keep their small children safe, happy, and well-fed in a warzone market by uncertainty and scarcity. John hoped the European goods he sent home would lift her spirits, but instead, it awakened her entrepreneurial spirit. Under the close watch of enemy soldiers, she quietly competed with the best profiteers in town, selling ribbons, fans, bowls and pans until a horrified John refused to send more. Abigail knew better than to ask permission when, during the postwar recession, she bought up government bonds going for one-fourth of the face value. And Abigail’s final act confirmed her core beliefs: Women were not allowed to own separate property, yet Abigail left the $10,000 ($100,000 today) of money she described as her own solely to female heirs. Join New York Times bestselling author and award-winning Presidential Historian Alexis Coe to learn about Abigail Adams’s quiet revolution.

Instagram  Twitter 
(-)
Speaker News
<p><strong>Historian and bestselling author Alexis Coe makes history come alive with her unique (and hilarious) perspective</strong></p>

Historian and bestselling author Alexis Coe makes history come alive with her unique (and hilarious) perspective

Presidential historian and New York Times bestselling author ALEXIS COE invites audiences to take a closer look at history – revealing its complexity in new, fresh ways. Coe is the author of Alice+Freda Forever: A Murder in Memphis and her instant New York Times bestselling biography of George Washington, You Never Forget Your First – which was named one of TIME Magazine’s 100 Books To Read and an NPR Concierge “Best Book of the Year.”

Sought after for speaking engagements at Columbia, West Point, Georgetown, NYU, and many others, Coe has also given talks sponsored by Hulu, Chanel, and Madewell – and is frequently asked back by hosts for additional events. In her talks – which are in-demand with startups, businesses, and universities alike – Coe offers a deeply researched and totally delightful lens on political history, making the lessons of the past feel more relevant than ever. As the Enoch Pratt Free Library put it, “Alexis was a delight, and gave us important context for today's events at both of her talks.”

Watch Alexis Coe at Books Are Magic >>

(-)
Books by Alexis Coe
(-)
Press & Media
(-)
Biography

Alexis Coe is a presidential historian, and award-winning and New York Times bestselling author of You Never Forget Your First: A Biography of George Washington and Alice+Freda Forever. Her Washington biography was hailed as an "important intervention" by the Times, "genre-expanding" by the Boston Globe, and was a Best Book of 2020 at NPR and many others. She was a consulting producer on the Doris Kearns Goodwin's three part George Washington series on the History Channel, and hosted the podcasts No Man's Land and Presidents Are People Too! from Audible.

She regularly appears on CNN, the History Channel, C-SPAN, and CBS, and lectured at Columbia, West Point, Georgetown, Sarah Lawrence, NYU, the New School, the University of San Francisco, and many others. She has given talks sponsored by Hulu, Chanel, and Madewell.

Her work has been included in The Best American Essays and The Best American Travel Essays, and she has contributed to the New Yorker, the New York Times' opinion section, the New York Times Magazine, the New Republic, the Paris Review, Elle, and many others.

While in grad school, Alexis was a project-based oral historian at the Brooklyn Historical Society, and after graduating, she was a Research Curator in the Exhibitions Department at the New York Public Library in Bryant Park.