Suetonius' The Twelve Caesars became a classic of classical times: a virtuoso literary portrait gallery, remarkable not only for its frank dissections of Rome's great emperors, but also because the twelve men were the embodiment - both good and bad - of Rome's greatest century.

In view of the country's rise to superpower status, the twentieth century has been called 'the American Century', and award-winning biographer Nigel Hamilton now gives us the lives of the twelve men who presided over America's imperial fortunes - the good, the bad and the truly awful.

Not since the days of the Roman emperors has there been such a succession of rulers holding the fate of the world in their hands. How did these American Caesars reach the White House? What were the challenges they faced when they got there and how did they meet them? And who were these men in their private lives?

Nigel Hamilton's short, candid, critical portraits of the presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush are compulsively readable. Packed with unforgettable characters as well as stories, lessons and revelations, American Caears is essential reading for our times: a vivid portrait of the United States over the past six decades to rival Suetonius' account of classical Rome.