“Brower is quickly becoming a brand-name Washington writer because of her ability to deliver juicy tidbits and insider information while steering her books toward a mainstream audience without sacrificing historical credibility.” — Christian Science Monitor

Kate Andersen Brower is the author of the #1 New York Times bestseller The Residence and First Women, also a New York Times bestseller, as well as Team Of Five, First In Line, and the children’s books Exploring the White House and The Hill: Inside the Secret World of the U.S. Capitol.

The Residence is being made into a television series produced by Shonda Rhimes for Netflix. Her book Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit and Glamour of an Icon is the first authorized biography of the celebrity activist. She covered the Obama administration for Bloomberg News. She is also a former CBS News staffer and Fox News producer. Kate has written for the New York Times, Vanity Fair, and the Washington Post. Her book First Women about America’s first ladies was a finalist for the Goodreads Choice Awards. She has appeared in many documentaries about American politics, and she was a consulting producer and contributor on the BBC Rebel Superstar series about Elizabeth Taylor produced by Kim Kardashian.

She has appeared on The Today Show, CBS News Sunday Morning, CNN and Morning Joe. She lives outside of Washington, D.C., with her husband, their three young children, and their wheaten terrier.

Kate's Featured Titles

The Hill: Inside the Secret World of the U.S. Capitol

Quill Tree Books |
Government/Middle Grade

#1 New York Times bestselling author Kate Andersen Brower shares a special look inside America’s Capitol and highlights what the people who work there mean to the future of democracy. Perfect for readers of Brower’s first middle grade book, Exploring the White House!

There’s a secret world hidden in the halls of the U.S. Capitol!

The first stone was laid by George Washington himself, and the building stands today as one of the most recognizable symbols of the oldest democracy in the world. In this home of America’s legislative branch, senators and representatives fight to pass laws they believe are for the good of the country.

But these hallowed halls, which some swear are haunted, also harbor a deep history—both extraordinary and unsettling—and that is an equally important part of America’s story.

There is an entire universe tucked away inside the Capitol, and #1 New York Times bestselling author Kate Andersen Brower highlights the historic firsts, the building’s restricted nooks and crannies, and the staffers—from pages to doorkeepers to librarians—who ensure that American democracy stays on track.

Team of Five: The Presidents Club in the Age of Trump

Harper |
Government & Politics

USA Today Bestseller

From the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Residence and First Women—also a New York Times bestseller—comes a poignant, news-making look at the lives of the five former presidents in the wake of their White House years, including the surprising friendships they have formed through shared perspective and empathy.

After serving the highest office of American government, five men—Jimmy Carter, the late George H. W. Bush, Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, and Barack Obama—became members of the world’s most exclusive fraternity. In Team of Five, Kate Andersen Brower goes beyond the White House to uncover what, exactly, comes after the presidency, offering a glimpse into the complex relationships of these five former presidents, and how each of these men views his place in a nation that has been upended by the Oval Office’s current, norm-breaking occupant, President Donald Trump.

With an empathetic yet critical eye and firsthand testimony from the Carters, Donald Trump, and the top aides, friends, and family members of the five former presidents, Team of Five takes us inside the exclusive world of these powerful men and their families, including the unlikely friendship between George W. Bush and Michelle Obama, the last private visits Bill Clinton and Barack Obama shared with George H.W. Bush, and the Obamas’ flight to Palm Springs after Donald Trump’s inauguration. Perhaps most timely, this insightful, illuminating book overflows with anecdotes about how the ex-presidents are working to combat President Trump’s attempts to undo the achievements and hard work accomplished during their own terms.

Perhaps most poignantly, Team of Five sheds light on the inherent loneliness and inevitable feelings of powerlessness and frustration that come with no longer being the most important person in the world, but a leader with only symbolic power. There are ways, though, that these men, and their wives, have become powerful political and cultural forces in American life, even as so-called “formers.”

Team of Five includes 16 pages of color photographs.

The Residence: Inside the Private World of the White House

Harper |
Government & Politics

#1 New York Times Bestseller

“A revealing look at life inside the White House. . . it’s Downton Abbey for the White House staff.”— The Today Show

A remarkable history with elements of both In the President’s Secret Service and The Butler, The Residence offers an intimate account of the service staff of the White House, from the Kennedys to the Obamas.

America’s First Families are unknowable in many ways. No one has insight into their true character like the people who serve their meals and make their beds every day. In her runaway bestseller, former White House correspondent Kate Andersen Brower pulls back the curtain on the world’s most famous address. Full of stories and details by turns dramatic, humorous, and heartwarming, The Residence reveals daily life in the White House as it is really lived through the voices of the maids, butlers, cooks, florists, doormen, engineers, and others who tend to the needs of the President and First Family.

These dedicated professionals maintain the six-floor mansion’s 132 rooms, 35 bathrooms, 28 fireplaces, three elevators, and eight staircases, and prepare everything from hors d’oeuvres for intimate gatherings to meals served at elaborate state dinners. Over the course of the day, they gather in the lower level’s basement kitchen to share stories, trade secrets, forge lifelong friendships, and sometimes even fall in love.

Combining incredible first-person anecdotes from extensive interviews with scores of White House staff members—many speaking for the first time—with archival research, Kate Andersen Brower tells their story. She reveals the intimacy between the First Family and the people who serve them, as well as tension that has shaken the staff over the decades. From the housekeeper and engineer who fell in love while serving President Reagan to Jackie Kennedy’s private moment of grief with a beloved staffer after her husband’s assassination to the tumultuous days surrounding President Nixon’s resignation and President Clinton’s impeachment battle, The Residence is full of surprising and moving details that illuminate day-to-day life at the White House.

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Look Her Up!: The Patriotic Women Who Have Upheld America's Promise from 1776 to Today

I’m working on a book with CBS News’s Norah O’Donnell about women who have shaped the country from 1776 to today. Most of the names you’ve never heard of before, including the enslaved poet Phillis Wheatley who was the first Black woman to have her work published, and only the third colonial American woman to become a published author. Our research has focused on women whose contributions have been under-appreciated, but we also include the iconic Eleanor Roosevelt and the work she did to give other women a voice and access to political power. The book is being published in 2026 to coincide with the 250th anniversary of the founding of the country.

I plan to put together a powerpoint that will include surprising revelations, including the first – and only woman whose name appears on the Declaration of Independence. She was a printer named Mary Katharine Goddard who risked her life to publish the controversial document. I had never heard of her before. Patriots like Goddard deserve to be household names and that is what Norah and I are hoping to do with our book.

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Life Inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: Stories from The Residence and First Women

I have a talk that I’ve delivered many times using The Residence and First Women as discussion points, looking at life inside the White House from JFK’s administration to recent history. I include rare photos in the presentation. I interviewed hundreds of former butlers, housekeepers, presidents, first ladies and their children to tell the story of recent political history through a personal lens for both books. The Residence was a #1 New York Times Bestseller and was called “a revealing look at life inside the White House. . . it’s Downton Abbey for the White House staff” by the Today Show.

A remarkable history with elements of both In the President’s Secret Service and The Butler, The Residence offers an intimate account of the service staff of the White House, from the Kennedys to the Obamas.

America’s First Families are unknowable in many ways. No one has insight into their true character like the people who serve their meals and make their beds every day. I pull back the curtain on the world’s most famous address. Full of stories and details by turns dramatic, humorous, and heartwarming, The Residence reveals daily life in the White House as it is really lived through the voices of the maids, butlers, cooks, florists, doormen, engineers, and others who tend to the needs of the President and First Family.

My book First Women was called “[A] gossipy, but surprisingly deep, look at the women who help and sometimes overshadow their powerful husbands” by USA Today. In First Women I take an intimate, news-making look at the true modern power brokers at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue: the First Ladies, from Jackie Kennedy to Michelle Obama.

One of the most underestimated—and challenging—positions in the world, the First Lady of the United States must be many things: an inspiring leader with a forward-thinking agenda of her own; a savvy politician, skilled at navigating the treacherous rapids of Washington; a wife and mother operating under constant scrutiny; and an able CEO responsible for the smooth operation of countless services and special events at the White House. I draw on a wide array of untapped, candid sources—from residence staff and social secretaries to friends and political advisers—to tell the stories of the ten remarkable women who have defined that role since 1960.

I offer new insights into this privileged group of remarkable women, including Jacqueline Kennedy, Lady Bird Johnson, Patricia Nixon, Betty Ford, Rosalynn Carter, Nancy Reagan, Barbara Bush, Hillary Clinton, Laura Bush, and Michelle Obama. The stories she shares range from the heartwarming to the shocking and tragic, exploring everything from the first ladies’ political crusades to their rivalries with Washington figures; from their friendships with other first ladies to their public and private relationships with their husbands.

Candid and illuminating, this first group biography of the modern first ladies provides a revealing look at life upstairs and downstairs at the world’s most powerful address. In this book talk I bring these women to life as three dimensional complicated and fascinating people who sometimes drove history.

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Middle Grade Books

This talk would look at the White House (using my book Exploring the White House) and the Capitol (using my book The Hill) to give a personal tour of the place and the people who make our democracy function. I interviewed chefs, cleaners, carpenters and staffers who devote their lives to getting up every day and serving the country. The talk highlights the historic firsts, the restricted nooks and crannies in the White House and the Capitol, and the staffers—from pages to doorkeepers to librarians who are integral to the preservation of American democracy.

This is a nonpartisan presentation that comes from deep research and lengthy interviews that celebrates our country’s past. My goal is to inspire middle schoolers to become personally invested and curious about the people who shaped the country.

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Elizabeth Taylor: The Grit & Glamour of an Icon

An Editor’s Pick on Amazon, I had unprecedented access to Elizabeth Taylor’s diaries and love letters which I will show in the presentation. I interviewed more than 250 family, friends and lovers that bring the story of the last major star to come out of the old Hollywood studio system to life. Elizabeth is most famous for being married eight times to seven men. I became fascinated by her when I got to know her sixth husband, Senator John Warner, a Virginia Republican. He never stopped loving her and he wanted me to write this book.

She is a legend known for her beauty and her magnetic screen presence in a career that spanned most of the twentieth century and nearly sixty films. But her private life was even more compelling than her Oscar-winning on-screen performances. During her seventy-nine years of rapid-fire love and loss she was a survivor—by the time she was twenty-six she was twice divorced and once widowed. Her life was a soap opera that ended in a deeply meaningful way when she became the first major celebrity activist to lead the fight against HIV/AIDS. A co-founder of amfAR, she raised more than $100 million for research and patient care. She was also a shrewd businesswoman who made a fortune as the first celebrity perfumer who always demanded to be paid what she was worth.

She never gave up on love and her enduring love affair with Richard Burton – and the beautiful letters exchanged between them – is haunting and moving. She was at the height of her power when she was single and became a pathfinding and courageous AIDS activist.

Kate’s Articles

Kate’s Media Link

Honors, Awards & Recognition

#1 New York Times bestselling author
Frequent TV contributor

Media Kit

By clicking the link below you will be directed to a Google Docs Folder
where you can download author photos and cover images.

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