After practicing law for many years, David O. Stewart began to write history. His first book, The Summer of 1787: The Men Who Invented the Constitution, was a Washington Post bestseller and won the Washington Writing Award as Best Book of 2007. Then came Impeached: The Trial of President Andrew Johnson and the Fight for Lincoln’s Legacy, and American Emperor, Aaron Burr’s Challenge to Jefferson’s America, which won the Society of the Cincinnati's 2013 History Prize. The Lincoln Deception, an historical mystery about the John Wilkes Booth Conspiracy, was released in late August 2013. Bloomberg View called it the best historical novel of the year and it has had two sequels, The Paris Deception and the Babe Ruth Deception. Two more nonfiction books from David are Madison’s Gift: Five Partnerships That Built America, released in February, 2015, and George Washington: The Political Rise of America's Founding Father, published in February 2021, which has won prizes from the Society of the Cincinnati and the Colonial Dames. The Washington Post called Madison's Gift a portrait “rich in empathy and understanding” by “an acknowledged master of narrative history.” The Wall Street Journal called the George Washington book "[A]n outstanding biography that both avoids hagiography and acknowledges the greatness of Washington's character," adding that "Mr. Stewart's writing is clear, often superlative, his judgments are nuanced, and the whole has a narrative drive such a life deserves." David founded the Washington Independent Review of Books, an online book review, and serves on its board, and the board of The Writers Center in Bethesda, MD.