He won the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Biography or Autobiography for American Lion: Andrew Jackson in the White House.

He holds the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Endowed Chair in American Presidency at Vanderbilt University.

[1] His parents are Jere Ellis Meacham (1946–2008), a construction and labor-relations executive who was decorated for valor during the Vietnam War,[2] and Linda (McBrayer) Brodie.

[4] When he was a child, his grandfather had discussions each morning with a group of men about local and national politics.

[6] He then went on to attend Sewanee: The University of the South where he graduated salutatorian and summa cum laude in 1991 with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English literature and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa.

Spanning the period from 1941 to 1998, the book includes writings of noted civil-rights leaders, novelists, and journalists, like John Lewis, James Baldwin, William Faulkner, and David Halberstam.

[9][13][a] Jill Abramson writing in a book review in The New York Times states that Meacham's books are "well researched, drawing on new anecdotal material and up-to-date historiographical interpretations" and presents his "subjects as figures of heroic grandeur despite all-too-human shortcomings".

[17][18] In 2014, Meacham appeared in Ken Burns' documentary series The Roosevelts: An Intimate History on PBS.

[1] He was a visiting professor of political science at Vanderbilt University[19] before being appointed to the Carolyn T. and Robert M. Rogers Chair in American Presidency.