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Queen Victoria
By Lytton Strachey.
Giles Lytton Strachey (1880-1932) was a British writer and critic. He is best known for establishing a new form of…
biography in which psychological insight and sympathy are combined with irreverence and wit. From time to time throughout his life Strachey studied Italian, German, and French. Landmarks in French Literature was published in 1912. By 1916 Strachey's theory of biography was fully developed and mature. He was being greatly influenced by Dostoevsky. His first great success, and his most famous achievement, was Eminent Victorians (1918), a collection of four short biographies of Victorian heroes. This work was followed in the same style by Queen Victoria (1921). Amongst his other works are Books and Characters: French and English (1922), Elizabeth and Essex: A Tragic History (1928), Portraits in Miniature (1931) and Characters and Commentaries (1933).A Matter of Justice: Eisenhower and the Beginning of the Civil Rights Revolution
By David. A. Nichols. 2007
Fifty years after President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce a federal court order desegregating…
the city's Central High School, a leading authority on Eisenhower presents an original and engrossing narrative that places Ike and his civil rights policies in dramatically new light. Historians such as Stephen Ambrose and Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., have portrayed Eisenhower as aloof, if not outwardly hostile, to the plight of African-Americans in the 1950s. It is still widely assumed that he opposed the Supreme Court's landmark 1954 Brown v. Board of Education decision mandating the desegregation of public schools, that he deeply regretted appointing Earl Warren as the Court's chief justice because of his role in molding Brown, that he was a bystander in Congress's passage of the civil rights acts of 1957 and 1960, and that he so mishandled the Little Rock crisis that he was forced to dispatch troops to rescue a failed policy. In this sweeping narrative, David A. Nichols demonstrates that these assumptions are wrong. Drawing on archival documents neglected by biographers and scholars, including thousands of pages newly available from the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Nichols takes us inside the Oval Office to look over Ike's shoulder as he worked behind the scenes, prior to Brown, to desegregate the District of Columbia and complete the desegregation of the armed forces. We watch as Eisenhower, assisted by his close collaborator, Attorney General Herbert Brownell, Jr., sifted through candidates for federal judgeships and appointed five pro-civil rights justices to the Supreme Court and progressive judges to lower courts. We witness Eisenhower crafting civil rights legislation, deftly building a congressional coalition that passed the first civil rights act in eighty-two years, and maneuvering to avoid a showdown with Orval Faubus, the governor of Arkansas, over desegregation of Little Rock's Central High. Nichols demonstrates that Eisenhower, though he was a product of his time and its backward racial attitudes, was actually more progressive on civil rights in the 1950s than his predecessor, Harry Truman, and his successors, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. Eisenhower was more a man of deeds than of words and preferred quiet action over grandstanding. His cautious public rhetoric -- especially his legalistic response to Brown -- gave a misleading impression that he was not committed to the cause of civil rights. In fact, Eisenhower's actions laid the legal and political groundwork for the more familiar breakthroughs in civil rights achieved in the 1960s. Fair, judicious, and exhaustively researched, A Matter of Justice is the definitive book on Eisenhower's civil rights policies that every presidential historian and future biographer of Ike will have to contend with.Citizen McCain
By Elizabeth Drew. 2002
The most original, the most sought-after politician in America today, Senator John McCain is at the front of a large…
movement -- people who are dissatisfied with the way politics is conducted in this country. They are eager for change, and McCain's independence and his vigorous leadership have inspired them. Granted unique access to the Senator and his closest aides, prizewinning journalist Elizabeth Drew offers a close-up, fascinating account of Senator McCain as he goes about the legislative business of achieving campaign finance reform, his signature issue, building coalitions, and working across party lines. As she shows him in action, McCain is revealed as a shrewd and long-sighted strategist, someone who works with his colleagues far more successfully than his image might suggest. We see this original mind at work and get new insights into his complex personality. Drew also shows how McCain has broadened his agenda, putting him at a pivotal place in American political life. In this riveting narrative, replete with McCain's unusual candor, and his unorthodox ways, we see how this war hero turned political leader is showing the public -- and cynical Washington insiders -- that there are other ways to go about working for the public good.Revolutionary Suicide: (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition) (Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition)
By Newton, Huey P.. 1973
The searing, visionary memoir of founding Black Panther Huey P. Newton, in a dazzling graphic package Eloquently tracing the birth…
of a revolutionary, Huey P. Newton's famous and oft-quoted autobiography is as much a manifesto as a portrait of the inner circle of America's Black Panther Party. From Newton's impoverished childhood on the streets of Oakland to his adolescence and struggles with the system, from his role in the Black Panthers to his solitary confinement in the Alameda County Jail, Revolutionary Suicide is smart, unrepentant, and thought-provoking in its portrayal of inspired radicalism. .Angler
By Barton Gellman. 2008
The landmark exposé of the most powerful and secretive vice president in American history Barton Gellman shared the Pulitzer Prize…
in 2008 for a keen-edged reckoning with Dick Cheney?s domestic agenda in The Washington Post. In Angler, Gellman goes far beyond that series to take on the full scope of Cheney?s work and its consequences, including his hidden role in the Bush administration?s most fateful choices in war: shifting focus from al Qaeda to Iraq, unleashing the National Security Agency to spy at home, and promoting ?cruel and inhumane? methods of interrogation. Packed with fresh insights and untold stories, Gellman parts the curtains of secrecy to show how the vice president operated and what he wrought.Misunderestimated: The President Battles Terrorism, John Kerry, and the Bush Haters
By Bill Sammon. 2004
Out of Captivity
By Gary Brozek, Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, Tom Howes. 2009
On February 13, 2003, a plane carrying three American civilian contractors--Marc Gonsalves, Keith Stansell, and Tom Howes--crash-landed in the mountainous…
jungle of Colombia. Dazed and shaken, they emerged from the plane bloodied and injured as gunfire rained down around them. As of that moment they were prisoners of the FARC, a Colombian terrorist and Marxist rebel organization. In an instant they had become American captives in Colombia's volatile and ongoing conflict, which has lasted for almost fifty years.In Out of Captivity, Gonsalves, Stansell, and Howes recount for the first time their amazing tale of survival, friendship, and, ultimately, rescue, tracing their five and a half years as hostages of the FARC. Their story takes you inside one of the world's most notorious terrorist organizations, going behind enemy lines with vivid and haunting imagery. Their words conjure a reality that few people have ever encountered--from sleeping on beds literally carved out of the jungle to escaping Colombian military air strikes under the cover of darkness to being bound with steel chains by their captors. Describing backbreaking starvation marches and forced isolation, the authors chronicle their confrontations and interactions with the FARC guerrilla soldiers--a motley crew of brainwashed, idealistic teenagers and seasoned vet-erans who've been around long enough to realize that the only way out of the FARC is in a body bag.Though the physical punishments their bodies endured were unrelenting, the psychological battles they waged were the ultimate test of their resolve. With candid detail, Gonsalves, Stansell, and Howes relate the perilous mental struggles they each experienced, as they grappled with feelings of guilt, fear, and anxiety for the families and lives they'd left behind. Exposing the transformative power of captivity, they show how they turned these fears into strengths, using their memories and their families, their pasts and their futures, to motivate them in their quest for survival. Despite the odds and the conditions, despite the chains and the silence, and despite the often tense relationships they experienced with their fellow Colombian hostages, they had one another, forging a bond that allowed them to cope with the horrific conditions of their confinement. This brotherhood enabled them to persevere through the worst that the FARC threw at them while always reminding them of their ultimate goal: freedom.A harrowing account of one of the longest civilian hostage crises in United States history, Out of Captivity is a remarkable and compelling exploration of how far three Americans were willing to go as they fought to stay alive for themselves, their families, and one another.Emperor of Liberty
By Francis D. Cogliano. 2014
This book, the first in decades to closely examine Thomas Jefferson’s foreign policy, offers a compelling reinterpretation of his attitudes…
and accomplishments as a statesman during America’s early nationhood. Beginning with Jefferson’s disastrous stint as wartime governor of Virginia during the American Revolution, and proceeding to his later experiences as a diplomat in France, Secretary of State, and U. S. Vice President, historian Francis Cogliano considers how these varied assignments shaped Jefferson’s thinking about international relations. The author then addresses Jefferson’s two terms as President#151;his goals, the means he employed to achieve them, and his final record as a statesman. Cogliano documents the evolution of Jefferson’s attitudes toward the use of force and the disposition of state power. He argues that Jefferson, although idealistic in the ends he sought to achieve, was pragmatic in the means he employed. Contrary to received wisdom, Jefferson was comfortable using deadly force when he deemed it necessary and was consistent in his foreign policy ends#151;prioritizing defense of the American republic above all else. His failures as a statesman were, more often than not, the result of circumstances beyond his control, notably the weakness of the fledgling American republic in a world of warring empires.Between Worlds
By Bill Richardson. 2005
A rising star of the Democratic Party tells the fascinating story of the ways his multicultural heritage and political education…
have shaped his dreams for America and given him vital lessons in the art of successful negotiating. Bill Richardson, the governor of New Mexico, may be the most charismatic figure in the Democratic Party today and one of its best natural politicians whose name isn't Bill Clinton. He is the man Colin Powell has called for advice, and the man George Stephanopoulos once called the Red Adair of diplomacy in homage to his ability to put out international fires. He has been nominated four times for the Nobel Peace Prize and is counted as one of our most knowledgeable politicians on Iraq and Saddam Hussein; on Afghanistan, the Taliban, and Al-Qaeda; on North Korea; on energy policy; on Latin American affairs; on domestic politics; and on Hispanic America. Richardson's background as the son of an American businessman father and a Mexican mother has offered him an unusual starting point from which to seek a life in public service, but one of his most interesting roles has been that of global troubleshooter. What he has to say about how to negotiate to get what you want shows his true colors: He can be blunt, but charming; tough, but respectful; realistic, but hopeful. Through his work as a hostage negotiator sitting across the table from the likes of Saddam Hussein, Fidel Castro, and many others-as well as his toil on Capitol Hill, in the United Nations, and New Mexico's state government-he has learned the vital importance of preparation: know as much as possible about your adversary; test your partner's truthfulness; know how much you can concede; never lie and always be direct. Between Worldsis the surprising story of one of our most seasoned and captivating national figures.The American Journey of Barack Obama, eBook text edition
By The Editors of Life Magazine. 2008
The editors of LIFE Books have collected a richly illustrated biography of presidential candidate Barack Obama. This work includes intimate…
pictures from Obama's childhood and his time as editor of Harvard's Law Review, and culminates with the historic Democratic National Convention.The Lives of the Twelve Caesars: Galba, Otho, Vitellius
By G. Suetonius Tranquillus. 2012
The Twelve Caesars, is a set of twelve biographies of Julius Caesar and the first 11 emperors of the Roman…
Empire written by Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. The work, written in AD 121 during the reign of the emperor Hadrian, was the most popular work of Suetonius, at that time Hadrian's personal secretary, and is the largest among his surviving writings. The Twelve Caesars is considered very significant in antiquity and remains a primary source on Roman history.Jeffrey Sachs
By Japhy Wilson. 2014
An investigation of Sachs's schizophrenic career, and the worldwide havoc he has caused. Jeffrey Sachs is a man with many…
faces. A celebrated economist and special advisor to UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, he is also no stranger to the world of celebrity, accompanying Bono, Madonna and Angelina Jolie on high-profile trips to Africa. Once notorious as the progenitor of a brutal form of free market engineering called 'shock therapy', Sachs now positions himself as a voice of progressivism, condemning the '1 per cent' and promoting his solution to extreme poverty through the Millennium Villages Project. Appearances can be deceiving. Jeffrey Sachs: The Strange Case of Dr Shock and Mr Aid is the story of an evangelical development expert who poses as saviour of the Third World while opening vulnerable nations to economic exploitation. Based on documentary research and on-the-ground investigation, Jeffrey Sachs exposes Mr Aid as no more than a new, more human face of Dr Shock. From the Trade Paperback edition.ing himself as an evangelical development expert and savior of the Third World, while actually working to reinforce the neoliberal project that he now claims to oppose. Based on documentary research and on-the-ground investigation of the Millennium Villages Project, Jeffrey Sachs exposes its subject's Jekyll/Hyde complex, showing Mr. Aid to be no more than the new, more human face of Dr. Shock himself. From the Trade Paperback edition.Frederick Barbarossa: The Prince and the Myth
By John Freed. 2016
Frederick Barbarossa, born of two of Germany’s most powerful families, swept to the imperial throne in a coup d’état in…
1152. A leading monarch of the Middle Ages, he legalized the dualism between the crown and the princes that endured until the end of the Holy Roman Empire. This new biography, the first in English in four decades, paints a rich picture of a consummate diplomat and effective warrior. John Freed mines Barbarossa’s recently published charters and other sources to illuminate the monarch’s remarkable ability to rule an empire that stretched from the Baltic to Rome, and from France to Poland. Offering a fresh assessment of the role of Barbarossa’s extensive familial network in his success, the author also considers the impact of Frederick’s death in the Third Crusade as the key to his lasting heroic reputation. In an intriguing epilogue, Freed explains how Hitler’s audacious attack on the Soviet Union in 1941 came to be called “Operation Barbarossa.”Meet Benjamin Franklin - An eStory
By Charles Margerison. 2011
Meet Benjamin Franklin, perhaps the most famous of all the Founding Fathers. His story comes to life as you travel…
with him from his early years, as part of a large family, to his time at the printing company with his brother James. This ultimately resulted in his journey to England and France, a turn of events that would define the rest of his life. His remarkable story unfurls through BioViews®. Each story comes to life through BioViews®. These are short biographical narratives, similar to interviews. They provide an easy way of learning about amazing people who made major contributions and changed our world.The Sainte-Chapelle and the Construction of Sacral Monarchy
By Meredith Cohen. 2015
This book offers a novel perspective on one of the most important monuments of French Gothic architecture, the Sainte-Chapelle, constructed…
in Paris by King Louis IX of France between 1239 and 1248 especially to hold and to celebrate Christ's Crown of Thorns. Meredith Cohen argues that the chapel's architecture, decoration, and use conveyed the notion of sacral kingship to its audience in Paris and in greater Europe, thereby implicitly elevating the French king to the level of suzerain, and establishing an early visual precedent for the political theories of royal sovereignty and French absolutism. By setting the chapel within its broader urban and royal contexts, this book offers new insight into royal representation and the rise of Paris as a political and cultural capital in the thirteenth century.Pierre
By Nancy Southam. 2005
#1 national bestsellerWhen Pierre Elliott Trudeau died in 2000, the outpouring of emotion was extraordinary. Thousands of people across Canada…
-- and all over the world -- mourned the loss of one of our greatest prime ministers, a man who touched the hearts and challenged the minds of a nation. In this book, Trudeau's close friend Nancy Southam has gathered more than 140 reminiscences and anecdotal narratives from journalists, former world leaders, politicians who battled and debated him, his sons' friends, RCMP bodyguards, girlfriends, canoeing buddies, and household staff. Among the contributors are luminaries as diverse as Conrad Black, Jean Chrétien, Leonard Cohen, John Kenneth Galbraith, Ivan Head, Jacques Hébert, Karen Kain, Margot Kidder, Harrison McCain, Toni Onley, Gordon Pinsent, Christopher Plummer, Roy Romanow, Ed Schreyer, and Barbra Streisand. With the blessing of his sons, Justin and Sacha, Southam has put together a remarkably transparent account of a deeply private person that is funny, honest, affectionate, and illuminating.From the Trade Paperback edition.Health and Economic Outcomes in the Alumni of the Wounded Warrior Project: 2010-2012
By Mustafa Oguz, Heather Krull. 2014
The Wounded Warrior Project has developed programs to help care for injured service members and veterans. This report describes how…
project alumnus respondents are faring in domains related to mental health and resiliency, physical health, and employment and finances.The Lure and Legacy of Music at Versailles
By John Hajdu Heyer. 2014
Louis XIV and his court at Versailles had a profound influence on music in France and throughout Europe. In 1660…
Louis visited Aix-en-Provence, a trip that resulted in political and cultural transformations throughout the region. Soon thereafter Aix became an important center of sacred music composition, eventually rivaling Paris for the quality of the composers it produced. John Hajdu Heyer documents the young king's visit and examines how he and his court deployed sacred music to enhance the royal image and secure the loyalty of the populace. Exploring the circle of composers at Aix, Heyer provides the most up-to-date and complete biographies in English of nine key figures, including Guillaume Poitevin, André Campra, Jean Gilles, François Estienne, and Antoine Blanchard. The book goes on to reveal how the history of political power in the region was reflected through church music, and how musicians were affected by contemporary events.Turning Point
By Jimmy Carter. 1992
The former president's personal tale of political intrigue and social conflict during his first campaign for public office. Iluminates the…
origins of his commitment to human rights and bears further witness to the accomplishments of an extraordinary man.From the Trade Paperback edition.The Princess Problem: Guiding Our Girls Through The Princess-obsessed Years
By Rebecca C. Hains. 2014
Cartoon royalty, beware! A practical, solutions-based approach to navigating the perilous world of princesses Little girls love everything about princesses:…
the dolls, the love stories, the play clothes. But pop culture princesses are part of a powerful marketing machine, encouraging obsessive consumerism and delivering negative stereotypes about gender, race, and beauty to young girls. Princess Problem features stories and advice from parents, educators, psychologists, and children's industry insiders-including former Disney employees-to equip every parent with skills that will help them navigate their daughters' princess-saturated worlds.