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Shortly after assuming office in early 1933, Franklin D. Roosevelt made the bold decision to take the United States off…
the gold standard. This was only the first act in his quest to use monetary policy as a political tool. In The Money Makers, the distinguished historian Eric Rauchway shows how FDR and his brilliant team of advisers--John Maynard Keynes, Harry Dexter White, and Cordell Hull--paved the way for economic recovery. By responding decisively to the Great Depression at home, they warded off indigenous fascist movements and ensured an Allied victory in World War II, laying the foundation for decades of global peace and prosperity.Capturing not only the contentious debates among these headstrong figures but also the spirit of innovation that united them, Rauchway argues that we have forgotten their accomplishments. One result is that our modern preference for monetary stability over economic growth has led to stagnation and rising inequality. By uncovering the origins of midcentury economic success, Rauchway shows how we can recapture prosperity for our own age.Founders' Son: A Life of Abraham Lincoln
By Richard Brookhiser. 2014
Abraham Lincoln grew up in the long shadow of the Founding Fathers. Seeking an intellectual and emotional replacement for his…
own taciturn father, Lincoln turned to the great men of the founding#151;Washington, Paine, Jefferson#151;and their great documents#151;the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution#151;for knowledge, guidance, inspiration, and purpose. Out of the power vacuum created by their passing, Lincoln emerged from among his peers as the true inheritor of the Founders’ mantle, bringing their vision to bear on the Civil War and the question of slavery. In Founders’ Son, celebrated historian Richard Brookhiser presents a compelling new biography of Abraham Lincoln that highlights his lifelong struggle to carry on the work of the Founding Fathers. Following Lincoln from his humble origins in Kentucky to his assassination in Washington, D. C. , Brookhiser shows us every side of the man: laborer, lawyer, congressman, president; storyteller, wit, lover of ribald jokes; depressive, poet, friend, visionary. And he shows that despite his many roles and his varied life, Lincoln returned time and time again to the Founders. They were rhetorical and political touchstones, the basis of his interest in politics, and the lodestars guiding him as he navigated first Illinois politics and then the national scene. But their legacy with not sufficient. As the Civil War lengthened and the casualties mounted Lincoln wrestled with one more paternal figure#151;God the Father#151;to explain to himself, and to the nation, why ending slavery had come at such a terrible price. Bridging the rich and tumultuous period from the founding of the United States to the Civil War, Founders’ Son is unlike any Lincoln biography to date. Penetrating in its insight, elegant in its prose, and gripping in its vivid recreation of Lincoln’s roving mind at work, this book allows us to think anew about the first hundred years of American history, and shows how we can, like Lincoln, apply the legacy of the Founding Fathers to our times.Man of Destiny: FDR and the Making of the American Century
By Alonzo L. Hamby. 2015
No president looms larger in twentieth-century American history than Franklin Delano Roosevelt, and few life stories can match his for…
sheer drama. He was a man of large personality and a president of vast and enduring accomplishments. Yet, as the distinguished historian Alonzo Hamby argues, FDR’s record as president was more mixed than we are often led to believe. Roosevelt was a great politician and war leader, but the New Deal, his most famous legacy, failed to achieve its goal of reviving the nation’s economy, in no small measure because of FDR’s hostility toward the business and financial communities. Hamby is no less perceptive about FDR’s private life. Drawing on overlooked sources, he documents the president’s final months in intimate detail, claiming that his perseverance despite his serious illness must be counted as one of the twentieth century’s great feats of endurance. Man of Destiny is a measured account of the life, both personal and public, of the most important American leader of the twentieth century.Redeemer: The Life of Jimmy Carter
By Randall Balmer. 2014
Citizen Soldier: A Life of Harry S. Truman
By Aida Donald. 2012
When Harry S. Truman left the White House in 1953, his reputation was in ruins. Tarred by corruption scandals and…
his controversial decision to drop nuclear bombs on Japan, he ended his second term with an abysmal approval rating, his presidency widely considered a failure. But this dim view of Truman ignores his crucial role in the 20th century and his enduring legacy, as celebrated historian Aida D. Donald explains in this incisive biography of the 33rd president. InCitizen Soldier, Donald shows that, for all his failings, Truman deserves recognition as the principal architect of the American postwar world. The son of poor Missouri farmers, Truman overcame professional disaster and personal disillusionment to become something of a hero in the Missouri National Guard during World War I. His early years in politics were tainted by the corruption of his fellow Missouri Democrats, but Truman’s hard work and scrupulous honesty eventually landed him a U. S. Senate seat and then the Vice-Presidency. When Franklin Roosevelt passed away in April 1945, Truman unexpectedly found himself at the helm of the American war effortand in command of the atomic bomb, the most lethal weapon humanity had ever seen. Truman’s decisive leadership during the remainder of World War II and the period that followed reshaped American politics, economics, and foreign relations; in the process, says Donald, Truman delineated the complex international order that would dominate global politics for the next four decades. Yet his accomplishments, such as the liberal reforms of the Fair Deal, have long been overshadowed by a second term marred by scandal. Until we reevaluate Truman and his presidency, Donald argues, we cannot fully understand the world he helped create. A psychologically penetrating portrait,Citizen Soldiercandidly weighs Truman’s moments of astonishing greatness against his profound shortcomings, offering a balanced treatment of one of America’s most consequentialand misunderstoodpresidents.Aristotle on Political Community
By David J. Riesbeck. 2016
Aristotle's claims that 'man is a political animal' and that political community 'exists for the sake of living well' have…
frequently been celebrated by thinkers of divergent political persuasions. The details of his political philosophy, however, have often been regarded as outmoded, contradictory, or pernicious. This book takes on the major problems that arise in attempting to understand how the central pieces of Aristotle's political thought fit together: can a conception of politics that seems fundamentally inclusive and egalitarian be reconciled with a vision of justice that seems uncompromisingly hierarchical and authoritarian? Riesbeck argues that Aristotle's ideas about the distinctive nature and value of political community, political authority, and political participation are coherent and consistent with his aristocratic standards of justice. The result is a theory that, while not free of problems, remains a potentially fruitful resource for contemporary thinking about the persistent problems of political life.Born to Battle: Grant and Forrest--Shiloh, Vicksburg, and Chattanooga
By Jack Hurst. 2012
Born to Battleexamines the Civil War’s complex and decisive western theater through the exploits of its greatest figures, Ulysses S.…
Grant and Nathan Bedford Forrest. These two opposing giants squared off in some of the most epic campaigns of the war, starting at Shiloh and continuing through Perryville, Vicksburg, Chickamauga, and Chattanoogabattles in which the Union would slowly but surely divide the western Confederacy, setting the stage for the final showdowns of the bloody, protracted conflict. Grant is widely regarded as the man most responsible for winning the war for the Union, Forrest as the Confederacy’s most fearsome defender in the West. Both men had risen through their respective hierarchies thanks to their cunning and military brilliance, and despite their checkered pasts. Grant and Forrest were both lower”-born officers who struggled to overcome particular, dubious reputations (Forrest’s as a semi-literate rustic and Grant’s as a doltish drunkard). In time, however each became renowned for his intelligence, resourcefulness, and grit. Indeed, as Hurst shows, their familiarity with hardship gave both men a back-against-the-wall mindset that would ultimately determine their successboth on the battlefield, and off it. Beginning with the Union victory at Tennessee’s Fort Donelson in February 1862 (when Grant handed the Union the largest force ever captured on American soil, refurbishing his reputation and earning himself the nickname Unconditional Surrender Grant”), Hurst follows both men through the campaigns of the next twenty months, showing how this critical periodand these two unequaled leaderswould change the course of the war. Again and again, Grant’s hardscrabble tactics saved Federal forces from the disastrous decisions of his fellow commanders, who seemed unable to think outside of the West Point playbook. Just as often, Forrest’s hot temper and wily, frontier know-how would surprise his Federal adversaries and allow him to claim astonishing victories on behalf of the Confederacy. But as Grant pressed south and east over the course of these twenty months, routing Confederate forces at such critical strongholds as Corinth, Vicksburg (Gibraltar of the Mississippi”), and Chattanooga, the systemic differences between the North and South began to tell. The more inclusive, meritocratic Union allowed Grant to enter into the military’s halls of decision, whereas the proudly aristocratic Confederate high command barred Forrest from contributing his input. As Hurst vividly demonstrates, that disparity affected, and possibly dictated, the war’s outcome. Thoroughly disgusted with his disdainful superiors and their failure to save his home state of Tennessee from the clutches of the Union, Forrest eventually requested a transfer to a backwater theater of the war. Grant, by contrast, won command of the entire Union army following his troops’ stunning performance at Chattanooga, and would go on to lead the North to victory over the forces of another exceptional Southern general: Robert E. Lee. An utterly American tale about class, merit, and their role in one of the most formative wars in the nation’s history,Born to Battleoffers an impassioned account of two visionary Civil War leaders and the clashing cultures they foughtin some cases, quite ironicallyto protect. Hurst shows how Grant and Forrest brought to the battlefield the fabled virtues of the American working-class: hard work, ingenuity, and intense determination. Each man’s background contributed to his triumphs on the battlefield, but the open-mindedness of his fellow commanders proved just as important. When the North embraced Grant, it won a stalwart defender. When the South rejected Forrest, by contrast, it sealed its fate.As a candidate in 2008, Barack Obama distanced himself from same-sex marriage, saying he believed marriage was “a sacred union”…
between a man and a woman. In 2012, he did just the opposite, proclaiming it was “important” for him to affirm the right of same-sex couples to marry. This dramatic about-face put the most powerful man in the world at the front of the battle for gay rights, giving LGBT Americans and their advocates an invaluable ally in their struggle for freedom. Just one year later, the Supreme Court would strike down key provisions of the Defense of Marriage Act, and no Democratic presidential nominee would ever again shun marriage equality. As former Advocate journalist Kerry Eleveld shows, Obama’s support transformed the issue of gay rights from a political liability into an electoral imperative, and in Don't Tell Me to Wait she offers a boots-on-the-ground account of how gay rights activists pushed the president to this political tipping point. Obama’s “evolution” on marriage equality was not the result of a benevolent politician who entered the Oval Office with a wealth of good intentions. Rather, pressure from lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender activists changed the conversation, issue by issue. As a result of the protests and outcry following the passage of California’s same-sex marriage ban, Obama realized that overturning the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy was the one 2008 campaign promise he couldn’t ignore. While pledges to other progressive constituencies fell apart during Obama’s first two years in office, the LGBT rights movement protested the administration’s fecklessness early and often. By the time the sun set on the 111th Congress, the “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” repeal had become the sole piece of major progressive legislation to become law. The repeal’s overwhelming success and popularity paved the way for other LGBT advances, including the president’s eventual embrace of the freedom to marry. With unprecedented access and unparalleled insights into this hot-button issue, Don't Tell Me to Wait captures a critical moment in LGBT history and demonstrates the power of activism to change the course of a presidency—and a nation.A Very Principled Boy: The Life of Duncan Lee, Red Spy and Cold Warrior
By Mark A. Bradley. 2014
Duncan Chaplain Lee was an unlikely traitor. A Rhodes Scholar, patriot, and descendent of one of America’s most distinguished families,…
he was also a communist sympathizer who used his position as aid to intelligence chief #147;Wild Bill” Donovan to leak critical information to the Soviets during World War II. As intelligence expert Mark A. Bradley reveals, Lee was one of Stalin’s most valuable moles in U. S. intelligence, passing the KGB vital information on everything from the D-Day invasion to America’s plans for postwar Europe. Outwitting both J. Edgar Hoover and Senator Joseph McCarthy, he escaped detection again and again, dying a free man before authorities could prove his guilt. A fast-paced cat-and-mouse tale of misguided idealism and high treason, Perry's book draws on thousands of previously unreleased CIA and State Department records to reveal the riveting story of one of the greatest traitors of the twentieth century.Moon Ontario
By Carolyn Heller. 2015
Professional travel writer Carolyn B. Heller shares the best ways to experience all that Ontario has to offer, from scuba…
diving shipwrecks in the Great Lakes to dining on contemporary fare at Toronto's hottest restaurants. Heller leads readers to the highlights of this fascinating region with trip ideas such as Food and Wine Touring, Active Adventures, and History and Culture-providing different approaches for different kinds of travelers. Complete with tips on enjoying more than just the falls on the Niagara peninsula, hopping a ferry to Pelee Island for wine-tasting and relaxation, and ice skating on the world's longest skating rink in Ottawa, Moon Ontario gives travelers the tools they need to create a more personal and memorable experience.The Red Prince: The Secret Lives of a Habsburg Archduke
By Timothy Snyder. 2008
Wilhelm Von Habsburg wore the uniform of the Austrian officer, the court regalia of a Habsburg archduke, the simple suit…
of a Parisian exile, the collar of the Order of the Golden Fleece, and, every so often, a dress. He could handle a saber, a pistol, a rudder, or a golf club; he handled women by necessity and men for pleasure. He spoke the Italian of his archduchess mother, the German of his archduke father, the English of his British royal friends, the Polish of the country his father wished to rule, and the Ukrainian of the land Wilhelm wished to rule himself. In this exhilarating narrative history, prize-winning historian Timothy D. Snyder offers an indelible portrait of an aristocrat whose life personifies the wrenching upheavals of the first half of the twentieth century, as the rule of empire gave way to the new politics of nationalism. Coming of age during the First World War, Wilhelm repudiated his family to fight alongside Ukrainian peasants in hopes that he would become their king. When this dream collapsed he became, by turns, an ally of German imperialists, a notorious French lover, an angry Austrian monarchist, a calm opponent of Hitler, and a British spy against Stalin. Played out in Europe’s glittering capitals and bloody battlefields, in extravagant ski resorts and dank prison cells, The Red Prince captures an extraordinary moment in the history of Europe, in which the old order of the past was giving way to an undefined future-and in which everything, including identity itself, seemed up for grabs.Conspirator: Lenin in Exile
By Helen Rappaport. 2010
The father of Communist Russia, Vladimir Ilych Lenin now seems to have emerged fully formed in the turbulent wake ofWorldWar…
I and the Russian Revolution. But Lenin’s character was in fact forged much earlier, over the course of years spent in exile, constantly on the move, and in disguise. In Conspirator, Russian historian Helen Rappaport narrates the compelling story of Lenin’s life and political activities in the years leading up to the revolution. As he scuttled between the glittering capital cities of Europe--from London and Munich to Vienna and Prague--Lenin found support among fellow émigrés and revolutionaries in the underground movement. He came to lead a ring of conspirators, many of whom would give their lives in service to his schemes. A riveting account of Lenin’s little-known early life, Conspirator tracks in gripping detail the formation of one of the great revolutionaries of the twentieth century.The Plantagenets: The Kings That Made Britain
By Derek Wilson. 2014
Plantagenet is the name given to the English royal house descended from the union of Queen Matilda of England and…
her second husband Geoffrey of Anjou. The name derived from Geoffrey's nickname, which came from the sprig of broom (planta genet) which he wore in his hat. The Plantagenets ruled England for more than three hundred years, from the accession of reign of the dynasty's founder, Matilda and Geoffrey's son, Henry II, in 1154, to the death of the last Plantagenet, Richard III, at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485. The Plantagenets: The Kings That Made Britain is a compelling, year-by-year chronology of a tumultuous and critical period in the development of the English nation. Each year is covered by a concise, informative and accessible narrative, amplified by extensive quotation from contemporary sources and accompanied by generously captioned and stunning images of the period-including illuminations, portraits, maps, royal seals, tapestries and other artifacts. Authoritative, informative and sumptuous, and compiled by a scholar who is steeped in knowledge of the period, The Plantagenets: The Kings That Made Britain brings a critical era of English history dramatically and vividly to life. It is the perfect gift book for anyone with a love of, or fascination for, medieval English history.Dark Days, Bright Nights: From Black Power to Barack Obama
By Peniel E. Joseph. 2010
The Civil Rights Movement is now remembered as a long-lost era, which came to an end along with the idealism…
of the 1960s. In Dark Days, Bright Nights, acclaimed scholar Peniel E. Joseph puts this pat assessment to the test, showing the 60s-particularly the tumultuous period after the passage of the 1965 Voting Rights Act-to be the catalyst of a movement that culminated in the inauguration of Barack Obama.Joseph argues that the 1965 Voting Rights Act burst a dam holding back radical democratic impulses. This political explosion initially took the form of the Black Power Movement, conventionally adjudged a failure. Joseph resurrects the movement to elucidate its unfairly forgotten achievements.Told through the lives of activists, intellectuals, and artists, including Malcolm X, Huey P. Newton, Amiri Baraka, Tupac Shakur, and Barack Obama, Dark Days, Bright Nights will make coherent a fraught half-century of struggle, reassessing its impact on American democracy and the larger world.The Hamilton Collection: The Wisdom and Writings of the Founding Father
By Dan Tucker. 2016
The subject of a New York Times best-selling biography and a Pulitzer-Prize winning musical, interest in Alexander Hamilton is at…
an all-time high. This carefully curated collection of Hamilton's writings gives the reader an intimate glimpse into the mind of our most misunderstood founding father.The smash-hit musical Hamilton presents its central character as a truth-telling immigrant boot-strapper who used his extraordinary intelligence to make good--but what was he really like? Let the man himself, a prolific and extremely effective writer, tell his story in his own words. Organized chronologically, this collection of Alexander Hamilton's personal letters, business and governmental correspondence, and excerpts from his most important published writings (including the Federalist Papers) gives readers first-hand insight into this highly influential founding father who engineered the ratification of the US Constitution, created the UnitedStates' financial system, and established friendly trade relations with Britain. The book includes love letters to Elizabeth Schuyler, who became his wife, and correspondence with his friend-turned-nemesis, Aaron Burr, which led to the duel in Weehawken that ended Hamilton's life at the age of 47. Also included are responses from some of his correspondents that give a 360-degree view of the man so esteemed by his protector and friend, George Washington, but reviled by others, including Washington's successor as president, John Adams.Illustrated with 50 illustrations, drawings, document facsimiles and more, the text is accompanied throughout by explanatory annotations from editor Dan Tucker who also provides introductions to each chapter and a preface.Dan Tucker is a writer and editor living in Brooklyn. He is the founder of Sideshow Media, a New York-based independent producer of books and digital content focused on history,the arts, pop culture, and travel.Papa Francisco
By Marie Duhamel. 2016
Desde el momento en que fue elegido para el papado, el papa Francisco ha captado la atención del mundo con…
su humildad, carisma y espíritu reformistaEsta biografía ilustrada única del primer Papa jesuita ofrece más de 250 fotografías e incluye 50 documentos de la vida de Francisco que se pueden extraer del libro. Escrita por la reportera de Radio Vaticano, Marie Duhamel, este retrato íntimo incluye la emigración de sus padres desde Italia, su nacimiento como Jorge Mario Bergoglio en 1936, su amor por el fútbol y la ópera cuando era niño, la neumonía que casi le costó la vida cuando era un adulto joven, su llamado al sacerdocio, y su primer encuentro con la pobreza cuando era misionero en Chile que cambió su vida. Duhamel hace una crónica del ascenso de Francisco de sacerdote a obispo, de cardenal al papado, y cómo, a lo largo del camino, impresionó a muchas personas, y alejó a algunas, con su valentía para hacer frente a la autoridad y su dedicación a ayudar a los pobres. Los documentos adjuntos, como su certificado de bautismo, fotografías de su niñez, páginas de un cuaderno escolar, notas manuscritas como Papa, e incluso una tarjeta de seguidor de su querido club de fútbol del San Lorenzo, ilustran más aún su vida y crean un recuerdo duradero de este Papa para el pueblo.---From the moment he was elected into the papacy, Pope Francis has captured the attention of the world with his humility, charisma, and reformist spirit. This one-of-a-kind, illustrated biography of the first Jesuit pope offers more than 250 photographs and 50 documents from Francis's life. Written by Vatican Radio reporter Marie Duhamel, this intimate portrait includes his parents emigration from Italy, his birth as Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936, his love of soccer and opera as a child, the pneumonia that nearly cost him his life as a young adult, his calling to the priesthood, and his first encounter with poverty as a missionary in Chile that would change his life. Duhamel chronicles Francis's rise from priest to bishop to cardinal to the papacy and how, along the way, he impressed many people-and alienated some-with his courage to stand up to authority and his dedication to helping the poor. Enclosed documents such as his baptism certificate, photographs from his childhood, pages from a school notebook, handwritten notes as pope, and even a support card for his beloved San Lorenzosoccer club, further illuminate his life and create a lasting keepsake of this pope of the people.Hitler
By Robin Cross. 2014
As Chancellor of Germany between 1933 and 1945, Adolf Hitler exercised unrestricted power over his country's social, political, and economic…
life. From Hitler's belligerent re-armament programme to his imposition of anti-Semitic legislation and territorially aggressive policies, respected historian Robin Cross maps out the life of one of the most evil men ever to have lived. This succinct and powerful account, illustrated with rare and chillingly evocative photographs, is the essential companion for anyone with a fascination for the twentieth century, the Second World War or the age of dictators.Pope Francis: The Story of the Holy Father
By Marie Duhamel. 2016
From the moment he was elected into the papacy, Pope Francis has captured the attention of the world with his…
humility, charisma, and reformist spirit.This one-of-a-kind, illustrated biography of the first Jesuit pope offers more than 250 photographs and 50 removable documents from Francis's life. Written by Vatican Radio reporter Marie Duhamel, this intimate portrait includes his parents emigration from Italy, his birth as Jorge Mario Bergoglio in 1936, his love of soccer and opera as a child, the pneumonia that nearly cost him his life as a young adult, his calling to the priesthood, and his first encounter with poverty as a missionary in Chile that would change his life. Duhamel chronicles Francis's rise from priest to bishop to cardinal to the papacy and how, along the way, he impressed many people-and alienated some-with his courage to stand up to authority and his dedication to helping the poor.Enclosed documents such as his baptism certificate, photographs from his childhood, pages from a school notebook, handwritten notes as pope, and even a support card for his beloved San Lorenzosoccer club, further illuminate his life and create a lasting keepsake of this pope of the people.Henry Clay: America's Greatest Statesman
By Harlow Giles Unger. 2015
Winston Churchill Reporting: Adventures of a Young War Correspondent
By Simon Read. 2015
Combat, cigars, and whiskey--from the jungles of Cuba and the mountains of the Northwest Frontier, to the banks of the…
Nile and the plains of South Africa, comes this action-packed tale of Winston Churchill's adventures as a war correspondent in the Age of Empire.