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Mad, Bad and Dangerous: The Eccentricity of Tyrants
By Tom Ambrose. 2015
A penetrating and incisive study of the fanaticism and foibles of some of history's most illustrious namesFrom Assad to Nero,…
Gaddafi to Ivan The Terrible, this work attempts a thorough illumination of the minds of some of the most powerful people in history. While leaving some room to describe the amusing incidents and eccentricities associated with a host of men and women of power, it also reaches into the terrifying depths and depravities of minds that shaped the destinies of peoples and nations. Using a unique combination of history, politics, and psychology, this book fully describes how power not only corrupts but deranges.Inheritance: A Psychological History of the Royal Family
By Dennis Friedman. 2014
In exploring Royal dynamics, Inheritance sheds light on problems found in any familyOn its first publication in the 1990s, Dennis…
Friedman's Inheritance caused a furor in England as he traced the many problems of the Royal family as it was then back to Queen Victoria's nursery, unveiling a host of psychodramas played out against a privileged background of English palaces and Scottish castles. In a post-Diana age, the arrival of a new Prince George to the seemingly stable and blissfully happy William and Kate seems to refute Fiedman's thesis--but what of the notoriously wayward Prince Harry? Many questions are raised in this book addressing the complex and turbulent royal relationships, perhaps the most fundamental being the rigid and traditional royal upbringing which still awaits the baby prince. As the royal line is followed down the generations no direct descendent is overlooked and no issue is sidestepped.The Playboy Princes: The Apprentice Years of Edward VII and VIII
By Peter Beer. 2014
A fascinating dual biography proves that controversial Royal Family members are not necessarily only a feature of late 20th- or…
21st-century lifeEdward VII (1841-1910) and his grandson Edward VIII (1894-1972) were born in different eras, but it is illuminating to compare the early and middle years of the two Princes of Wales as kings in waiting and discover how their youth informed their years on the British throne. The privileges of rank aside, they were heirs to an unenviable role, and this study presents a unique portrait of strained apprenticeships for which there was no satisfactory precedent. Theirs was an upbringing dictated by dogmatic prescription and the heavy weight of obligation. As they pursued their lives according to their distinct personalities, they were never relieved of parental strictures, especially with regard to Queen Victoria and her eldest son, who filled the void with shallow interests, a profligate style of living, and the delights of Parisian nightlife. Inevitably the two princes were consigned to filling much of their time with insubstantial engagements not best suited to their characters and which reveal a common vulnerability. In the case of the future Edward VIII, he took a jaundiced view of matters of state and preferred dance floors, riding to hounds, and the ministrations of lovers. This book is the story of the heirs' progress that provides often unexpected perspectives on two public figures better known through the history of their respective reigns. For readers in this era, the similar position of Prince Charles ensures that this survey is a timely as well as a surprisingly entertaining read.Prime Minister's Wives
By Mark Hichens. 2004
Much is required of a prime minister's wife. As a hostess, sympathetic ear and adviser, she must ensure her husband…
never puts a foot wrong (and never do so herself). Arguably she has one of the hardest jobs in politics - without ever stepping into the House of Commons.Of the wives from the past two centuries featured in this book, nearly all have given their husbands unqualified support in political matters, two notable exceptions being Emily Palmerston and Clementine Churchill, who were always ready to dissent. And, until Audrey Callaghan and Cherie Blair, none had careers of their own. They came from a variety of backgrounds: some, such as Emily Palmerston, Caroline Lamb, Catherine Gladstone and Dorothy Macmillan, from the ruling classes. Two - Clementine Churchill and Margot Asquith - had aristocratic connections, while Lucy Baldwin's father was a scientist, Mary Ann Disraeli's was a junior naval officer and Margaret Lloyd George's a Welsh hill farmer. In terms of their marriages, some were secure, some wobbly and one actually broke down. In the case of Clementine Churchill, her marriage to Winston of fifty-seven years was a particularly remarkable achievement.Mark Hichens examines these women - and one husband, Denis Thatcher - in the light of their personalities and achievements as well as the roles they have indirectly played in British history in this timely volume.This Way to the Revolution: A Memoir
By Erin Pizzey. 2011
First full biography of an international figure, recently in the news after her successful libel case against Andrew Marry, who…
described her as a terrorist in The Making of Modern Britain Internationally famous for starting one of the first women's refuges in the modern world, Erin Pizzey is a controversial but hugely-respected activist with enemies on the left and the right, a pioneering figure in the maelstrom of seventies politics, and a key witness of the era. Here, she tells her story in full for the first time. The daughter of a diplomat, Erin Pizzey was born in China in 1939. One of her formative experiences was seeing her parents and brother being put under house arrest by the Maoists in 1949. This instilled a hatred of totalitarian regimes and for a short time Pizzey even worked for MI6 in Hong Kong. Once relocated in the UK, Pizzey was soon swept up by sixties radicalism and the early days of the emerging Women's Liberation Movement. Opening a small community center for maltreated women in Chiswick in 1971 was to bring Pizzey to the front line of what was becoming a national issue in a time when feminists were still treated with hostility and derision by right-wing figures, but also when left-wing radicals scorned anyone, like Pizzey, who put humanity before ideology. By the mid-1970s, Pizzey found herself under bomb threat and picketed by feminists for allowing men to staff refuges: this led to a long exile from the UK where she kept up her activities and achieved international recognition, while also reinventing herself as a best-selling writer. Erin Pizzey's life and trials have been unique; her story is a compelling one, vital to any understanding of a more revolutionary age and burning issues that still resonate today.The Gothic King: A Biography of Henry III
By John Paul Davis. 2013
The first biography in many years of Henry IIIThe son and successor of Bad King John, Henry III reigned for…
56 years from 1216, the first child king in England for 200 years. England went on to prosper during his reign and his greatest monument is Westminster Abbey, which he made the seat of his government--indeed, Henry III was the first English King to call a parliament. Though often overlooked by historians, Henry III was a unique figure coming out of a chivalric yet Gothic era: a compulsive builder of daunting castles and epic sepulchres; a powerful, unyielding monarch who faced down the De Montfort rebellion and waged war with Wales and France; and, much more than his father, Henry was the king who really hammered out the terms of the Magna Carta with the barons. John Paul Davis brings all his forensic skills and insights to the grand story of the Gothic King in this, the only biography in print of a most remarkable monarch.Sophia of Hanover: From Winter Princess to Heiress of Great Britain, 1630–1714
By J N Duggan. 2010
The detailed memoirs and letters of a gifted and prolific chronicler provide an insider's view of life for the top…
echelons of society in the 16th century Sophia, Electress of Hanover (1630-1714), granddaughter of James I, and mother of George I, is best remembered as the link between the Houses of Stuart and Hanover. A true European, Sophia spoke English, French, German, Dutch, and Italian fluently, and was open-minded and intellectually curious. Her writings cover an astonishing variety of subjects: religion, philosophy, international gossip, household hints, politics, and the details of her family life.Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power
By Jon Meacham. 2012
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The New York Times Book Review * The Washington Post…
* Entertainment Weekly * The Seattle Times * St. Louis Post-Dispatch * Bloomberg BusinessweekIn this magnificent biography, the Pulitzer Prize-winning author of American Lion and Franklin and Winston brings vividly to life an extraordinary man and his remarkable times. Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power gives us Jefferson the politician and president, a great and complex human being forever engaged in the wars of his era. Philosophers think; politicians maneuver. Jefferson's genius was that he was both and could do both, often simultaneously. Such is the art of power. Thomas Jefferson hated confrontation, and yet his understanding of power and of human nature enabled him to move men and to marshal ideas, to learn from his mistakes, and to prevail. Passionate about many things--women, his family, books, science, architecture, gardens, friends, Monticello, and Paris--Jefferson loved America most, and he strove over and over again, despite fierce opposition, to realize his vision: the creation, survival, and success of popular government in America. Jon Meacham lets us see Jefferson's world as Jefferson himself saw it, and to appreciate how Jefferson found the means to endure and win in the face of rife partisan division, economic uncertainty, and external threat. Drawing on archives in the United States, England, and France, as well as unpublished Jefferson presidential papers, Meacham presents Jefferson as the most successful political leader of the early republic, and perhaps in all of American history. The father of the ideal of individual liberty, of the Louisiana Purchase, of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and of the settling of the West, Jefferson recognized that the genius of humanity--and the genius of the new nation--lay in the possibility of progress, of discovering the undiscovered and seeking the unknown. From the writing of the Declaration of Independence to elegant dinners in Paris and in the President's House; from political maneuverings in the boardinghouses and legislative halls of Philadelphia and New York to the infant capital on the Potomac; from his complicated life at Monticello, his breathtaking house and plantation in Virginia, to the creation of the University of Virginia, Jefferson was central to the age. Here too is the personal Jefferson, a man of appetite, sensuality, and passion. The Jefferson story resonates today not least because he led his nation through ferocious partisanship and cultural warfare amid economic change and external threats, and also because he embodies an eternal drama, the struggle of the leadership of a nation to achieve greatness in a difficult and confounding world.Praise for Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power "This is probably the best single-volume biography of Jefferson ever written."--Gordon S. Wood "A big, grand, absorbing exploration of not just Jefferson and his role in history but also Jefferson the man, humanized as never before."--Entertainment Weekly"[Meacham] captures who Jefferson was, not just as a statesman but as a man. . . . By the end of the book . . . the reader is likely to feel as if he is losing a dear friend. . . . [An] absorbing tale."--The Christian Science Monitor"This terrific book allows us to see the political genius of Thomas Jefferson better than we have ever seen it before. In these endlessly fascinating pages, Jefferson emerges with such vitality that it seems as if he might still be alive today."--Doris Kearns GoodwinFrom the Hardcover edition.Feisty First Ladies and Other Unforgettable White House Women
By Autumn Stephens. 2009
First ladies are supposed to be dignified background figures, quietly supportive of their husbands' agendas. Above all, they're not supposed…
to act out or cause even a whiff of scandal. Of course, reality often overrides conventional wisdom, and this book shows how far from the prim ideal many of the Presidents' wives have strayed. Part irreverent portrait gallery, part exuberant expose, Feisty First Ladies and Other Unforgettable White House Women introduces a remarkable array of wild women, from Martha Washington, who opposed her own husband's presidential election; to Abraham Lincoln's eccentric wife, Mary; to rebellious daughters like Patti Davis who were the tabloid fodder of their day. Laugh-out-loud funny and filled with amazing stranger-than-fiction facts from our American history, Feisty First Ladies journeys into the realm of the eclectic sisterhood whose outrageous words and deeds have rocked the fusty old foundations of the White House -- and the nation!Being Nixon: A Man Divided
By Evan Thomas. 2015
Evan Thomas delivers the best single-volume biography of Richard Nixon to date, a radical, unique portrait of a complicated figure…
who was both determinedly optimistic and tragically flawed. The New York Times bestselling author of Ike's Bluff and Sea of Thunder, Thomas brings new life to one of American history's most infamous, paradoxical, and enigmatic politicians, dispensing with myths to achieve an intimate and evenhanded look at the actual man. What drove a painfully shy outcast in elite Washington society--a man so self-conscious he refused to make eye contact during meetings--to pursue power and public office? How did a president so attuned to the American political id that he won reelection in a historic landslide lack the self-awareness to recognize the gaping character flaws that would drive him from office and forever taint his legacy? In Being Nixon, Evan Thomas peels away the layers of the complex, confounding figure who became America's thirty-seventh president. The son of devout Quakers, Richard Nixon (not unlike his rival John F. Kennedy) grew up in the shadow of an older, favored brother and thrived on conflict and opposition. Through high school and college, in the navy and in politics, he was constantly leading crusades and fighting off enemies real and imagined. As maudlin as he was Machiavellian, Nixon possessed the plainspoken eloquence to reduce American television audiences to tears with his career-saving "Checkers" speech; meanwhile, his darker half hatched schemes designed to take down his political foes, earning him the notorious nickname "Tricky Dick." Drawing on a wide range of historical accounts, Thomas reveals the contradictions of a leader whose vision and foresight led him to achieve détente with the Soviet Union and reestablish relations with communist China, but whose underhanded political tactics tainted his reputation long before the Watergate scandal. One of the principal architects of the modern Republican Party and its "silent majority" of disaffected whites and conservative ex-Dixiecrats, Nixon was also deemed a liberal in some quarters for his efforts to desegregate Southern schools, create the Environmental Protection Agency, and end the draft. A deeply insightful character study as well as a brilliant political biography, Being Nixon offers a surprising look at a man capable of great bravery and extraordinary deviousness--a balanced portrait of a president too often reduced to caricature.The Nixon Defense: What He Knew and When He Knew It
By John W Dean. 2006
Based on Nixon's overlooked recordings, New York Times bestselling author John W. Dean connects the dots between what we've come…
to believe about Watergate and what actually happened Watergate forever changed American politics, and in light of the revelations about the NSA's widespread surveillance program, the scandal has taken on new significance. Yet remarkably, four decades after Nixon was forced to resign, no one has told the full story of his involvement in Watergate. In The Nixon Defense, former White House Counsel John W. Dean, one of the last major surviving figures of Watergate, draws on his own transcripts of almost a thousand conversations, a wealth of Nixon's secretly recorded information, and more than 150,000 pages of documents in the National Archives and the Nixon Library to provide the definitive answer to the question: What did PresidentNixon know and when did he know it? Through narrative and contemporaneous dialogue, Dean connects dots that have never been connected, including revealing how and why the Watergate break-in occurred, what was on the mysterious 18 1/2 minute gap in Nixon's recorded conversations, and more. In what will stand as the most authoritative account of one of America's worst political scandals, The Nixon Defense shows how the disastrous mistakes of Watergate could have been avoided and offers a cautionary tale for our own time.From the Trade Paperback edition.Cleopatra: Cleopatra (Phoenix Press Ser.)
By Michael Grant. 2000
Cleopatra, Queen of Egypt, was also a scholar, murderer, lover of Julius Caesar and Mark Antony and one of the…
most remarkable women in history.The distinguished historian and classicist Michael Grant confirms that her reputation as a temptress was well-founded. However, by unravelling the sources behind the tangle of myth, gossip and invention he shows that the popular image of a wayward woman opting for a life of sensuous luxury and neglecting her affairs of state is far from the truth.A brilliant linguist and the first of her Greek-speaking dynasty who learned Egyptian, she was reputed to be the author of treatises on agriculture, make-up and alchemy. Her love affairs were carefully calculated to further her plans to restore her empire to its former greatness and she was a ruthless foe to all who stood in her way.But dead on her golden couch in the palace at Alexandria her life seemed to have ended in failure; her dreams of empire shattered; her lover Mark Antony a suicide himself and she a prisoner of her conqueror Octavian.An unforgettable portrait of an extraordinary queen and her stormy life.Fidel & Religion: Conversations with Frei Betto on Marxism & Liberation Theology
By Fidel Castro, Frei Betto, Armando Hart. 2006
A bestseller that offers an intimate insight into Fidel Castro, the man behind the beard! · This historic encounter between…
religion and revolution paved the way for Pope John Paul II's historic visit to Cuba in 1999 and the rule change in the Cuban Communist Party (1992) accepting as members those practicing their religious faith ·Democratic Dynasties
By Kanchan Chandra. 2016
Dynastic politics, usually presumed to be the antithesis of democracy, is a routine aspect of politics in many modern democracies.…
This book introduces a new theoretical perspective on dynasticism in democracies, using original data on twenty-first-century Indian parliaments. It argues that the roots of dynastic politics lie at least in part in modern democratic institutions - states and parties - which give political families a leg-up in the electoral process. It also proposes a rethinking of the view that dynastic politics is a violation of democracy, showing that it can also reinforce some aspects of democracy while violating others. Finally, this book suggests that both reinforcement and violation are the products, not of some property intrinsic to political dynasties, but of the institutional environment from which those dynasties emerge.Love Your Sister
By Samuel Johnson, Connie Johnson. 2014
A searingly honest memoir of family, cancer, love ... and unicycles by the founders of the LOVE YOUR SISTER charity,…
Connie and Samuel Johnson, that will inspire and they hope get people talking about boobs! Born a year apart, Connie and Samuel Johnson have always been close. Faced with the devastating news that they would soon be separated forever, they made a decision.After already surviving cancer twice in her young life, at 33 Connie was diagnosed with breast cancer. But this time it was a whole different ball game. This time she was told she will die, leaving behind her two sons. As a young mum faced with her own death, Connie wanted to make it all less meaningless, and she knew just the way to do it - send her brother, Sam, on a one-wheeled odyssey around Australia.The aims: to break the world record for the longest distance travelled on a unicycle. To raise $1 million for the Garvan Research Foundation. And, most importantly, to remind women to be breast aware and stop others having to say goodbye to those they love.Their message is simple: 'Don't fall into the booby trap.' Samuel has travelled through every state and ridden more than 150,000 kilometres to raise awareness and raise research dollars.But Connie had a secret fourth aim: to fix Samuel. And it worked. Sam cleared his diary, cleaned himself up and tenaciously kept his promise to his dying sister.For them the job isn't over. They are determined to raise more money for research. Connie vows to fight until her dying day and Sam says the fight will go on long after that.These two remarkable Australians share their tale, from childhood through to the finish line and beyond in this truly unique story. Part memoir, part travel diary, part conversation, LOVE YOUR SISTER is an inspiring and unforgettable story that shows just how far one man will go for his sister.The Last 100 Days: FDR at War and at Peace
By David B. Woolner. 2017
A revealing portrait of the end of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's life and presidency, shedding new light on how he made…
his momentous final policy decisionsThe first hundred days of FDR's presidency are justly famous, often viewed as a period of political action without equal in American history. Yet as historian David B. Woolner reveals, the last hundred might very well surpass them in drama and consequence.Drawing on new evidence, Woolner shows how FDR called on every ounce of his diminishing energy to pursue what mattered most to him: the establishment of the United Nations, the reinvigoration of the New Deal, and the possibility of a Jewish homeland in Palestine. We see a president shorn of the usual distractions of office, a man whose sense of personal responsibility for the American people bore heavily upon him. As Woolner argues, even in declining health FDR displayed remarkable political talent and foresight as he focused his energies on shaping the peace to come.Europe's Last Chance: Why the European States Must Form a More Perfect Union
By Guy Verhofstadt. 2016
In the heart of Europe's current crisis, one of the continent's foremost statesmen issues a clarion call to radically remake…
the European Union in the mold of the United States' own federal governmentEurope is caught in its greatest crisis since the Second World War. The catalog of ills seems endless: an economic crisis spread through most of Europe's Mediterranean tier that has crippled Greece and driven a wedge between northern and southern Europe; terrorist attacks in Paris, Cologne, Brussels, and Nice; growing aggression from Russia in Ukraine and the Baltic states; and refugees escaping war-torn neighbors. The European Union's inability to handle any of these disasters was a driving factor in Great Britain voting to leave, and others may soon follow. The result won't just be a continent in turmoil, but also a serious threat to American and British security-the Atlantic, let alone the Channel, simply isn't big enough to keep European troubles in Europe. For everyone's sake, Europe must survive.The question is how. In Europe's Last Chance, Guy Verhofstadt-former prime minister of Belgium and current leader of the liberal faction in the European Parliament-provides the essential framework for understanding Europe today, laying bare the absurdity of a system in which each member state can veto legislation, opt in or out of the Euro, or close borders on a whim. But Verhofstadt does not just indict the European Union, he also offers a powerful vision for how the continent can change for the better. The key, argues Verhofstadt, is to reform the European Union along the lines of America's federal government: a United States of Europe strong enough to stand with the United States of America in making a better, safer world.A visionary book from one of today's luminaries of European leadership, Europe's Last Chance is a clarion call to save the European Union, one of the world's greatest chances for peace and prosperity.Becoming Hitler: The Making of a Nazi
By Thomas Weber. 2017
An award-winning historian charts Hitler's radical transformation after World War I from a directionless loner into a powerful National Socialist…
leaderIn Becoming Hitler, award-winning historian Thomas Weber examines Adolf Hitler's time in Munich between 1918 and 1926, the years when Hitler shed his awkward, feckless persona and transformed himself into a savvy opportunistic political operator who saw himself as Germany's messiah. The story of Hitler's transformation is one of a fateful match between man and city. After opportunistically fluctuating between the ideas of the left and the right, Hitler emerged as an astonishingly flexible leader of Munich's right-wing movement. The tragedy for Germany and the world was that Hitler found himself in Munich; had he not been in Bavaria in the wake of the war and the revolution, his transformation into a National Socialist may never have occurred. In Becoming Hitler, Weber brilliantly charts this tragic metamorphosis, dramatically expanding our knowledge of how Hitler became a lethal demagogue.No End Save Victory: How FDR Led the Nation into War
By David Kaiser. 2014
A Just and Generous Nation: Abraham Lincoln and the Fight for American Opportunity
By Harold Holzer, Norton Garfinkle. 2015
In A Just and Generous Nation, the eminent historian Harold Holzer and the noted economist Norton Garfinkle present a groundbreaking…
new account of the beliefs that inspired our sixteenth president to go to war when the Southern states seceded from the Union. Rather than a commitment to eradicating slavery or a defense of the Union, they argue, Lincoln’s guiding principle was the defense of equal economic opportunity. Lincoln firmly believed that the government’s primary role was to ensure that all Americans had the opportunity to better their station in life. As president, he worked tirelessly to enshrine this ideal within the federal government. He funded railroads and canals, supported education, and, most importantly, issued the Emancipation Proclamation, which opened the door for former slaves to join white Americans in striving for self-improvement. In our own age of unprecedented inequality, A Just and Generous Nation reestablishes Lincoln’s legacy as the protector not just of personal freedom but of the American dream itself.