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The New Machiavelli: How to Wield Power in the Modern World
By Jonathan Powell. 2010
Illustrating each of Machiavelli's maxims with a description of events that occurred during Tony Blair's time as prime minister, Blair's…
former close adviser gives a devastating, frank, and insightful analysis of how power is wielded in the modern world In a 21st-century reworking of Niccolò Machiavelli's influential masterpiece, Jonathan Powell argues that the Italian philosopher is misunderstood, and explains how the lessons derived from his experience as an official in 15th-century Florence can still apply today. Drawing on his own unpublished diaries during his time as Blair's chief of staff, Powell gives a frank account of the intimate details of the internal political struggles, including the failure to join the Euro or hold a referendum on the European constitution; the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, and Kosovo; the peace negotiations in Northern Ireland; and the relations with Clinton, Bush, and Chirac. Short, stark, and clear -- much like The Prince -- this gripping account of life inside "the bunker" of Number 10 draws lessons from those experiences, not just for political leaders but for anyone who has access to the levers of power.Heart
By Dick Cheney, Jonathan Reiner. 1978
Former Vice President Dick Cheney and his longtime cardiologist, Dr. Jonathan Reiner, share the story of Cheney's thirty-five-year battle with…
heart disease--providing insight into the incredible medical breakthroughs that have changed cardiac care over the last four decades. For almost as long as he served at the highest levels of government and business, Dick Cheney has been one of the most well known cardiac patients in the world. When he suffered his first heart attack in 1978, Cheney received essentially the same treatment as President Eisenhower did after his heart attack in 1955. Since then, coronary care has undergone revolutionary changes. The story of these changes is told through the chronicle of Cheney's own heart disease and the treatments he received. In Heart, for the first time ever, Dick Cheney shares the very personal story of his health struggles. Heart traces the history of cardiology over the past forty years through the alternating narratives of Cheney and his longtime cardiologist Dr. Jonathan Reiner. In their voices, readers will learn about Cheney's personal experiences, get a glimpse into the all-important doctor-patient relationship, and learn about the cutting-edge science that has radically changed the way we think about and treat the disease. By revealing the intimate details behind his five heart attacks and most recently, his heart transplant, Cheney offers hope to the millions struggling with cardiovascular disease around the world.American Machiavelli
By John Lamberton Harper. 2004
Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) was an illegitimate West Indian emigrant who became the first U. S. Secretary of the Treasury. American…
Machiavelli focuses on Hamilton's controversial activities as foreign policy adviser and aspiring military leader. In the first major study of his foreign policy role in 30 years, John Lamberton Harper describes a decade of bitter division over the role of the Federal government in the economy during the 1790s and draws parallels between Hamilton and the sixteenth century Italian political adviser, Niccolò Machiavelli. Harper provides an original and highly readable account of Hamiltonas famous clashes with Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, and his key role in defining the U. S. national security strategy. John Lamberton Harper is Professor of Foreign Policy and European Studies at the Johns Hopkins University Bologna Center. He is the author of America and the Reconstruction of Italy, 1945-1948 (Cambridge 1986), winner of the 1987 Marraro Prize from the Society for Italian Historical Studies, and American Visions of Europe: Franklin D. Roosevelt, George F. Kennan, and Dean G. Asheson (Cambridge 1994), winner of the 1995 Robert Ferrell Prize from the Society of Historians of American Foreign Relations. His articles and reviews have appeared in numerous publications, including The American Historical Review, The Journal of American History, The Times Literary Supplement and Foreign Affairs.Andrew Jackson
By Meryl Henderson, George E. Stanley. 2003
Dear Reader: The Childhood of Famous Americans series, seventy years old in 2002, chronicles the early years of famous American…
men and women in an accessible manner. Each book is faithful in spirit to the values and experiences that influenced the person's development. History is fleshed out with fictionalized details, and conversations have been added to make the stories come alive to today's reader, but every reasonable effort has been made to make the stories consistent with the events, ethics, and character of their subjects. These books reaffirm the importance of our American heritage. We hope you learn to love the heroes and heroines who helped shape this great country. And by doing so, we hope you also develop a lasting love for the nation that gave them the opportunity to make their dreams come true. It will do the same for you. Happy Reading! The EditorsGandhi
By Kathleen Kudlinski. 2006
The man we remember simply as Gandhi was born Mohandas Gandhi in India in 1869. From an early age he…
was made keenly aware of the rigid Hindu caste system of his country, and was heavily influenced by his mother's ability to fast as a way to control her urges. Mohandas was married at the age of thirteen and continued his education, though he struggled as a student. He also struggled to find himself and to keep his moral center intact. At college in London, and then later at work in South Africa and India, Gandhi was appalled at the abject poverty he discovered and by the widespread denial of civil liberties and political rights he encountered. He ultimately dedicated his life to the struggle for fundamental human rights for all Indians. Read all about the fascinating early years and eventual accomplishments of this inspiring leader.George Washington's War: The Forging of a Revolutionary Leader and the American Presidency
By Bruce Chadwick. 2004
Drawing on archival and other sources, Chadwick (American history, Rutgers U.) offers a new perspective on the well-known story of…
the plight of General Washington and his men at Valley Forge. He argues that the future president developed a model of leadership for dealing with national emergencies when he campaigned to secure emergency supplies for his troops. Includes period illustrations. Annotation ©2004 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)Rumsfeld: His Rise, Fall, and Catastrophic Legacy
By Andrew Cockburn. 2007
Donald Rumsfeld, who as secretary of defense oversaw the army, navy, air force, and marines from 2001 to December 2006,…
is widely blamed for the catastrophic state of America's involvement in Iraq. In his groundbreaking book Rumsfeld, Washington insider Andrew Cockburn details Rumsfeld's decisions in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and also shows how his political legacy stretches back decades and will reach far into the future. Relying on sources that include high-ranking officials in the Pentagon and the White House,Rumsfeldgoes far beyond previous accounts to reveal a man consumed with the urge to dominate each and every human encounter, and whose aggressive ambition has long been matched by his inability to display genuine leadership or accept responsibility for egregious error. Cockburn exposes Rumsfeld's early career as an Illinois congressman, his rise to prominence as an official in the Nixon White House, his careful maneuvering to avoid the fallout of the Watergate scandal, and his skillful infighting as secretary of defense under President Ford. Cockburn also chronicles for the very first time Rumsfeld's subsequent tenure as CEO of G. D. Searle (and his devoted efforts to get governmental approval for the controversial artificial sweetener aspartame) as well as his interesting behavior in secret high-level government nuclear war games in the years he was out of power. President George W. Bush's hasty elevation of Rumsfeld as his secretary of defense proved historic, for it was the triumvirate of Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney, and Rumsfeld who plunged America into the disastrous quagmire of the war in Iraq. Cockburn reveals how Rumsfeld's habits of intimidation, indecision, ignoring awkward realities, destructive micromanagement, and bureaucratic manipulation all helped doom America's military adventure. The book challenges the notion that Rumsfeld was an effective manager driven to transform the American military, examines the reasons that Rumsfeld was removed from office, and shows how his second appointment as secretary of defense reflects a deep conflict between President Bush and his father, former president George H. W. Bush. Brimming with powerful revelations,Rumsfeldis sure to emerge as the must-have piece of investigative journalism as America grapples with its difficult involvement in Iraq and the uncertain path the country faces today.Montaigne: A Life
By Steven Rendall, Lisa Neal, Philippe Desan. 2017
One of the most important writers and thinkers of the Renaissance, Michel de Montaigne (1533–92) helped invent a literary genre…
that seemed more modern than anything that had come before. But did he do it, as he suggests in his Essays, by retreating to his chateau, turning his back on the world, and stoically detaching himself from his violent times? In this definitive biography, Philippe Desan, one of the world's leading authorities on Montaigne, overturns this longstanding myth by showing that Montaigne was constantly concerned with realizing his political ambitions—and that the literary and philosophical character of the Essays largely depends on them. The most comprehensive and authoritative biography of Montaigne yet written, this sweeping narrative offers a fascinating new picture of his life and work.As Desan shows, Montaigne always considered himself a political figure and he conceived of each edition of the Essays as an indispensable prerequisite to the next stage of his public career. He lived through eight civil wars, successfully lobbied to be raised to the nobility, and served as mayor of Bordeaux, special ambassador, and negotiator between Henry III and Henry of Navarre. It was only toward the very end of Montaigne’s life, after his political failure, that he took refuge in literature. But, even then, it was his political experience that enabled him to find the right tone for his genre.In this essential biography, we discover a new Montaigne—caught up in the events of his time, making no separation between private and public life, and guided by strategy first in his words and silences. Neither candid nor transparent, but also not yielding to the cynicism of his age, this Montaigne lends a new depth to the Montaigne of literary legend.The Golden Lad: The Haunting Story of Quentin and Theodore Roosevelt
By Eric Burns. 2016
Theodore Roosevelt is one of the most fascinating and written-about presidents in American history—yet the most poignant tale about this…
larger-than-life man has never been told. More than a century has passed since Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House, but he still continues to fascinate. Never has a more exuberant man been our nation's leader. He became a war hero, reformed the NYPD, busted the largest railroad and oil trusts, passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, created national parks and forests, won the Nobel Peace Prize, and built the Panama Canal—to name just a few. Yet it was the cause he championed the hardest—America's entry in to WWI—that would ultimately divide and destroy him. His youngest son, Quentin, his favorite, would die in an air fight. How does looking at Theodore's relationship with his son, and understanding him as a father, tell us something new about this larger-than-life-man? Does it reveal a more human side? A more hypocritical side? Or simply, if tragically, a nature so surprisingly sensitive, despite the bluster, that he would die of a broken heart? Roosevelt's own history of boyhood illnesses made him so aware of was like to be a child in pain, that he could not bear the thought of his own children suffering. The Roosevelts were a family of pillow-fights, pranks, and "scary bear." And it was the baby, Quentin—the frailest—who worried his father the most. Yet in the end, it was he who would display, in his brief life, the most intellect and courage of all.Valor
By Evan Bayh, Rogelio Roy Dominguez, James B. Lane. 2012
The son of Hispanic immigrants, Rogelio "Roy" Dominguez grew up in gang-plagued Gary, Indiana. With strong family support, he managed…
to beat the odds, graduating with distinction from Indiana University, finishing law school after a rough start, and maturing into a successful attorney and officeholder. Yet there was more in store for Roy. Ready to start a family and embark on a career as a deputy prosecutor, he was stricken with Guillain-Barré syndrome. How he coped with and eventually overcame this debilitating affliction is a compelling part of his story. The experience steeled him to meet future crises with wisdom, perspective, and grit. An inspiring true story, Valor is also a significant and original contribution to the social, ethnic, and political history of Indiana.Sal Si Puedes (Escape If You Can)
By Peter Matthiessen. 2014
In the summer of 1968 Peter Matthiessen met Cesar Chavez for the first time. They were the same age: forty-one.…
Matthiessen lived in New York City, while Chavez lived in the Central Valley farm town of Delano, where the grape strike was unfolding. This book is Matthiessen's panoramic yet finely detailed account of the three years he spent working and traveling with Chavez, including to Sal Si Puedes, the San Jose barrio where Chavez began his organizing. Matthiessen provides a candid look into the many sides of this enigmatic and charismatic leader who lived by the laws of nonviolence. Sal Si Puedes is less reportage than living history. In its pages a whole era comes alive: the Chicano, Black Power, and antiwar movements; the browning of the labor movement; Chavez's fasts; the nationwide boycott of California grapes. When Chavez died in 1993, tens of thousands gathered at his funeral. It was a clear sign of how beloved he was and how important his life had been. A new foreword by Marc Grossman considers the significance of Chavez's legacy for our time. As well as serving as an indispensable guide to the 1960s, this book rejuvenates the extraordinary vitality of Chavez's life and spirit, giving his message a renewed and much-needed urgency.John F. Kennedy in New England (Images of Modern America)
By Raymond P. Sinibaldi. 2017
On May 29, 1917, John F. Kennedy was born in the Kennedy home in Brookline, Massachusetts. As a toddler, he…
wandered the sands of Nantasket Beach in Hull. When he was a little boy, he swam in the Atlantic waters of Sandy Beach in Cohasset, and as a teenager, he learned to sail on Nantucket Sound off the Cape Cod hamlet of Hyannis Port. He was married on the lawn of the Auchincloss Estate in Newport on the shores of Rhode Island Sound, and as president, he sailed the waters off John’s Island in Maine, while the Navy’s Blue Angels flew over in a salute to their commander in chief. John Kennedy was marked and then defined by his time sailing the seas off New England’s shores, and as his brother Ted once said, it was Hyannis Port where he enjoyed his “happiest times.”The Master of Seventh Avenue: David Dubinsky and the American Labor Movement
By Robert D. Parmet. 2005
The Master of Seventh Avenue is the definitive biography of David Dubinsky (1892--1982), one of the most controversial and influential…
labor leaders in 20th-century America. A "character" in the truest sense of the word, Dubinsky was both revered and reviled, but never dull, conformist, or bound by convention. A Jewish labor radical, Dubinsky fled czarist Poland in 1910 and began his career as a garment worker and union agitator in New York City. He quickly rose through the ranks of the International Ladies' Garment Workers'Union (ILGWU) and became its president in 1932. Dubinsky led the ILGWU for thirty-four years, where he championed "social unionism," which offered workers benefits ranging from health care to housing. Moving beyond the realm of the ILGWU, Dubinsky also played a leading role in the American Federation of Labor (AFL), particularly during World War II. A staunch anti-communist, Dubinsky worked tirelessly to rid the American labor movement of communists and fellow-travelers.Robert D. Parmet also chronicles Dubinsky's influential role in local, national, and international politics. An extraordinary personality whose life and times present a fascinating lens into the American labor movement, Dubinsky leaps off the pages of this meticulously researched and vividly detailed biography.Call Me Giambattista: A Personal and Political Journey
By John Ciaccia. 2015
What draws a person to the political life? In Call Me Giambattista, John Ciaccia recounts his immigration to Canada from…
Italy as a small child in 1937 to his retirement from the National Assembly of Quebec in 1998. After studying at McGill University's Faculty of Law, practising in a Montreal law firm, and shifting gears to work as a federal civil servant, a phone call in 1973 from Premier Robert Bourassa launched Ciaccia's twenty-five-year career in Quebec politics. As a member federalist politician from an Italian background, Ciaccia faced many challenges. When first elected, he negotiated the James Bay Agreement with the Cree and the Inuit, and later, as Quebec's minister of Native Affairs, he was a key negotiator in the Oka crisis of 1990. Over the course of his career he held four cabinet posts, including International Affairs, and he ended his political career as the longest-serving member of the National Assembly. Ciaccia details all of these events and more, and explains his relationships with leading figures such as Robert Bourassa, Claude Ryan, Pierre Trudeau, René Lévesque, and Jacques Parizeau. Revealing his approach to politics, Ciaccia describes the lessons he learned from his career, and underscores the importance of acting according to one's convictions. An intriguing memoir of an Italian immigrant who came to hold key roles in the Quebec government, Call Me Giambattista tells the story of a political leader and the choices he made during a seminal period in Quebec history.Yigal Allon, Native Son
By Anita Shapira, Evelyn Abel. 2008
Born in 1918 into the fabric of Arab-Jewish frontier life at the foot of Mt. Tabor, Yigal Allon rose to…
become one of the founding figures of the state of Israel and an architect of its politics. In 1945 Allon became commander of the Palmah--an elite unit of the Haganah, the semilegal army of the Jewish community--during the struggle against the British for independence. In the 1947-49 War of Independence against local and invading Arab armies, he led the decisive battles that largely determined the borders of Israel. Paradoxically, his close lifelong relations with Arab neighbors did not prevent him from being a chief agent of their sizable displacement.A bestseller in Israel and available now translated into English, Yigal Allon, Native Son is the only biography of this charismatic leader. The book focuses on Allon's life up to 1950, his clash with founding father David Ben-Gurion, the end of his military career, and the watershed in culture and character between the Jewish Yishuv and Israeli statehood. As a statesman in his more mature years, he formulated what became known as the "Allon Plan," which remains a viable blueprint for an eventual two-state partition between Israel and the Palestinians. Yet in the end, the promise Allon showed as a brilliant young military commander remained unfulfilled. The great dream of the Palmah generation was largely lost, and Allon's name became associated with the failed policies of the past.The story of Allon's life frames the history of Israel, its relationship with its Arab neighbors, its culture and spirit. This important biography touches on matters--Israel's borders, refugees, military might--that remain very much alive today.Mandela: A Biography
By Martin Meredith. 2010
Nelson Mandela stands out as one of the most admired political figures of the twentieth century. It was his leadership…
and moral courage above all that helped to deliver a peaceful end to apartheid in South Africa after years of racial division and violence and to establish a fledgling democracy there.Martin Meredith's vivid portrayal of this towering leader was originally acclaimed as "an exemplary work of biography: instructive, illuminating, as well as felicitously written” (Kirkus Reviews), providing "new insights on the man and his time” (Washington Post). Now Meredith has revisited and significantly updated his biography to incorporate a decade of additional perspective and hindsight on the man and his legacy and to examine how far his hopes for the new South Africa have been realised.Published as South Africa celebrates 100 years since its founding and hosts the 2010 World Cup, Nelson Mandela is the most thorough and up-to-date account available of the life of its most revered hero.Transformative Political Leadership: Making a Difference in the Developing World
By Rotberg, Robert I. 2012
Accomplished political leaders have a clear strategy for turning political visions into reality. Through well-honed analytical, political, and emotional intelligence,…
leaders chart paths to promising futures that include economic growth, material prosperity, and human well-being. Alas, such leaders are rare in the developing world, where often institutions are weak and greed and corruption strong--and where responsible leadership therefore has the potential to effect the greatest change. In Transformative Political Leadership, Robert I. Rotberg focuses on the role of leadership in politics and argues that accomplished leaders demonstrate a particular set of skills. Through illustrative case studies of leaders who have performed ably in the developing world--among them Nelson Mandela in South Africa, Seretse Khama in Botswana, Lee Kuan Yew in Singapore, and Kemal Ataturk in Turkey--Rotberg examines how these leaders transformed their respective countries. The importance of capable leadership is woefully understudied in political science, and this book will be an important tool in exploring how leaders lead and how nations and institutions are built.Rough Justice
By Peter Elkind. 2010
Peter Elkind presents an in-depth look at the ambitious career and sudden disgrace of former New York governor Eliot Spitzer.…
The result is a gripping narrative of one man's noble intentions and fatal flaws and the powerful forces that destroyed him.Viscount Haldane
By Frederick Vaughan. 2004
Viscount Richard Burdon Haldane was a philosopher, lawyer, British MP, and member of the British Cabinet during the First World…
War. He is best known to Canadians as a judge of the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council (Canada's highest court of appeal until 1949), in which role he was extremely influential in altering the constitutional relations between the federal parliament and the provincial legislatures.Chafing under the British North America Act of 1867, which provided for a strong central government, the provincial governments appealed to the Judicial Committee and were successful in gaining greater provincial legislative autonomy through the constitutional interpretations of the law lords. In Viscount Haldane, Frederick Vaughan concentrates on Haldane's role in these rulings, arguing that his jurisprudence was shaped by his formal study of German philosophy, especially that of G.W.F. Hegel. Vaughan's analysis of Haldane's legal philosophy and its impact on the Canadian constitution concludes that his Hegelian legacy is very much alive in today's Supreme Court of Canada and that it continues to shape the constitution and the lives of Canadians since the adoption of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.Movie Nights with the Reagans: A Memoir
By Mark Weinberg. 2018
Former special advisor and press secretary to President Ronald Reagan shares an intimate, behind-the-scenes look inside the Reagan presidency—told through…
the movies they watched together every week at Camp David.What did President Ronald Reagan think of Rocky IV? How did the Matthew Broderick film WarGames inform America’s missile defense system? What Michael J. Fox movie made such an impression on President Reagan that he felt compelled to mention it in a speech to the Joint Session of Congress? Over the course of eight years, Mark Weinberg travelled to Camp David each weekend with Ronald and Nancy Reagan. He was one of a few select members invited into the Aspen Lodge, where the First Family screened both contemporary and classic movies on Friday and Saturday nights. They watched movies in times of triumph, such as the aftermath of Reagan’s 1984 landslide, and after moments of tragedy, such as the explosion of the Challenger and the shooting of the President and Press Secretary Jim Brady. Weinberg’s unparalleled access offers a rare glimpse of the Reagans—unscripted, relaxed, unburdened by the world, with no cameras in sight. Each chapter discusses a legendary film, what the Reagans thought of it, and provides warm anecdotes and untold stories about his family and the administration. From Reagan’s pranks on the Secret Service to his thoughts on the parallels between Hollywood and Washington, Weinberg paints a full picture of the president The New Yorker once famously dubbed “The Unknowable.” Movie Nights with the Reagans is a nostalgic journey through the 1980s and its most iconic films, seen through the eyes of one of Hollywood’s former stars: one who was simultaneously transforming the Republican Party, the American economy, and the course of the Cold War.