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One Man Against the World: The Tragedy of Richard Nixon
Par Tim Weiner. 2015
The New York Times BestsellerA shocking and riveting look at one of the most dramatic and disastrous presidencies in US…
history, from Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winner Tim WeinerBased largely on documents declassified only in the last few years, One Man Against the World paints a devastating portrait of a tortured yet brilliant man who led the country largely according to a deep-seated insecurity and distrust of not only his cabinet and congress, but the American population at large. In riveting, tick-tock prose, Weiner illuminates how the Vietnam War and the Watergate controversy that brought about Nixon's demise were inextricably linked. From the hail of garbage and curses that awaited Nixon upon his arrival at the White House, when he became the president of a nation as deeply divided as it had been since the end of the Civil War, to the unprecedented action Nixon took against American citizens, who he considered as traitorous as the army of North Vietnam, to the infamous break-in and the tapes that bear remarkable record of the most intimate and damning conversations between the president and his confidantes, Weiner narrates the history of Nixon's anguished presidency in fascinating and fresh detail. A crucial new look at the greatest political suicide in history, One Man Against the World leaves us not only with new insight into this tumultuous period, but also into the motivations and demons of an American president who saw enemies everywhere, and, thinking the world was against him, undermined the foundations of the country he had hoped to lead.Pelosi
Par Molly Ball. 2020
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A riveting inside account of the unprecedented rise to power and unmatched political legacy of the…
first woman Speaker of the House, by award-winning journalist Molly Ball Nancy Pelosi’s opposition to Donald Trump has made her an icon of the Resistance, featured in viral memes clapping sardonically at the president or ripping up his State of the Union address. But the real Nancy Pelosi is neither the shrill partisan featured in thousands of attack ads nor the cautious corporatist reviled by the far left. She’s the rare politician who still knows how to get big things done—a master of legislative power whose policy accomplishments have touched millions of American lives, from providing universal access to health care to reforming Wall Street to allowing gay people to serve openly in the military. She’s done it all at a time of historic polarization and gridlock, despite being routinely underestimated by allies and opponents alike.Ball’s nuanced, page-turning portrait takes readers inside Pelosi’s life and times, from her roots in urban Baltimore to her formative years as a party activist and fundraiser, from the fractious politics of San Francisco to high-stakes congressional negotiations with multiple presidents. The result is a compelling portrait of a barrier-breaking woman that sheds new light on American political history. Based on exclusive interviews with the Speaker and deep background reporting, Ball shows Pelosi through a thoroughly modern lens to explain how this extraordinary woman has met her moment.Franklin and Eleanor: An Extraordinary Marriage
Par Hazel Rowley. 2010
Franklin Delano and Eleanor Roosevelt's marriage is one of the most celebrated and scrutinized partnerships in presidential history. It raised…
eyebrows in their lifetimes and has only become more controversial since their deaths. From FDR's lifelong romance with Lucy Mercer to Eleanor's purported lesbianism—and many scandals in between—the American public has never tired of speculating about the ties that bound these two headstrong individuals. Some claim that Eleanor sacrificed her personal happiness to accommodate FDR's needs; others claim that the marriage was nothing more than a gracious façade for political convenience. No one has told the full story until now. In this groundbreaking new account of the marriage, Hazel Rowley describes the remarkable courage and lack of convention—private and public—that kept FDR and Eleanor together. She reveals a partnership that was both supportive and daring. Franklin, especially, knew what he owed to Eleanor, who was not so much behind the scenes as heavily engaged in them. Their relationship was the product of FDR and Eleanor's conscious efforts—a partnership that they created according to their own ambitions and needs.In this dramatic and vivid narrative, set against the great upheavals of the Depression and World War II, Rowley paints a portrait of a tender lifelong companionship, born of mutual admiration and compassion. Most of all, she depicts an extraordinary evolution—from conventional Victorian marriage to the bold and radical partnership that has made Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt go down in history as one of the most inspiring and fascinating couples of all time.The Passage of Power: The Years of Lyndon Johnson IV (The Years of Lyndon Johnson #4)
Par Robert A. Caro. 2012
WINNER OF THE NATIONAL BOOK CRITICS CIRCLE AWARD, THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE, THE MARK LYNTON HISTORY PRIZE, THE…
AMERICAN HISTORY BOOK PRIZEBook Four of Robert A. Caro&’s monumental The Years of Lyndon Johnson displays all the narrative energy and illuminating insight that led the Times of London to acclaim it as &“one of the truly great political biographies of the modern age. A masterpiece.&” The Passage of Power follows Lyndon Johnson through both the most frustrating and the most triumphant periods of his career—1958 to1964. It is a time that would see him trade the extraordinary power he had created for himself as Senate Majority Leader for what became the wretched powerlessness of a Vice President in an administration that disdained and distrusted him. Yet it was, as well, the time in which the presidency, the goal he had always pursued, would be thrust upon him in the moment it took an assassin&’s bullet to reach its mark.By 1958, as Johnson began to maneuver for the presidency, he was known as one of the most brilliant politicians of his time, the greatest Senate Leader in our history. But the 1960 nomination would go to the young senator from Massachusetts, John F. Kennedy. Caro gives us an unparalleled account of the machinations behind both the nomination and Kennedy&’s decision to offer Johnson the vice presidency, revealing the extent of Robert Kennedy&’s efforts to force Johnson off the ticket. With the consummate skill of a master storyteller, he exposes the savage animosity between Johnson and Kennedy&’s younger brother, portraying one of America&’s great political feuds. Yet Robert Kennedy&’s overt contempt for Johnson was only part of the burden of humiliation and isolation he bore as Vice President. With a singular understanding of Johnson&’s heart and mind, Caro describes what it was like for this mighty politician to find himself altogether powerless in a world in which power is the crucial commodity. For the first time, in Caro&’s breathtakingly vivid narrative, we see the Kennedy assassination through Lyndon Johnson&’s eyes. We watch Johnson step into the presidency, inheriting a staff fiercely loyal to his slain predecessor; a Congress determined to retain its power over the executive branch; and a nation in shock and mourning. We see how within weeks—grasping the reins of the presidency with supreme mastery—he propels through Congress essential legislation that at the time of Kennedy&’s death seemed hopelessly logjammed and seizes on a dormant Kennedy program to create the revolutionary War on Poverty. Caro makes clear how the political genius with which Johnson had ruled the Senate now enabled him to make the presidency wholly his own. This was without doubt Johnson&’s finest hour, before his aspirations and accomplishments were overshadowed and eroded by the trap of Vietnam.In its exploration of this pivotal period in Johnson&’s life—and in the life of the nation—The Passage of Power is not only the story of how he surmounted unprecedented obstacles in order to fulfill the highest purpose of the presidency but is, as well, a revelation of both the pragmatic potential in the presidency and what can be accomplished when the chief executive has the vision and determination to move beyond the pragmatic and initiate programs designed to transform a nation. It is an epic story told with a depth of detail possible only through the peerless research that forms the foundation of Robert Caro&’s work, confirming Nicholas von Hoffman&’s verdict that &“Caro has changed the art of political biography.&”John Kenneth Galbraith: His Life, His Politics, His Economics
Par Richard Parker. 2005
The life and times of America's celebrated economist, assessing his lessons-and warnings-for us today.John Kenneth Galbraith's books—among them The Affluent…
Society and American Capitalism—are famous for good reason. Written by a scholar renowned for energetic political engagement and irrepressible wit, they are models of provocative good sense that warn prophetically of the dangers of deregulated markets, war in Asia, corporate greed, and stock-market bubbles. Galbraith's work has also deeply-and controversially-influenced his own profession, and in Richard Parker's hands his biography becomes a vital reinterpretation of American economics and public policy.Born and raised on a small Canadian farm, Galbraith began teaching at Harvard during the Depression. He was FDR's "price czar" during the war and then a senior editor of Fortune before returning to Harvard and to fame as a bestselling writer. Parker shows how, from his early championing of Keynes to his acerbic analysis of America's "private wealth and public squalor," Galbraith regularly challenged prevailing theories and policies. And his account of Galbraith's remarkable friendship with John F. Kennedy, whom he served as a close advisor while ambassador to India, is especially relevant for its analysis of the intense, dynamic debates that economists and politicians can have over how America should manage its wealth and power. This masterful chronicle gives color, depth, and meaning to the record of an extraordinary life.President Garfield: From Radical to Unifier
Par Cw Goodyear. 2023
An &“ambitious, thorough, supremely researched&” (The Washington Post) biography of the extraordinary, tragic life of America&’s twentieth president—James Garfield.In &“the…
most comprehensive Garfield biography in almost fifty years&” (The Wall Street Journal), C.W. Goodyear charts the life and times of one of the most remarkable Americans ever to win the Presidency. Progressive firebrand and conservative compromiser; Union war hero and founder of the first Department of Education; Supreme Court attorney and abolitionist preacher; mathematician and canalman; crooked election-fixed and clean-government champion; Congressional chieftain and gentleman-farmer; the last president to be born in a log cabin; the second to be assassinated. James Abram Garfield was all these things and more. Over nearly two decades in Congress during a polarized era—Reconstruction and the Gilded Age—Garfield served as a peacemaker in a Republican Party and America defined by divisions. He was elected to overcome them. He was killed while trying to do so. President Garfield is American history at its finest. It is about an impoverished boy working his way from the frontier to the Presidency; a progressive statesman, trying to raise a more righteous, peaceful Republic out of the ashes of civil war; the tragically imperfect course of that reformation, and the man himself; a martyr-President, whose death succeeded in nudging the country back to cleaner, calmer politics.Rescued from ISIS: The Gripping True Story of How a Father Saved His Son
Par Dimitri Bontinck. 2017
Rescued from ISIS is the inspiring and terrifying tale of one man's journey to the Middle East to save his…
child from radical Islam, and its surprising worldwide repercussions.Dimitri Bontinck lived every parent's worst nightmare. His teenage son, introduced to Islam by his girlfriend, fell into the clutches of a radical mosque. Dimitri watched helplessly as his son, Jay, transformed from a gentle boy to a soldier in training, wearing traditional robes and following a strict diet. Completely brainwashed, Jay snuck out of the house and traveled to Syria, all but vanishing. Too late, Dimitri learned that their country, Belgium, was the leading hotbed of Islamic radicalization. Large numbers of teenagers were being lured into this world and expertly indoctrinated into radical Islam. One by one, they disappeared into the Middle East, most never to be seen again.With no one to help him, Dimitri--a white, Christian-raised atheist--set off on his own to save his son. Using only his military training, a lot of courage, and a little luck, he gradually embedded himself deeper and deeper into the Middle East. After months of searching and several close calls—including being thrown in a jail cell and beaten—he was able to find his son and bring him home. The world was shocked at his unprecedented success, and he started receiving pleas from families around the world, asking that he rescue their children, as well. Increasingly fearful for his own life but unable to ignore these cries for help, Dimitri accepted his newfound role as The Jihadi Hunter.Leadership: Six Studies in World Strategy
Par Henry Kissinger. 2022
Henry Kissinger, consummate diplomat and statesman, examines the strategies of six great twentieth-century figures and brings to life a unifying…
theory of leadership and diplomacy. “Leaders,” writes Henry Kissinger in this compelling book, “think and act at the intersection of two axes: the first, between the past and the future; the second, between the abiding values and aspirations of those they lead. They must balance what they know, which is necessarily drawn from the past, with what they intuit about the future, which is inherently conjectural and uncertain. It is this intuitive grasp of direction that enables leaders to set objectives and lay down a strategy.” In Leadership, Kissinger analyses the lives of six extraordinary leaders through the distinctive strategies of statecraft, which he believes they embodied. After the Second World War, Konrad Adenauer brought defeated and morally bankrupt Germany back into the community of nations by what Kissinger calls “the strategy of humility.” Charles de Gaulle set France beside the victorious Allies and renewed its historic grandeur by “the strategy of will.” During the Cold War, Richard Nixon gave geostrategic advantage to the United States by “the strategy of equilibrium.” After twenty-five years of conflict, Anwar Sadat brought a vision of peace to the Middle East by a “strategy of transcendence.” Against the odds, Lee Kuan Yew created a powerhouse city-state, Singapore, by “the strategy of excellence.” And, though Britain was known as “the sick man of Europe” when Margaret Thatcher came to power, she renewed her country’s morale and international position by “the strategy of conviction.” To each of these studies, Kissinger brings historical perception, public experience and—because he knew each of the subjects and participated in many of the events he describes—personal knowledge. Leadership is enriched by insights and judgements that only Kissinger could make and concludes with his reflections on world order and the indispensability of leadership today. New York Times BestsellerLife: My Story Through History: Pope Francis's Inspiring Biography Through History
Par Pope Francis. 1989
For the first time, Pope Francis tells the story of his life as he looks back on the momentous world…
events that have changed history—from his earliest years during the outbreak of World War II in 1939 to the turmoil of today. An extraordinary personal and historical journey, Life is the story of a man and a world in dramatic change. Pope Francis recalls his life through memories and observations of the most significant occurrences of the past eight decades, from the Holocaust to the fall of the Berlin Wall, Videla’s coup in Argentina to the moon landing in 1969, and even the 1986 World Cup in which Maradona scored the unforgettable “hand of God” goal.Here are the frank assessments and intimate insights of a pastor reflecting on the Nazi extermination of the Jews, the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki, the 2001 terrorist attack on America and the collapse of the Twin Towers, the great economic recession of 2008, the Covid-19 pandemic, the retirement of Pope Benedict XVI, and the subsequent conclave that elected him Pontiff. The “pope callejero” recounts these world-changing moments with the candor and compassion that distinguishes him, and offers important messages on major crises confronting us now, including social inequalities, climate change, international war, atomic weapons, racial discrimination, and the battles over social and cultural issues.Translated from the Italian by Aubrey BotsfordJFK Has Been Shot
Par Charles A. Crenshaw, Jens Hansen, J. Gary Shaw. 1992
The &“thrilling, dramatic, historic&” #1 New York Times bestseller by the Parkland Hospital surgeon who fought to save President John…
F. Kennedy (Robert K. Tanenbaum). On November 22, 1963, Dr. Charles Crenshaw, an accomplished surgeon, tried to save John F. Kennedy&’s life—and then days later, the life of the alleged assassin, Lee Harvey Oswald. His gripping, firsthand account contradicts the Warren Commission and years of public misperception to illuminate a chapter in American history long cloaked in conspiracy. Writing with eye-opening immediacy, Dr. Crenshaw takes readers into the emergency room to share the critical events at Parkland Hospital as he lived them. Now updated, his searing testimony punctures myths and shatters a cover-up of massive proportions. &“Hard-hitting, courageous, and correct in every respect.&”—Cyril Wecht, M.D., J.D. "Dr. Crenshaw offers his expert opinion with persuasive evidence. Read this page-turning account of the Kennedy assassination.&”—Robert K. Tanenbaum, Deputy Chief Counsel, Congressional Committee Investigation into the Assassination of President KennedyIncludes revealing photos Previously published as JFK Conspiracy of SilenceFrom waking up in jail to flying on Air Force One less than four years later, this is the story…
of Tim Murtaugh&’s journey from desperate alcoholism to the top of the political world on the 2020 Trump campaign.When he woke up in jail in Fairfax County, Virginia, in 2015, Tim Murtaugh had no way of knowing he&’d be a senior leader on the reelection campaign for the president of the United States less than four years later.What began as a form of high-school amusement quickly became an addiction, which over decades would lead Murtaugh to the edge of ruin. Able to beat the disease of alcoholism only under the threat of losing everything, and with the support of a loving wife and family, Murtaugh managed to recover, revive his career, and make it to the top of the political world.Travel along on the 2020 Trump campaign as Murtaugh shares stories—never published before—from his two years as communications director, navigating a hostile media, the COVID-19 pandemic, highly anticipated debates, Election Day 2020, January 6, and life on the most-watched political campaign in world history.Swing Hard in Case You Hit It is a redemption story unlike any other—from being on the verge of complete self-destruction to flying on Air Force One with President Donald J. Trump—that doesn&’t come with a happy Hollywood endingOutspoken: My Fight for Freedom and Human Rights in Afghanistan
Par Sima Samar. 2024
The impassioned memoir of Afghanistan's Sima Samar: medical doctor, public official, founder of schools and hospitals, thorn in the side…
of the Taliban, nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize, and lifelong advocate for girls and women.&“I have three strikes against me. I&’m a woman, I speak out for women, and I&’m Hazara, the most persecuted ethnic group in Afghanistan.&”Dr. Sima Samar has been fighting for equality and justice for most of her life. Born into a polygamous family, she learned early that girls had inferior status, and she had to agree to an arranged marriage if she wanted to go to university. By the time she was in medical school, she had a son, Ali, and had become a revolutionary. After her husband was disappeared by the pro-Russian regime, she escaped. With her son and medical degree, she took off into the rural areas—by horseback, by donkey, even on foot—to treat people who had never had medical help before.Sima Samar's wide-ranging experiences both in her home country and on the world stage have given her inside access to the dishonesty, the collusion, the corruption, the self-serving leaders, and the hijacking of religion. And as a former Vice President, she knows all the players in this chess game called Afghanistan. With stories that are at times poignant, at times terrifying, inspiring as well as disheartening, Sima provides an unparalleled view of Afghanistan&’s past and its present. Despite being in grave personal danger for many years, she has worked tirelessly for the dream she is convinced is an achievable one: justice and full human rights for all the citizens of her country.Watergate: A New History
Par Garrett M. Graff. 2022
Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in History NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER * &“Do we need still another Watergate book? The…
answer turns out to be yes—this one.&” —The Washington Post * &“Dazzling.&” —The New York Times Book Review From the New York Times bestselling author of The Only Plane in the Sky, comes the first definitive narrative history of Watergate—&“the best and fullest account of the crisis, one unlikely to be surpassed anytime soon&” (Kirkus Reviews, starred review)—exploring the full scope of the scandal through the politicians, investigators, journalists, and informants who made it the most influential political event of the modern era.In the early hours of June 17, 1972, a security guard named Frank Wills enters six words into the log book of the Watergate office complex that will change the course of history: 1:47 AM Found tape on doors; call police. The subsequent arrests of five men seeking to bug and burgle the Democratic National Committee offices—three of them Cuban exiles, two of them former intelligence operatives—quickly unravels a web of scandal that ultimately ends a presidency and forever alters views of moral authority and leadership. Watergate, as the event is called, becomes a shorthand for corruption, deceit, and unanswered questions. Now, award-winning journalist and bestselling author Garrett M. Graff explores the full scope of this unprecedented moment from start to finish, in the first comprehensive, single-volume account in decades. The story begins in 1971, with the publication of thousands of military and government documents known as the Pentagon Papers, which reveal dishonesty about the decades-long American presence in Vietnam and spark public outrage. Furious that the leak might expose his administration&’s own duplicity during a crucial reelection season, President Richard M. Nixon gathers his closest advisors and gives them implicit instructions: Win by any means necessary. Within a few months, an unsteady line of political dominoes are positioned, from the creation of a series of covert operations code-named GEMSTONE to campaign-trail dirty tricks, possible hostage situations, and questionable fundraising efforts—much of it caught on the White House&’s own taping system. One by one they fall, until the thwarted June burglary attracts the attention of intrepid journalists, congressional investigators, and embattled intelligence officers, one of whom will spend decades concealing his identity behind the alias &“Deep Throat.&” As each faction slowly begins to uncover the truth, a conspiracy deeper and more corrupt than anyone thought possible emerges, and the nation is thrown into a state of crisis as its government—and its leader—unravels. Using newly public documents, transcripts, and revelations, Graff recounts every twist with remarkable detail and page-turning drama, bringing readers into the backrooms of Washington, chaotic daily newsrooms, crowded Senate hearings, and even the Oval Office itself during one of the darkest chapters in American history. Grippingly told and meticulously researched, Watergate is the defining account of the moment that has haunted our nation&’s past—and still holds the power to shape its present and future.Rudy Giuliani: Emperor of the City
Par Andrew Kirtzman. 2001
The fascinating account of Rudy Giuliani’s rise to become Mayor of New York City and his eventful years as “emperor…
of the city”From longtime New York political journalist Andrew Kirtzman, the definitive biography of “America’s Mayor,” Rudy Giuliani, now a member of President Donald Trump’s legal team. The book begins with Giuliani's resignation as U.S. Attorney in 1989, and covers the time period through the immediate aftermath of September 11th. Deeply researched—relying upon numerous interviews with advisors, aides, and adversaries—Rudy Giuliani presents the ultimate look at the man who transformed New York City. Filled with surprising revelations about the Giuliani years, and insights into the man's character, this is political biography at its finest.RN: The Memoirs of Richard Nixon
Par Richard Nixon. 1992
“Informative, explicit, even suspense-ridden.…An important source for students of the Nixon presidency.” —The New York TimesFormer President Richard Nixon's bestselling…
autobiography is an intensely personal examination of his life, public career, and White House years. With startling candor, Nixon reveals his beliefs, doubts, and behind-the-scenes decisions, shedding new light on his landmark diplomatic and domestic initiatives, political campaigns, and historic decision to resign from the presidency.Memoirs, spanning Nixon’s formative years through his presidency,reveals the personal side of Richard Nixon. Witness his youth, college years, and wartime experiences, events which would shape his outward philosophies and eventually his presidency—and shape our lives. Follow his meteoric rise to national prominence and the great peaks and depths of his presidency.Throughout his career Richard Nixon made extensive notes about his ideas, conversations, activities, meetings. During his presidency, from November 1971 until April 1973 and again in June and July 1974, he kept an almost daily diary of reflections, analyses, and perceptions. These notes and diary dictations, quoted throughout this book, provide a unique insight into the complexities of the modern presidency and the great issues of American policy and politics.Washington D.C. From A-Z
Par Alan Schroeder. 2018
See our nation's capital like never before!In almost 100 entries from A to Z discover little-known lore, hidden history, and…
quotable quotes about Washington D.C.Throughout the book, humorous full-color cartoons enhance the funny, strange, and intriguing details behind important landmarks and the people who have come to the capital to run the nation&’s business, celebrate, protest, live in the thick of it or just visit. From the aluminum tip of the towering Washington Monument to the marble bathtubs in the Capital building&’s basement, this book offers a top to bottom look at Washington D.C. and its eclectic history that will enchant visitors and locals alike. The end papers feature a comprehensive map of the District showing locations of key buildings including The White House, The Washington Monument, The Lincoln Memorial, The Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial, and The Capitol building as well as many other important locations.A Junior Library Guild selection!In this &“gripping . . . spectacular piece of reporting&” (Ken Burns), a Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist examines Senator Frank Church,…
the man at the center of numerous investigations into the abuses of power within the American government. For decades now, America&’s national security state has grown ever bigger, ever more secretive and powerful, and ever more abusive. Only once did someone manage to put a stop to any of it. Senator Frank Church of Idaho was an unlikely hero. He led congressional opposition to the Vietnam War and had become a scathing, radical critic of what he saw as American imperialism around the world. But he was still politically ambitious, privately yearning for acceptance from the foreign policy establishment that he hated and eager to run for president. Despite his flaws, Church would show historic strength in his greatest moment, when in the wake of Watergate he was suddenly tasked with investigating abuses of power in the intelligence community. The dark truths that Church exposed—from assassination plots by the CIA, to links between the Kennedy dynasty and the mafia, to the surveillance of civil rights activists by the NSA and FBI—would shake the nation to its core, and forever change the way that Americans thought about not only their government but also their ability to hold it accountable. Drawing upon hundreds of interviews, thousands of pages of recently declassified documents, and reams of unpublished letters, notes, and memoirs, some of which remain sensitive today, Pulitzer Prize–winning reporter James Risen tells the gripping, untold story of truth and integrity standing against unchecked power—and winning—in The Last Honest Man. An instant New York Times bestsellerConfessions of a Eurosceptic
Par David Heathcoat-Amory. 2012
The former politician details his career while offering an insider&’s look at Britain&’s European involvement in the 1980s and &‘90s…
in this personal memoir. Few are better placed to write on Britain's relations with the European Union than David Heathcoat-Amory. In describing his own journey from initial enthusiasm for a Common Market to rejection of the EU, he gives an insider&’s view of the delusions and deceits which surround the European question. As a Member of Parliament, Minister of State and Privy Councillor, Heathcoat-Amory witnessed two prime Ministers wresting with the &‘elephant in the room&’. He describes Margaret Thatcher&’s struggles against EU control and the clashes with cabinet colleagues which split the Conservative Party and brought her down. Under John Major, David Heathcoat-Amory played a pivotal role in the parliamentary battles over the Maastricht Treaty. As Minister of State for Europe he was intimately involved in keeping Britain out of the euro, thereby avoiding the worst of the current devasting financial crisis. He resigned as Paymaster General in 1996 on a matter of principle. In Opposition, he was sent by the House of Commons to negotiate a Constitution for Europe, which he opposed with a small group of dissidents from other EU countries. As they predicted, the European Constitution was decisively rejected in referendums in France and Holland but was forced through anyway, with Blair&’s government refusing a referendum at home. The book includes a blueprint for a radically new relationship between Britain and the EU. The Author argues that, with leadership and ambition, this is now attainable, with the final decision resting with the people in a referendum.Praise for Confessions of a Eurosceptic &“An elegant memoir that outlines his euroscepticism but also touched with personal and family tragedy.&” —Total Politics &“A brisk and unpompous memoir, which incidentally makes a brisk and unpompous case against the EU.&” —Standpoint &“This book is unlike most books by politicians. With unusual clarity this book tells the story of Britain&’s European involvement since the mid-Eighties.&” —The Daily TelegraphNancy: The Story of Lady Astor
Par Adrian Fort. 2012
A new biography of Nancy Astor, American socialite and social crusader who blazed a trail through British society amid two…
World WarsIn 1919, Nancy Astor became the first female Member of Parliament elected to the House of Commons—she was not what had been expected. Far from a virago who had suffered for the cause of female suffrage, Lady Astor was already near the center of the ruling society that had for so long resisted the political upheavals of the early twentieth century, having married into one of the richest families in the world. She wasn't even British, but the daughter of a famous Virginian family, and fiercely proud of her expatriate ancestry. But her moral drive was strong, and she would utilize her position of privilege and influence to blow a bracing American wind into what she regarded as the stuffy corners of British politics. This account charts Nancy Astor's incredible story, from relative penury in the American South to a world of enormous countryside estates and townhouses, and the most lavish entertainments, peopled by the great figures of the day—Churchill, Chamberlain, FDR, Charlie Chapin, J. M. Barrie, and Lawrence of Arabia were all part of her social circle. But hers was not to be an easy life of power and pure glamour; it was also defined by principles and bravery, war and sacrifice, love, and the most embittered disputes. With glorious, page-turning brio, Adrian Fort brings to life this restless, controversial American dynamo, an unforgettable woman who left a deep and lasting imprint on the political life of a nation.Lucius Verus and the Roman Defence of the East
Par M. C. Bishop. 2018
&“The first biography of Marcus Aurelius&’ adopted brother and co-emperor . . . a valuable read for anyone with an…
interest in Roman history.&”—The NYMAS Review Lucius Verus is one of the least regarded Roman emperors, despite the fact that he was co-ruler with his adoptive brother Marcus Aurelius for nine years until his untimely death. The later sources were strangely hostile to him and modern writers tend to dismiss him, but contemporary writings shine a more favorable light on his accomplishments. His handling of military affairs, particularly the conflict with Parthia after their invasions of Armenia and Syria, deserves a new consideration in the light of a careful reassessment of all the available source material. This volume looks at the upbringing of the boy who lost two fathers, acquired a brother, had his name changed twice, became a general overnight, and commanded the army that defeated one of Rome&’s greatest foes in the 2nd century AD. His rise to power is placed in the context of Rome&’s campaigns in the East and the part played by all—from the ordinary soldiers up to the aristocracy who commanded them—in making Lucius Verus&’s Parthian Wars a success. &“Bishop&’s background is in Roman military archaeology, and where the details of Roman warfare are concerned, he knows his subject matter backwards and forwards . . . For those who wish to understand how the Roman commanders fighting under Verus achieved success in the East, Bishop&’s book can be heartily recommended.&”—Bryn Mawr Classical Review