Napoleon's troops finally reach Moscow only to watch the city go up in flames. In their own words, the invaders record events as they camp in the charred ruins and realize retreat is inevitable. View More...
In this dazzling work of history, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author follows Benjamin Franklin to France for the crowning achievement of his career In December of 1776 a small boat delivered an old man to France." So begins an enthralling narrative account of how Benjamin Franklin-seventy years old, without any diplomatic training, and possessed of the most rudimentary French-convinced France, an absolute monarchy, to underwrite America's experiment in democracy. When Franklin stepped onto French soil, he well understood he was embarking on the greatest gamble of his career. By virtue of fame, ch... View More...
This brief and inexpensive guide offers all the advice students need to write effective history papers -- covering both print and electronic sources, writing conventions in history, conducting research, and quoting and documenting -- all in an easy-to-use format. View More...
A fascinating portrait of the wife of one of America's greatest statesmen, this biography includes Abigail Adams's own writings as well as a general history of her life. New material on her relationship with her children, sisters, and several important contemporary figures is included in the Second Edition. View More...
What he did for George Washington in Founding Father -- a tour de force... great style and wit...a minor classic (The New York Times Book Review) -- Richard Brookhiser now does for the face on the ten dollar bill. In these pages, Alexander Hamilton sheds his skewed image as the bastard brat of a Scotch peddler, sex scandal survivor, and notoriously doomed duelist with Aaron Burr; and, at last, emerges from Jefferson's shadow to rival him as the most crucial figure of their time. Unique among the founding fathers, Hamilton was an impoverished immigrant when he first came to America at age 10. B... View More...
Alexander Hamilton is one of the least understood, most important, and most impassioned and inspiring of the founding fathers. At last Hamilton has found a modern biographer who can bring him to full-blooded life; Richard Brookhiser. In these pages, Alexander Hamilton sheds his skewed image as the "bastard brat of a Scotch peddler," sex scandal survivor, and notoriously doomed dueling partner of Aaron Burr. Examined up close, throughout his meteoric and ever-fascinating (if tragically brief) life, Hamilton can at last be seen as one of the most crucial of the founders. Here, thanks to Brookhis... View More...
From his less than auspicious start in 1755 on the Caribbean Island of Nevis to his untimely death in a duel with his old enemy Aaron Burr in 1804, Alexander Hamilton, despite his short life, left a huge legacy. Orphaned at thirteen and apprenticed in a counting house, Hamilton learned principles of business that helped him create the American financial system and invent the modern corporation. But first the staunch, intrepid Hamilton served in the American Revolution, acting as General Washington's spymaster. Forging a successful legal career, Hamilton coauthored the Federalist Papers and pl... View More...
In Paris and London, the crowds hailed him as the man who had conquered Napoleon, as the liberator of Europe, and as a benevolent, enlightened monarch. At home he came to be feared as a reactionary, oppressive autocrat in a country where millions of serfs were still treated as little more than personal property. A grandson of Catherine the Great, a conspirator in the assassination of his own father, and an idealistic and ineffective participant at the Congress of Vienna, Alexander was torn all his life between his liberal illusions and the hard realities of autocratic Russia.In a brilliant bio... View More...
Tsarina Alexandra-hauntingly beautiful, melancholy, obsessed with the occult-was blamed by her contemporaries for the downfall of the Romanovs. But her true nature has eluded previous biographers. Using archival material unavailable before the fall of the Soviet Union, acclaimed historian Carolly Erickson's masterful study brings to life the full dimensions of the Empress's singular psychology: her childhood bereavement, her long struggle to marry Nicholas, the anguish of her pathological shyness, and her increasing dependence on a series of occult mentors, the most notorious of whom was Raspu... View More...
From Abigail Nabby Adams to Chelsea Clinton, George Washington Adams to John F. Kennedy, Jr., the children of America's presidents have both suffered and triumphed under the watchful eyes of their powerful fathers and the glare of the ever-changing public. Whether they perished under the pressure like Andrew Johnson, upheld controversial views like Amy Carter, or carried their father's torch right back to the White House like George W. Bush, all presidential children grew up having to share their fathers with the whole of their fellow countrymen -- and, in too many instances, spent the rest of... View More...
From Abigail "Nabby" Adams to Barbara and Jenna Bush, George Washington Adams to John F. Kennedy, Jr., the children of America's presidents have both suffered and triumphed under the watchful eyes of their powerful fathers and the glare of the ever-changing public. Many, like the children of William Henry Harrison and Andrew Johnson, writhed under the pressure and fought bitter battles with alcoholism and depression only to die young. Others, like Robert Todd Lincoln, Margaret Truman, and Helen Taft Manning, used the privileges granted them to achieve their own success in the worlds of politic... View More...
From Abigail Nabby Adams to Chelsea Clinton, George Washington Adams to John F. Kennedy, Jr., the children of America's presidents have both suffered and triumphed under the watchful eyes of their powerful fathers and the glare of the ever-changing public. Whether they perished under the pressure like Andrew Johnson, upheld controversial views like Amy Carter, or carried their father's torch right back to the White House like George W. Bush, all presidential children grew up having to share their fathers with the whole of their fellow countrymen -- and, in too many instances, spent the rest of... View More...
The private bonds that united John and Jacqueline Kennedy hove always remained shrouded in secrecy and misunderstanding. Now Edward Klein, a former editor of "The New York Times Magazine" -- and a friend of Jackie -- recreates the Kennedy marriage in unprecedented detail, shedding new light on the relationship at the heart of Camelot. From their first meeting in 1951 to the President's assassination in 1963, this is a rich, personal portrait of the couple, and answers the questions millions hove posed: Was Jack in love with Jackie? And was she in love with him? Did Jack's father Joseph Kenned... View More...
The private bonds that united John and Jacqueline Kennedy hove always remained shrouded in secrecy and misunderstanding. Now Edward Klein, a former editor of "The New York Times Magazine" -- and a friend of Jackie -- recreates the Kennedy marriage in unprecedented detail, shedding new light on the relationship at the heart of Camelot. From their first meeting in 1951 to the President's assassination in 1963, this is a rich, personal portrait of the couple, and answers the questions millions hove posed: Was Jack in love with Jackie? And was she in love with him? Did Jack's father Joseph Kenned... View More...
"Women must try to do things as men have tried. " When she was eight years old, Amelia Earhart built a roller coaster and "flew" through the air. She loved to watch daredevil pilots fly loops in the sky. Amelia decided to pilot a plane herself, and became one of the first women to learn to fly. She broke flight records and in 1932 was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone. The whole world admired her courage and daring. Amelia Earhart disappeared while trying to set a new record flying all the way around the world at the equator, but her pioneer spirit inspired many others to ... View More...
"Women must try to do things as men have tried. " When she was eight years old, Amelia Earhart built a roller coaster and "flew" through the air. She loved to watch daredevil pilots fly loops in the sky. Amelia decided to pilot a plane herself, and became one of the first women to learn to fly. She broke flight records and in 1932 was the first woman to fly across the Atlantic Ocean alone. The whole world admired her courage and daring. Amelia Earhart disappeared while trying to set a new record flying all the way around the world at the equator, but her pioneer spirit inspired many others to ... View More...
The truth about what really happened to Amelia Earhart.-- The first book on Amelia Earhart by aviation professionals.-- Incorporates information and findings, never before published, made available through the Freedom of Information Act.-- Extensive, well-documented research, superlative synthesis, and an inescapable conclusion.On July 2, 1937, in a state-of-the-art, totally capable, twin-engined airplane, America's "First Lady of the Air" disappeared somewhere in the South Pacific, creating one of the 20th Century's greatest mysteries. Starting with a clean-slate, the authors assumed nothing ... View More...
High-interest biographies focus on what's most intriguing to the young reader -- the childhood and young-adult years of famous men and women. View More...
Amelia Earhart always loved adventure, and she did not let anything prevent her from following her dreams. Read all about how many firsts she accomplished in her life -- from her amazing airplane flights to her groundbreaking approach to life View More...
Amelia Earhart always loved adventure, and she did not let anything prevent her from following her dreams. Read all about how many firsts she accomplished in her life -- from her amazing airplane flights to her groundbreaking approach to life View More...
From the distinguished historian of Revolutionary-era America and author of the acclaimed American Scripture comes this fresh and surprising account of a pivotal moment in American history--the ratification of the Constitution. - A singularly important debate: When the Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia adjourned in the late summer of 1787, the delegates returned to their states to report on the new Constitution, which had to be ratified by specially elected conventions in at least nine states. Maier recounts the dramatic events of the ensuing debate in homes, taverns, and convention ha... View More...
Richard Brookhiser has won a wide and loyal following for his stylish, pointed, and elegant biographies of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton. In "America's First Dynasty," Brookhiser tells the story of America's longest and still greatest dynasty -- the Adamses, the only family in our history to play a leading role in American affairs for nearly two centuries. From John, the self-made, tough-minded lawyer who rose to the highest office in the government he helped create; to John Quincy, the child prodigy who grew up amid foreign royalty, followed his father to the White House, and later... View More...
For anyone interested in history, the physical traces of the past, especially historical places, hold a special fascination. Whether it is a battlefield or the home of a notable American, there is no question that we understand the past in a different and more immediate way when we encounter it "on the ground." In American Places, more than two dozen of America's most gifted historians write about their own encounters with historic places, bringing a personal viewpoint to bear on a wide variety of sites, ranging from Monticello to Fenway Park. Here James M. McPherson writes about the battlefie... View More...
