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Presidential Chronicles Volume I: the Founders

Author : David Fisher

Publisher :

Page : 641 pages

File Size : 29,97 MB

Release : 2021-11-14

Category :

ISBN :

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Book Description

The Founders is the first full volume of biographies in David Fisher's series Presidential Chronicles - the series of books and videos on American history as seen through the lives of the Presidents of the United States. Author David Fisher provides robust yet concise biographies of every U.S. President in this unique multi-volume collection, revealing the essential elements of their lives in the contexts of their times. Fisher makes extensive use of first-person quotations to help convey the inner thoughts of his subjects, along with a broad collection of images to help bring these stories to life. Many of the images are pulled from his vast personal collection of first edition presidential biographies, with many dating from the era in which these men were charged to lead their nation. This first volume of Presidential Chronicles (The Founders) tells the life stories of the nation's first five Presidents who helped define the role of the nation's chief executive: George Washington John Adams Thomas Jefferson James Madison James Monroe Fisher captures the essence of the founding era through these lives that spanned the military, legislative, diplomatic, and ultimately executive roles that helped define the start of the American experiment. He provides a first-person perspective to the pre-revolutionary era, the colonial rebellion, the war for independence, the diplomatic efforts abroad, and the challenges of starting a new nation based on democratic principles - something unlike anything the world had ever seen before. He explores the inter-connected nature of the lives of these founding leaders - relationships and experiences that were essential to the dawn of the Republic, but also broke down over the different visions they brought to bear on how to shape the new nation they helped to birth. The Founders is part of Presidential Chronicles - Volumes, the print edition of the series in which each release includes five presidential biographies. The other released printed volumes include Volume II: Democracy Expands (with biographies of John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, and John Tyler) and Volume III: The Path to National Fracture (with biographies of James Polk, Zachary Taylor, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, and James Buchanan). Two additional volumes are planned for release in 2022. These biographies are also available as individual E-Books in the Presidential Chronicles - Individual series.



George

Author : Frank Keating

Publisher : Simon and Schuster

Page : 32 pages

File Size : 44,93 MB

Release : 2012-01-03

Category : Juvenile Nonfiction

ISBN : 1442447176

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Book Description

Founding father George Washington’s boyhood defined our first president—see how in this picture book biography. As a boy, with the help of his teachers, George Washington created a list of the values of civility that he wanted to live by: 1. When another speaks, be attentive yourself and disturb not the audience. 2. Associate yourself with men of good quality if you esteem your own reputation, for ’tis better to be alone than in bad company. This richly illustrated picture book is based on that little-known historical document and chronicles George Washington’s life from boyhood to his extraordinary leadership position as the first President of the United States of America.



The Presidents vs. the Press

Author : Harold Holzer

Publisher : Penguin

Page : 593 pages

File Size : 38,40 MB

Release : 2021-08-24

Category : Political Science

ISBN : 1524745286

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Book Description

An award-winning presidential historian offers an authoritative account of American presidents' attacks on our freedom of the press—including a new foreword chronicling the end of the Trump presidency. “The FAKE NEWS media,” Donald Trump has tweeted, “is not my enemy, it is the enemy of the American People!” Has our free press ever faced as great a threat? Perhaps not—but the tension between presidents and journalists is as old as the republic itself. Every president has been convinced of his own honesty and transparency; every reporter who has covered the White House beat has believed with equal fervency that his or her journalistic rigor protects the country from danger. Our first president, George Washington, was also the first to grouse about his treatment in the newspapers, although he kept his complaints private. Subsequent chiefs like John Adams, Abraham Lincoln, Woodrow Wilson, and Barack Obama were not so reticent, going so far as to wield executive power to overturn press freedoms, and even to prosecute journalists. Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to actively manage the stable of reporters who followed him, doling out information, steering coverage, and squashing stories that interfered with his agenda. It was a strategy that galvanized TR’s public support, but the lesson was lost on Woodrow Wilson, who never accepted reporters into his inner circle. Franklin Roosevelt transformed media relations forever, holding more than a thousand presidential press conferences and harnessing the new power of radio, at times bypassing the press altogether. John F. Kennedy excelled on television and charmed reporters to hide his personal life, while Richard Nixon was the first to cast the press as a public enemy. From the days of newsprint and pamphlets to the rise of Facebook and Twitter, each president has harnessed the media, whether intentional or not, to imprint his own character on the office. In this remarkable new history, acclaimed scholar Harold Holzer examines the dual rise of the American presidency and the media that shaped it. From Washington to Trump, he chronicles the disputes and distrust between these core institutions that define the United States of America, revealing that the essence of their confrontation is built into the fabric of the nation.



Founding Father

Author : Richard Brookhiser

Publisher : Simon and Schuster

Page : 244 pages

File Size : 19,31 MB

Release : 1997-02-22

Category : Biography & Autobiography

ISBN : 0684831422

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Book Description

"Revisits the spectacular career of George Washington, at once our most familiar and enigmatic president. Challenging the modern perceptions of Washington as either a political figurehead of little actual importance or a folk legend rather than a real man, Brookhiser traces the president's amazing accomplishments as a statesman, soldier, and founder of a great nation in a quarter century of activity that remains unmatched by any modern leader. Brookhiser goes on to examine Washington's education, ideals, and intellectual curiosity, illuminating how Washington's character and values shaped the beginnings of American politics."--Page 4 of cover.



The Greatest War Stories Never Told

Author : Rick Beyer

Publisher : Harper

Page : 224 pages

File Size : 27,37 MB

Release : 2005-11-01

Category : History

ISBN : 9780060760175

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Book Description

Search the annals of military history and you will discover no end of quirky characters and surprising true stories: The topless dancer who saved the Byzantine Empire. The World War I battle that was halted so a soccer game could be played. The scientist who invented a pigeon-guided missile in 1943. And don't forget the elderly pig whose death triggered an international crisis between the United States and Great Britain. This is the kind of history you'll find in The Greatest War Stories Never Told. One hundred fascinating stories drawn from two thousand years of military history, accompanied by a wealth of photographs, maps, drawings, and documents that help bring each story to life. Little-known tales told with a one-two punch of history and humor that will make you shake your head in disbelief -- but they're all true! Did You Know That: One military unit served on both sides during the Civil War The War of Jenkins's Ear was actually fought over a sea captain's ear Daniel Boone was once tried for treason A siege on Poland in 1519 gave birth to the marriage of bread and butter Discover how war can be a catalyst for change; an engine for innovation; and an arena for valor, deceit, intrigue, ambition, revenge, audacity, folly, and even silliness. Want to know how the mafia helped the United States win World War II, when the word bazooka was coined, or how Silly Putty was invented? Read on!



The Virginia Dynasty

Author : Lynne Cheney

Publisher : Penguin

Page : 449 pages

File Size : 39,8 MB

Release : 2021-09-21

Category : History

ISBN : 1101980052

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Book Description

“The narrative offers informed, exacting characterizations of the uncertain political alliances, strained interactions and ideological growing pains that elites of the post-revolutionary decades put the country through.”—Andrew Burstein, The Washington Post A vivid account of leadership focusing on the first four Virginia presidents—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe—from the bestselling historian and author of James Madison. From a small expanse of land on the North American continent came four of the nation's first five presidents—a geographic dynasty whose members led a revolution, created a nation, and ultimately changed the world. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe were born, grew to manhood, and made their homes within a sixty-mile circle east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Friends and rivals, they led in securing independence, hammering out the United States Constitution, and building a working republic. Acting together, they doubled the territory of the United States. From their disputes came American political parties and the weaponizing of newspapers, the media of the day. In this elegantly conceived and insightful new book from bestselling author Lynne Cheney, the four Virginians are not marble icons but vital figures deeply intent on building a nation where citizens could be free. Focusing on the intersecting roles these men played as warriors, intellectuals, and statesmen, Cheney takes us back to an exhilarating time when the Enlightenment opened new vistas for humankind. But even as the Virginians advanced liberty, equality, and human possibility, they held people in slavery and were slaveholders when they died. Lives built on slavery were incompatible with a free and just society; their actions contradicted the very ideals they espoused. They managed nonetheless to pass down those ideals, and they became powerful weapons for ending slavery. They inspired Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass and today undergird the freest nation on earth. Taking full measure of strengths and failures in the personal as well as the political lives of the men at the center of this book, Cheney offers a concise and original exploration of how the United States came to be.



American Gospel

Author : Jon Meacham

Publisher : Random House Trade Paperbacks

Page : 449 pages

File Size : 28,92 MB

Release : 2007-03-20

Category : History

ISBN : 0812976665

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Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • Pulitzer Prize-winning author Jon Meacham reveals how the Founding Fathers viewed faith—and how they ultimately created a nation in which belief in God is a matter of choice. At a time when our country seems divided by extremism, American Gospel draws on the past to offer a new perspective. Meacham re-creates the fascinating history of a nation grappling with religion and politics–from John Winthrop’s “city on a hill” sermon to Thomas Jefferson’s Declaration of Independence; from the Revolution to the Civil War; from a proposed nineteenth-century Christian Amendment to the Constitution to Martin Luther King, Jr.’s call for civil rights; from George Washington to Ronald Reagan. Debates about religion and politics are often more divisive than illuminating. Secularists point to a “wall of separation between church and state,” while many conservatives act as though the Founding Fathers were apostles in knee britches. As Meacham shows in this brisk narrative, neither extreme has it right. At the heart of the American experiment lies the God of what Benjamin Franklin called “public religion,” a God who invests all human beings with inalienable rights while protecting private religion from government interference. It is a great American balancing act, and it has served us well. Meacham has written and spoken extensively about religion and politics, and he brings historical authority and a sense of hope to the issue. American Gospel makes it compellingly clear that the nation’s best chance of summoning what Lincoln called “the better angels of our nature” lies in recovering the spirit and sense of the Founding. In looking back, we may find the light to lead us forward. Praise for American Gospel “In his American Gospel, Jon Meacham provides a refreshingly clear, balanced, and wise historical portrait of religion and American politics at exactly the moment when such fairness and understanding are much needed. Anyone who doubts the relevance of history to our own time has only to read this exceptional book.”—David McCullough, author of 1776 “Jon Meacham has given us an insightful and eloquent account of the spiritual foundation of the early days of the American republic. It is especially instructive reading at a time when the nation is at once engaged in and deeply divided on the question of religion and its place in public life.”—Tom Brokaw, author of The Greatest Generation



Revolutionary Characters

Author : Gordon S. Wood

Publisher : Penguin

Page : 344 pages

File Size : 46,84 MB

Release : 2006-05-18

Category : History

ISBN : 1101201665

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Book Description

In this brilliantly illuminating group portrait of the men who came to be known as the Founding Fathers, the incomparable Gordon Wood has written a book that seriously asks, "What made these men great?" and shows us, among many other things, just how much character did in fact matter. The life of each—Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Franklin, Hamilton, Madison, Paine—is presented individually as well as collectively, but the thread that binds these portraits together is the idea of character as a lived reality. They were members of the first generation in history that was self-consciously self-made men who understood that the arc of lives, as of nations, is one of moral progress.



Presidents of War

Author : Michael Beschloss

Publisher : Crown

Page : 754 pages

File Size : 44,12 MB

Release : 2019-10-22

Category : History

ISBN : 0307409619

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Book Description

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From a preeminent presidential historian comes a “superb and important” (The New York Times Book Review) saga of America’s wartime chief executives “Fascinating and heartbreaking . . . timely . . . Beschloss’s broad scope lets you draw important crosscutting lessons about presidential leadership.”—Bill Gates Widely acclaimed and ten years in the making, Michael Beschloss’s Presidents of War is an intimate and irresistibly readable chronicle of the Chief Executives who took the United States into conflict and mobilized it for victory. From the War of 1812 to Vietnam, we see these leaders considering the difficult decision to send hundreds of thousands of Americans to their deaths; struggling with Congress, the courts, the press, and antiwar protesters; seeking comfort from their spouses and friends; and dropping to their knees in prayer. Through Beschloss’s interviews with surviving participants and findings in original letters and once-classified national security documents, we come to understand how these Presidents were able to withstand the pressures of war—or were broken by them. Presidents of War combines this sense of immediacy with the overarching context of two centuries of American history, traveling from the time of our Founders, who tried to constrain presidential power, to our modern day, when a single leader has the potential to launch nuclear weapons that can destroy much of the human race. Praise for Presidents of War "A marvelous narrative. . . . As Beschloss explains, the greatest wartime presidents successfully leaven military action with moral concerns. . . . Beschloss’s writing is clean and concise, and he admirably draws upon new documents. Some of the more titillating tidbits in the book are in the footnotes. . . . There are fascinating nuggets on virtually every page of Presidents of War. It is a superb and important book, superbly rendered.”—Jay Winik, The New York Times Book Review "Sparkle and bite. . . . Valuable and engrossing study of how our chief executives have discharged the most significant of all their duties. . . . Excellent. . . . A fluent narrative that covers two centuries of national conflict.” —Richard Snow, The Wall Street Journal



Founding Gardeners

Author : Andrea Wulf

Publisher : Vintage

Page : 401 pages

File Size : 48,12 MB

Release : 2012-04-03

Category : Gardening

ISBN : 0307390683

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Book Description

From the bestselling author of The Invention of Nature, a fascinating look at the Founding Fathers like none you've seen before. “Illuminating and engrossing.... The reader relives the first decades of the Republic ... through the words of the statesmen themselves.” —The New York Times Book Review For the Founding Fathers, gardening, agriculture, and botany were elemental passions: a conjoined interest as deeply ingrained in their characters as the battle for liberty and a belief in the greatness of their new nation. Founding Gardeners is an exploration of that obsession, telling the story of the revolutionary generation from the unique perspective of their lives as gardeners, plant hobbyists, and farmers. Acclaimed historian Andrea Wulf describes how George Washington wrote letters to his estate manager even as British warships gathered off Staten Island; how a tour of English gardens renewed Thomas Jefferson’s and John Adams’s faith in their fledgling nation; and why James Madison is the forgotten father of environmentalism. Through these and other stories, Wulf reveals a fresh, nuanced portrait of the men who created our nation.