January 17, 1961: President Eisenhower delivered a speech three days before President-elect Kennedy's inauguration: three days that were the culmination of a lifetime of service that took Eisenhower from rural Kansas to West Point, to the battlefields of World War II, and finally to the Oval Office. As president, Eisenhower--former Supreme Commander of Allied Forces during World War II--guided the U.S. out of war in Korea, through the threat of nuclear...

In 1898, at the start of the Spanish-American War, three regiments of volunteer American soldiers were formed to go to war. The most celebrated of them, the 1st United States Volunteer Calvary, also known as "The Rough Riders," was led by Lieutenant Colonel Theodore Roosevelt. A motley crew of cowboys and Ivy League scholars, the Rough Riders were hastily trained and thrown into battle in less-than-ideal circumstances. This is Roosevelt's eyewitness...

This biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower places particular emphasis on his brilliant generalship and leadership in World War II, and provides, with the advantage of hindsight, a far more acute analysis of his character and personality than any previously available, reaching the conclusion that he was perhaps America's greatest general and one of America's best presidents. The book starts with the story of D-Day--it was Ike's plan, Ike's decision, Ike's...

More fascinating than fiction, this is the moving story of the most misunderstood woman in American history…The truth about Mary Lincoln has for nearly a century been hidden under a mountain of myth.They said Lincoln really loved Ann Rutledge. That he had tried to avoid marriage to Mary Todd, that his wife hurt him politically though she drove him to the Presidency, that she embarrassed him financially as well as socially and inflicted on him the...

"It's unimaginable today, even for a generation that saw the Twin Towers fall and the Pentagon attacked. It's unimaginable because in 1814 enemies didn't fly overhead, they marched through the streets; and for 26 hours in August, the British enemy marched through Washington, D.C. and set fire to government buildings, including the U.S. Capitol and the White House. Relying on first-hand accounts, historian Jane Hampton Cook weaves together several...

Kenneth O'Donnell was JFK's Chief of Staff, among the group known as Kennedy's "Irish Mafia." O'Donnell was with Jack Kennedy through his entire time in office… and he was on Air Force One in Dallas, at Jacqueline Kennedy's side, as Lyndon Johnson got sworn in. When John F. Kennedy was assassinated, LBJ asked Ken O'Donnell to stay on and work with him through the first nine months of his administration, to help the country transition and heal, and...

Professor Robert J. Rayback's history of Millard Fillmore is still the best biography of the 13th President of the United States. In one of the many unexplained, unfortunate quirks of history, most of the official papers of Fillmore's administration were destroyed by his son. Scholars have consequently been denied the source material which is so essential to examining and gaining insight into the underlying truth of a Presidency. Regarding Fillmore,...

No leader of modern times was more uniquely patriotic than Charles de Gaulle. As founder and first president of the Fifth Republic, General de Gaulle saw himself as "carrying France on [his] shoulders." In his twenties, he fought for France in the trenches and at the epic battle of Verdun. In the 1930s, he waged a lonely battle to enable France to better resist Hitler's Germany. Thereafter, he twice rescued the nation from defeat and decline by extraordinary...

During a forty-year career in politics, Vice President Dick Cheney has been involved in some of the most consequential decisions in recent American history. Yet for all of his influence, the world knows very little about the most powerful vice president in U.S. history, among the most secretive and guarded of all public officials. Journalist Hayes draws upon hundreds of interviews with the vice president, his boyhood friends, political mentors, family...

Many modern historians have painted Ulysses S. Grant as a butcher, a drunk, and a failure as president. Others have argued the exact opposite and portray him with saintlike levels of ethic and intellect. In Ulysses S. Grant: Triumph over Adversity 1822—1865, historian Brooks D. Simpson takes neither approach, recognizing Grant as a complex and human figure with human faults, strengths, and motivations. Simpson offers a balanced and complete study...