Winner of the Pulitzer Prize. A study of the last 100 years ofAmerican history.
The riveting memoirs of the outstanding moral and political leader of our time, A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM brilliantly re-creates the drama of the experiences that helped shape Nelson Mandela's destiny. Emotive, compelling and uplifting, A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM is the exhilarating story of an epic life; a story of hardship, resilience and ultimate triumph told with the clarity and eloquence of a born leader. 'Burns with the luminosity of faith in the invincible nature of human hope and dignity ...Unforgettable' Andre Brink 'Enthralling ...Mandela emulates the few great political leaders such as Lincoln and Gandhi, who go beyond mere consensus and move out ahead of their followers to break new ground' Donald Woods in the SUNDAY TIMES. 1990年2月11日,面带微笑的曼德拉以矫健的步伐和胜利者的姿态,迈出了监狱的大门。作为世界上的最著名的囚犯,经过了27年的铁窗生涯和出狱后4年的奋斗经历,他不仅被南非人民推举为总统,还以他完美的道
A compelling and deeply felt exploration and defense ofliberalism: what it actually is, why it is relevant today, and howit can help our society chart a forward course. The Future of Liberalism represents the culmination of fourdecades of thinking and writing about contemporary politics by AlanWolfe, one of America’s leading scholars, hailed by one critic as“one of liberalism’s last and most loyal sons.” Wolfe mines thebedrock of the liberal tradition, explaining how Immanuel Kant,John Stuart Mill, John Dewey, and other celebrated minds helpedshape liberalism’s central philosophy. Wolfe also examines thosewho have challenged liberalism since its inception, fromJean-Jacques Rousseau to modern conservatives, religiousfundamentalists, and evolutionary theorists such as RichardDawkins. Drawing on both the inspiration and insights of seminal workssuch as John Locke’s Second Treatise on Government, Adam Smith’sTheory of Moral Sentiments, Kant’s essay “What is Enlightenment?,”and Mil
Kindred spirits despite their profound differences inposition, Abraham Lincoln and Walt Whitman shared a vision of thedemocratic character. They had read or listened to each other’swords at crucial turning points in their lives, and both wereutterly transformed by the tragedy of the Civil War. In thisradiant book, poet and biographer Daniel Mark Epstein tracks theparallel lives of these two titans from the day that Lincoln firstread Leaves of Grass to the elegy Whitman composed after Lincoln’sassassination in 1865. Drawing on a rich trove of personal and newspaper accounts anddiary records, Epstein shows how the influence and reverence flowedbetween these two men–and brings to life the many friends andcontacts they shared. Epstein has written a masterful portrait oftwo great American figures and the era they shaped through wordsand deeds.
“White takes us back to when great men believed in the powerof words to change the world. . . . This book . . . is a treasureto read, a spur to thinking, a small volume with fascinatinghistory.”–The Denver Post In The Eloquent President, historian Ronald C. White, Jr.,examines Abraham Lincoln’s astonishing oratory and explores hisgrowth as a leader, a communicator, and a man of deepeningspiritual conviction. Examining a different speech, address, orpublic letter in each chapter, White tracks the evolution ofLincoln’s rhetoric from the measured tones of the First Inauguralto the immortal poetry of the Gettysburg Address. As he weighs thebiblical cadences and vigorous parallel structures that makeLincoln’s rhetoric soar, White identifies a passionate religiousstrain that most historians have overlooked. It is White’scontention that, as president, Lincoln not only grew into aninspiring leader and determined commander in chief, but alsoembarked on a spiritual odyssey that led to a profo
At a time when a lasting peace between the Palestinians andthe Israelis seems virtually unattainable, understanding the rootsof their conflict is an essential step in restoring hope to theregion. In The Iron Cage, Rashid Khalidi, one of the most respectedhistorians and political observers of the Middle East, homes in onPalestinian politics and history. By drawing on a wealth ofexperience and scholarship, Khalidi provides a lucid context forthe realities on the ground today, a context that has been, untilnow, notably lacking in our discourse. The story of the Palestinian search to establish a state beginsin the mandate period immediately following the breakup of theOttoman Empire, the era of British control, when fledgling Arabstates were established by the colonial powers with assurances ofeventual independence. Mandatory Palestine was a place of realpromise, with unusually high literacy rates and a relativelyadvanced economy. But the British had already begun to construct aniron cage to hem in t
An instant classic of war reporting, The Forever War isthe definitive account of America's conflict with Islamicfundamentalism and a searing exploration of its human costs.Through the eyes of Filkins, a foreign correspondent for the NewYork Times, we witness the rise of the Taliban in the 1990s, theaftermath of the attack on New York on September 11th, and theAmerican wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Filkins is the only Americanjournalist to have reported on all these events, and hisexperiences are conveyed in a riveting narrative filled withunforgettable characters and astonishing scenes.
For more than a half-century, Israel has been forced to defendits existence against international political disapproval, racistcalumny, and violence visited upon its citizens by terrorists ofmany stripes. While nations have always been made to defend theirmoral, political, economic, or social actions, Israel has theunique plight of having to defend its very right to exist. Covering Israel's struggle for existence from the Britishoccupation and the UN’s partition of Palestine, to the dashed hopesof the Oslo Accords and the second intifada, Yaacov Lozowick trainsan enlightening, forthright eye on Israel’s strengths and failures.A lifelong liberal and peace activist, he explores Israel’snational and regional political, social, and moral obligations aswell as its right to secure its borders and repel attacks bothphilosophical and military. Combining rich historical perspectiveand passionate conviction, Right to Exist sets forth theagenda of a people and a nation, and elegantly articulates Isra
Voices in Our Blood is a literary anthology of the mostimportant and artful interpretations of the civil rights movement,past and present. It showcases what forty of the nation's bestwriters — including Maya Angelou, James Baldwin, Ralph Ellison,William Faulkner, John Steinbeck, Alice Walker, Robert Penn Warren,Eudora Welty, and Richard Wright — had to say about the centraldomestic drama of the American Century. Editor Jon Meacham has chosen pieces by journalists, novelists,historians, and artists, bringing together a wide range of blackand white perspectives and experiences. The result is anunprecedented and powerful portrait of the movement's spirit andstruggle, told through voices that resonate with passion andstrength. Maya Angelou takes us on a poignant journey back to her childhoodin the Arkansas of the 1930s. On the front page of The New YorkTimes , James Reston marks the movement's apex as he describes whatit was like to watch Martin Luther King, Jr., deliver his heralded"I Hav
In this landmark work of history, the National BookAward—winning author of American Sphinx explores how a group ofgreatly gifted but deeply flawed individuals–Hamilton, Burr,Jefferson, Franklin, Washington, Adams, and Madison–confronted theoverwhelming challenges before them to set the course for ournation. The United States was more a fragile hope than a reality in 1790.During the decade that followed, the Founding Fathers–re-examinedhere as Founding Brothers–combined the ideals of the Declaration ofIndependence with the content of the Constitution to create thepractical workings of our government. Through an analysis of sixfascinating episodes–Hamilton and Burr’s deadly duel, Washington’sprecedent-setting Farewell Address, Adams’ administration andpolitical partnership with his wife, the debate about where toplace the capital, Franklin’s attempt to force Congress to confrontthe issue of slavery and Madison’s attempts to block him, andJefferson and Adams’ famous correspon
John McCain is one of the most admired leaders in the UnitedStates government, but his deeply felt memoir of family and war isnot a political one and ends before his election to Congress. Withcandor and ennobling power, McCain tells a story that, in the wordsof Newsweek, "makes the other presidential candidates look likepygmies." John McCain learned about life and honor from his grandfather andfather, both four-star admirals in the U.S. Navy. This is a memoirabout their lives, their heroism, and the ways that sons are shapedand enriched by their fathers. John McCain's grandfather was a gaunt, hawk-faced man known asSlew by his fellow officers and, affectionately, as Popeye by thesailors who served under him. McCain Sr. played the horses, drankbourbon and water, and rolled his own cigarettes with one hand.More significant, he was one of the navy's greatest commanders, andled the strongest aircraft carrier force of the Third Fleet in keybattles during World War II.