On August 28, 1963, over a quarter-million people—two-thirdsblack and one-third white—held the greatest civil rightsdemonstration ever. In this major reinterpretation of the GreatDay—the peak of the movement—Charles Euchner brings back thetension and promise of the march. Building on countless interviews,archives, FBI files, and private recordings, this hour-by-houraccount offers intimate glimpses into the lives of those keyplayers and ordinary people who converged on the National Mall tofight for civil rights in the March on Washington.

“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

Long before Rosa Parks became famous for resisting Jim Crowlaws, she was engaged in advocating for social justice for blackwomen who were the victims of sexual violence at the hands of whitemen. Historian McGuire aims to rewrite the history of the civilrights movement by highlighting sexual violence in the broadercontext of racial injustice and the fight for freedom. Parks workedas an investigator for the NAACP branch office in Montgomery,Alabama, specializing in cases involving black women who had beensexually assaulted by white men––cases that often went untried andwere the political opposite of the allegations of black men rapingwhite women ending in summary lynching with or without trials.McGuire traces the history of several rape cases that triggeredvehement resistance by the NAACP and other groups, including the1975 trial of Joan Little, who killed a white jailer who sexuallyassaulted her. Despite the long tradition of dismissing chargesbrought by blacks against whites, several of the cases e

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.

Following on the success of their recent collaboration DearMr. President, Dwight Young and Margaret Johnson join forces onceagain to produce this charming collection of correspondence to andfrom First Ladies during their time in office. A wonderful giftbook for any American, Dear First Lady reminds us that ours is agreat government "of the people, by the people, and for thepeople," which entitles us to make our views known to our leaders.Although some of these missives were written by the famous or theinfamous, most are from ordinary Americans who wished to connectwith their First Lady. Amusing, appealling, heartbreaking, andheartwarming, the letters appear as full-size facsimiles whereverpossible so readers can see for themselves the substance and styleof these intriguing exchanges. Dwight Young annotates each letter with biographical andhistorical stories that illuminate the context and provide broaderinsights into the public and private lives of presidents’ wives.Richly illustrated with arch

For nearly twenty years, Aaron David Miller has played acentral role in U.S. efforts to broker Arab-Israeli peace as anadvisor to presidents, secretaries of state, and national securityadvisors. Without partisanship or finger-pointing, Miller recordswhat went right, what went wrong, and how we got where we aretoday. Here is a look at the peace process from a place at thenegotiation table, filled with behind-the-scenes strategy, colorfulanecdotes and equally colorful characters, and new interviews withpresidents, secretaries of state, and key Arab and Israelileaders. Honest, critical, and often controversial, Miller’s insider’saccount offers a brilliant new analysis of the problem ofArab-Israeli peace and how it still might be solved.

The political memoiras rousing adventure story—a sizzling account of a life lived inthe thick of every important struggle of the era. April 1973: snow falls thick and fast on the Badlands ofSouth Dakota. It has been more than five weeks since protestingSioux Indians seized their historic village of Wounded Knee, andthe FBI shows no signs of abandoning its siege. When Bill Zimmermanis asked to coordinate an airlift of desperately needed food andmedical supplies, he cannot refuse; flying through gunfire and amechanical malfunction, he carries out a daring dawn raid andsuccess?0?2fully parachutes 1,500 pounds of food into the village.The drop breaks the FBI siege, and assures an Indian victory. This was not the first—or last—time Bill Zimmerman put his life atrisk for the greater social good. In this extraordi?0?2nary memoir,Zimmerman takes us into the hearts and minds of those making thesocial revolution of the sixties. He writes about registering blackvoters in deepest, most racist Mississippi; marc

"Fascinating...adds many interesting details to what we knowof the President’s heritage." --David Remnick, TheNewYorker.com On January 20, 2009, a few hundred men, women, and childrengathered under trees in the twilight at K’obama, a village on theshores of Lake Victoria in western Kenya. Barack Obama’s rise tothe American presidency had captivated people around the world, butmembers of this gathering took a special pride in the swearing inof America’s first black president, for they were all Obamas, allthe president’s direct African family. In the first in-depth history of the Obama family, PeterFirstbrook recounts a journey that starts in a mud hut by the WhiteNile and ends seven centuries later in the White House.Interweaving oral history and tribal lore, interviews with Obamafamily members and other Kenyans, the writings of Kenyanhistorians, and original genealogical research, Firstbrook sets thefascinating story of the president’s family against the backgroundof Kenya

(Presidio Books) A pocket-sized guide to being a good leader,for non-commissioned officers (NCOs). Discusses US Army values in'user-friendly' terms, from the perspective of a former member ofthe NCO core. Introduces three different types of leadership stylesfor 3-meter, 50-meter, and 100-meter soldiers. Softcover. DLC:United States Army--Non commissioned officers' handbooks.

Ronald Reagan was one of the most powerful and popularAmerican presidents. The key to understanding his political successand the remarkable likability and effortless charisma that made itpossible is hidden in his early years as a Hollywood moviestar. Other biographers and Reagan in his two memoirs have skimmed overthe thirty years he spent as an actor, union activist, and ladies’man. Now, for the first time, in this highly entertaining andprovocative new work, acclaimed film critic and historian MarcEliot reveals the truth of those formative years and presents a fardifferent and infinitely more detailed portrait of Reagan than everbefore. Based on original research and never-before-published interviews,documents, and other materials, Eliot sheds new light on Reagan’sfilm and television work opposite some of the most talented womenof the time, including Bette Davis, Ann Sheridan, and GingerRogers; his starlet-strewn bachelor days when his name was linkedwith Lana Turner and Susan Hayward

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

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

On September 11, 2011, the world will be watching astheNational September 11 Memorialopens on the site of the WorldTrade Center. With photographs and architectural plans never beforepublished, paired with comments in the very voices of those whowitnessed the event, those who struggled in its shadow for days andmonths after, and those who have dedicated the years since torebuilding a place of hope and meditation at Ground Zero, this bookwill stand apart from all the reston the tenth anniversary of thatworld-changing event. Heavily illustrated and elegantly designed,the book recalls the excitement and symbolism of the Twin Towers,the horror and chaos of the attack of 9/11, the fierce devotion andexhaustion as rescue of living victims became recovery of remains.But it also carries on from that date in history to tell the insidestory of the long, complex, and sometimes contentious efforts toturn eight acres of Downtown Manhattan into a lasting memorial tothose lost in New York, Pennsylvania, and at the Pentagon.

Your high-school history teachers never gave you a book likethis one! Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents features outrageousand uncensored profiles of the men in the White House, completewith hundreds of little-known, politically incorrect, and downrightwacko facts. You'll discover that George Washington spent a whopping 7 percent of his salary onbooze John Quincy Adams loved to skinny-dip in the Potomac River Warren G. Harding gambled with White House china when he ran lowon cash Jimmy Carter reported a UFO sighting in Georgia And Richard Nixon sheesh, don't get us started on Nixon! Now with a new chapter on the winner of the 2008 presidentialelection, Secret Lives of the U.S. Presidents tackles all the toughquestions that other history books are afraid to answer: Are therereally secret tunnels underneath the White House? Whichpresidential daughter bared everything for Playboy? And what wasNancy Reagan thinking when she appeared on Diff'rent Strokes?American histor

A blistering journalistic exposé: an account of governmentnegligence, corporate malfeasance, familial struggle, drugs,politics, murder, and a daring rescue operation in the Colombianjungle. On July 2, 2008, when three American private contractors andColombian presidential candidate Ingrid Betancourt were rescuedafter being held for more than five years by the RevolutionaryArmed Forces of Colombia (FARC), the world was captivated by theirpersonal narratives. But between the headlines a major story waslost: Who exactly are the FARC? How had a drug-funded revolutionaryarmy managed to hold so many hostages for so long? Had our costlyWar on Drugs failed completely? Hostage Nation answers thesequestions by exploring the complex and corrupt political andsocioeconomic situations that enabled the FARC to gainunprecedented strength, influence, and impunity. It takes us behindthe news stories to profile a young revolutionary in the making, anelite Colombian banker-turned-guerrilla and the hard-drivenAmeric