In one corner, a godless young warrior, Voltaire’s heralded ‘philosopher-king’, the It Boy of the Enlightenment. In the other, a devout if bad-tempered old composer of ‘outdated’ music, a scorned genius in his last years. The sparks from their brief conflict illuminate a turbulent age.Behind the pomp and flash, Prussia's Frederick the Great was a tormented man, son of an abusive king who forced him to watch as his best friend (probably his lover) was beheaded. In what may have been...

An “exciting and enlightening revisionist history” (Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author) of 1950s America that upends the myth that the decade was one of conformity and celebrates a few solitary, brave, and stubborn individuals who pioneered the radical gay rights, feminist, civil rights, and environmental movements, from historian James R. Gaines.An “enchanting, beautifully written book about heroes and the dark times to which they refus...

"Gaines has a deft understanding of the Washington-Lafayette relationship ... [and] a knack for wielding substantial research with aplomb."—San Francisco ChronicleThis book tells the story of the French and American Revolutions in a single, thrilling narrative that shows just how deeply intertwined they actually were. Their leaders were often seen as father and son, but the relationship of George Washington and the Marquis de Lafayette, while close, was ev...

An “exciting and enlightening revisionist history” (Walter Isaacson, #1 New York Times bestselling author) of 1950s America that upends the myth that the decade was one of conformity and celebrates a few solitary, brave, and stubborn individuals who pioneered the radical gay rights, feminist, civil rights, and environmental movements, from historian James R. Gaines.An “enchanting, beautifully written book about heroes and the dark times to which they refus...

There are many myths about animals that have been repeated so many times that most folks believe they are true. These myths are often called Old Wives Tales but I firmly believe that many of the beliefs were created by males so I prefer to be politically correct and call them OLD SPOUSES TALES. The essays in this book are meant to dispel the Old Spouses Tales about animals and animal related myths that have been propagated for so long that they are accepted as true. Some of the truths brou...

They began as courtiers in a hierarchy of privilege, but history remembers them as patriot-citizens in a commonwealth of equals.On April 18, 1775, a riot over the price of flour broke out in the French city of Dijon. That night, across the Atlantic, Paul Revere mounted the fastest horse he could find and kicked it into a gallop.So began what have been called the "sister revolutions" of France and America. In a single, thrilling narrative, this book tells the story of those ...

James Risen has broken story after story on the abuses of power of the Bush administration.From warrantless wiretapping to secret financial data mining to the CIA's rogue operations, he has shown again and again that the executive branch has dangerously overreached, repudiated checks and balances on its power, and maintained secrecy even with its allies in Congress. In no small part thanks to Risen and State of War, the "secret history" of the Bush years h...

James Tobin, award-winning author of Ernie Pyle's War and The Man He Became, has penned the definitive account of the inspiring and impassioned race between the Wright brothers and their primary rival Samuel Langley across ten years and two continents to conquer the air.For years, Wilbur Wright and his younger brother, Orville, experimented in obscurity, supported only by their exceptional family. Meanwhile, the world watched as Samuel Langley, ar...

One man’s remarkable account of nation‑building, Native diplomacy, and the making of the early American South.The Reminiscences of George Strother Gaines: Pioneer and Statesman of Early Alabama and Mississippi, 1805–1843 offers one of the most vivid, irreplaceable firsthand accounts of the American Southeast during its most transformative decades. Edited and expertly contextualized by historian James P. Pate, this volume gathers Gaines’s dictated ...

A medical thriller from Pulitzer Prize–winning author James B. Stewart about serial killer doctor Michael Swango and the medical community that chose to turn a blind eye on his criminal activities.No one could believe that the handsome young doctor might be a serial killer. Wherever he was hired—in Ohio, Illinois, New York, South Dakota—Michael Swango at first seemed the model physician. Then his patients began dying under suspicious circumstances.At once a...

Now a major motion picture, this is the first—and only—definitive authorized account of Neil Armstrong, the man whose “one small step” changed history.When Apollo 11 touched down on the Moon’s surface in 1969, the first man on the Moon became a legend. In First Man, author James R. Hansen explores the life of Neil Armstrong. Based on over fifty hours of interviews with the intensely private Armstrong, who also gave Hansen exclusive access to private docume...

Pulitzer Prize winner James B. Stewart takes readers behind the scenes in the Clinton White House as it reels in the wake of the Whitewater scandal, Vincent Foster’s suicide, and Paula Jones’ allegations of sexual misconduct.In July 1993, White House official Vincent Foster wrote an anguished lament: “in Washington...ruining people is considered a sport.”Nine days later, Foster was dead. Shock at the apparent suicide of one of President Clinton’s top aides ...