“[Matlock’s] account of Reagan’s achievement as the nation’s diplomat in chief is a public service.”—The New York Times Book Review“Engrossing . . . authoritative . . . a detailed and reliable narrative that future historians will be able to draw on to illuminate one of the most dramatic periods in modern history.”—Los Angeles Times Book ReviewIn Reagan and Gorbachev, Jack F. Matlock, Jr., a former U.S. ambassador...

"This persuasive, occasionally provocative book corrects a number of pervasive myths about the Cold War"—from the former U.S. ambassador to the USSR ( Publishers Weekly ).In Superpower Illusions, Jack F. Matlock refutes the enduring idea that the United States forced the collapse of the Soviet Union by applying military and economic pressure—with wide-ranging implications for U.S. foreign policy. Matlock ...

Essays on a presidency during a pivotal period in international affairs, informed by newly declassified documents.Throughout his presidency, Ronald Reagan sought "peace through strength" during an era of historic change. In the decades since, pundits and scholars have argued over the president's legacy: Some consider Reagan a charismatic and consummate leader who renewed American strength and defeated communism; to others he was an ambitious and dangerous warmonger ...

Is there a sharp dividing line that separates Europe into "East" and "West"?This volume brings together prominent scholars from the United States, Canada, France, Poland, and Russia to examine the evolution of the concept of Europe in the two centuries between the French Revolution and the collapse of the Soviet Union. Inspired by the ideas of Martin Malia, the contributors take a flexible view of the "cultural gradient"-the emergence, interaction, and reception of ideas across Eur...

A group biography of the relationship between FDR and four of his Supreme Court justices, written by legal scholar Noah Feldman.A tiny, ebullient Jew who started as America's leading liberal and ended as its most famous judicial conservative. A Klansman who became an absolutist advocate of free speech and civil rights. A backcountry lawyer who started off trying cases about cows and went on to conduct the most important international trial ever. A self-invented, ta...

A "hugely enjoyable" chronicle of the Adams, Quincy and Hancock families and how they helped spark the American Revolution ( Christian Science Monitor).Awarded the 2021 New England Society in the City of New York Book Award for Best Historical Nonfiction, American Rebels explores for the first time the intimate connections between three families in the lead up to the American Revolution. Author Nina Sankovitch examines the intertwined lives of John...

A noted linguist examines extinct languages, from Egyptian hieroglyphs to the mysteries of as-yet undeciphered writings, in this scholarly work.While certain ancient languages were passed down continuously through the ages, many others were ignored for centuries. When scholars began to decipher these extinct languages in the early nineteenth century, they uncovered previously inaccessible riches of knowledge and history. Yet much work remains to be done on undeciphe...

This crash course in presidential history offers essential facts and fascinating trivia about every US chief executive from Washington to Trump.How many US presidents were Founding Brothers? Who decided on America's gold standard? What was Lincoln's nickname?Acclaimed historian Dan Roberts—host of radio's A Moment in Time—takes readers on a fun and informative romp through more than two hundred years of our presidential past. With just one m...

The military expert and author of Leadership presents "the most thoughtful analysis yet of America's recent conflicts—and future challenges" (Gen. Stanley A. McChrystal).Why have the major post-9/11 US military interventions turned into quagmires? Despite huge power imbalances in America's favor, capacity-building efforts, and tactical victories, the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq turned intractable. The US government's fixation on zero-sum, decisive victory...

A journey into the alien depths of the sea, and into our possible future, from a marine biologist known for "nature writing at its most engaging" ( Sunday Express).A golden era of deep-sea discovery is underway as revolutionary studies rewrite the very notion of life on Earth and the rules of what is possible. In the process, the abyss is being revealed as perhaps the most amazing part of our planet, its topography even more varied and extreme than its lan...

"An ethical and accessible introduction to a historical period often implicated in racist narratives of nationalism and imperialism." —Sierra Lomuto, Assistant Professor of Global Medieval Literature, Rowan UniversityA collection of twenty-two essays, Whose Middle Ages? gives nonspecialists access to the richness of our historical knowledge while debunking damaging misconceptions about the medieval past. Myths about the medieval period are especially belove...

A prize-winning historian’s major new history of the Second World War, arguing that Stalin’s USSR was the war’s driving force.**“A provocative revisionist take on the Second World War … McMeekin is a formidable researcher.” —**Financial TimesWe remember World War II as a struggle between good and evil, with Hitler propelling events and the Allied powers saving the day. But Hitler’s armies did not fight in multiple theaters, his emp...