Examines the American West's complex legacy, blending traditional and revisionist perspectives on its myths, conflicts, and injustices.The American West evokes powerful imagery—warriors on horseback, cowboys in saloons, and pioneers in wagons heading westward. It symbolizes freedom, reinvention, and the American Dream. However, this idealized image obscures the complex, often violent history of the West, which is as unjust as it is inspiring.Historians deba...

Tyranny's core insight reveals how a dictator's ascent reshaped politics, power, and society.The art of tyranny involves aspirants taking and keeping uninhibited, arbitrary power over others. Benito Mussolini is among the world’s most recognizable tyrants with his scowl, jutting jaw, bald dome, booming voice, chopping fists, squat body, and wide stance. He founded the Fascist movement dedicated to transforming Italy’s liberal democracy into a regime that mingled au...

“Nester brings out clearly the features of Patton’s buoyant dynamic leadership… an important addition to the stock of modern military biographies.” – The NYMAS ReviewFor General George S. Patton, “Leadership is the thing that wins battles. I have it—but I’ll be damned if I can define it. Probably it consists in knowing what you want to do and then doing it and getting mad if anyone steps in the way. Self-confidence and leadership are twin brothers.”Indeed, ...

This deep dive into the mind of the complex, controversial political and military leader is "a great addition to the field of Napoleonics" ( Journal of Military History).No historical figure has provoked more controversy than Napoleon Bonaparte. Was he an enlightened ruler or brutal tyrant? An insatiable warmonger or a defender of France against the aggression of the other great powers? Kind or cruel, farsighted or blinkered, a sophisticate...

A look at the Russian leader's successful use of hard military and economic power and soft psychological power through information warfare, or "fake news."Vladimir Putin has tightly ruled Russia since 31 December 1999, and will firmly assert power from the Kremlin for the foreseeable future. Many fear and loath him for his brutality, for ordering opponents imprisoned on trumped up charges and even murdered. Yet most Russians adore him for rebuilding the economy, st...

A detailed analysis of Adolf Hitler’s rise, ideology, tyranny, and the devastating consequences of his rule in Europe.Adolf Hitler may be history’s most notorious tyrant. Surely no one’s name is more often evoked to epitomize evil and the deliberate infliction of suffering on vulnerable individuals and groups?Through exceptional will and luck Hitler struggled up through the ranks of political power until he became Germany’s master. He then sought to dominat...

Explores how Stalin’s regime exemplified authoritarian power, its methods, and enduring global influence.Joseph Stalin and the Art of Tyranny examines authoritarian rule, revealing how tyrants sustain power through a mix of comfort, terror, love, and fear, often convincing their subjects of their divine purpose. Such leaders build systems of loyalists and subservient institutions, enabling unchecked authority.Joseph Stalin exemplifies this tyranny. As Sovie...

A unique biography that explores how Churchill viewed, pursued, and used power, by the award-winning author of Napoleon and the Art of Diplomacy.Many indeed, are the biographies of Winston Churchill, one of the most influential figures of the twentieth century. But what was that influence and how did he use it in the furtherance of his and his country's ambitions? For the first time, Professor William Nestor has delved into the life and actions of Churchill...

Britain alone could not hope to defeat the might of Napoleonic France which, through enforced conscription, had become a nation in arms. But British leaders had a long history of forging alliances to counter their rivals and when revolution ravaged France in 1793 and a levée en masse raised a huge patriotic army, it was through a coalition of monarchies that French ambitions were restrained – a coalition made possible by British gold and British industry. When Napoleon seized the reins of ...

The first study to explore all Britain's key land and sea campaigns from 179–1815 and the two military geniuses who vanquished France.The art of power consists of getting what one wants. That is never more challenging than when a nation is at war. Britain fought a nearly nonstop war against first revolutionary then Napoleonic France from 1793 to 1815. During those twenty-two years, the government formed, financed, and led seven coalitions against France. The French ...

Explores the Civil War’s related and enduring conflicts of ideas and principles through four centuries of a nation’s history.The Civil War fascinates Americans like no other war in their history. Many Americans are still fighting some of the war’s issues in an Odyssey that stretches back to the first settlement and will persist until the end of time. The war itself was an Iliad of brilliant generals like Grant, Sherman, and Sheridan for the Union, or Lee, Jackson, ...

Scholar William Nester explores Franklin D. Roosevelt's character, personality, and presidential power. After their independence and civil wars, Americans never faced a greater threat than the sixteen years of global depression followed by global war from 1929 to 1945. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the president for the last dozen of those years, during which he led the nation first to alleviate the Great Depression then led an international alliance that vanquished the fascist powers duri...