This "perceptive" and "satisfying" biography of George Washington by an award-winning historian "deserves a place on every American's bookshelf" ( The New York Times Book Review).James Thomas Flexner's masterful four-volume biography of America's first president, which received a special Pulitzer Prize citation and a National Book Award for its concluding installment, is the definitive chronicle of Washington's life and a...

An "engrossing and exciting" account of legendary New Orleans privateers Pierre and Jean Laffite and their adventures along the Gulf Coast ( Booklist, starred review).At large during the most colorful period in New Orleans' history, from just after the Louisiana Purchase through the War of 1812, privateers Jean and Pierre Laffite made life hell for Spanish merchants on the Gulf. Pirates to the US Navy officers who chased them, heroes to the private citizen...

"Our most provocative scholar of American power " reveals the forces behind the assassination of JFK—and their continuing influence over our world (David Talbot, Salon) .On November 22, 1963, President John F. Kennedy was gunned down in Dallas by Lee Harvey Oswald. Shortly after, Oswald himself was killed. These events led many to believe there was a far greater plan at work, with a secret cabal of powerful men manipulatin...

The groundbreaking and revelatory tale of the most dangerous years of the Cold War and the two leaders who held the fate of the world in their hands.This bestselling history takes us into the tumultuous period from 1960 through 1963 when the Berlin Wall was built and the Bay of Pigs invasion and the Cuban Missile Crisis brought the United States and Soviet Union to the abyss. In this compelling narrative, author Michael Beschloss, praised by Newsweek as "th...

FINALIST FOR THE GEORGE WASHINGTON BOOK PRIZEThe true story of a Founding Father: a new, brash, and unexpected view of the president we thought we knew, from the bestselling author of Astoria.“Lively, well-researched . . . . A discerning history of pre-Revolutionary America and the man who shaped its future.” - Kirkus ReviewsTwo decades before he led America to independence, George Washington was a...

New York Times Book Review Editors' Choice • A riveting narrative about the biggest earthquake in North American recorded history—the 1964 Alaska earthquake that demolished the city of Valdez and swept away the island village of Chenega—and the geologist who hunted for clues to explain how and why it took place.At 5:36 p.m. on March 27, 1964, a magnitude 9.2. earthquake—the second most powerful in world history—struck the young state of Alaska. The violent...

From the New York Times–bestselling author of Seward and Stanton comes the definitive biography of John Jay: "Wonderful" (Walter Isaacson, New York Times–bestselling author of Leonardo da Vinci).John Jay is central to the early history of the American Republic. Drawing on substantial new material, renowned biographer Walter Stahr has written a full and highly readable portrait of both the public and private man—one of th...

"A fascinating and thought-provoking story, one that sheds light on the origins of . . . the current challenging situation in physics." -- Wall Street JournalWhen the fuzzy indeterminacy of quantum mechanics overthrew the orderly world of Isaac Newton, Albert Einstein and Erwin Schröger were at the forefront of the revolution. Neither man was ever satisfied with the standard interpretation of quantum mechanics, however, and both rebelled against what they considered the m...

Written from a strikingly fresh perspective, this new account of the Boston Tea Party and the origins of the American Revolution shows how a lethal blend of politics, personalities, and economics led to a war that few people welcomed but nobody could prevent.In this powerful but fair-minded narrative, British author Nick Bunker tells the story of the last three years of mutual embitterment that preceded the outbreak of America’s war for independence in 1775. It was a trage...

A New York Times–bestselling author's account of the devastating military campaign that broke the Confederacy's back in the last months of the Civil War.In November 1864, just days after the reelection of President Abraham Lincoln, Gen. William T. Sherman vowed to "make Georgia howl." The hero of Shiloh and his 65,000 Federal troops destroyed the great city of Atlanta, captured Savannah, and cut a wide swath of destruction through Georgia and the Carolinas ...

"A family account of the life of Tashunke Witko, their great Sioux relative . . . For the first time, the Clown family members tell their oral history."— True WestThe Edward Clown family, nearest living relatives to the Lakota war leader, presents the family tales and memories told to them about their famous grandfather. In many ways the oral history differs from what has become the standard and widely accepted biography of Crazy Horse. The family clarifie...

A "brilliant" look at America's sixteenth president by the New York Times–bestselling, Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Lincoln ( American Historical Review).First published in 1956 and revised and updated for the twenty-first century, Lincoln Reconsidered is a masterpiece of Civil War scholarship. In a dozen eloquent, witty, and incisive essays, the author of the definitive biography of Abraham Lincoln offers a fresh perspective ...