In their Pulitzer Prize–winning books, Doris Kearns Goodwin and James M. McPherson argue that Abraham Lincoln became a master strategist during his presidency. But even before he became president, Lincoln was adept at recognizing and exploiting strategic opportunities. In How Lincoln Won, Darin DeWitt and Thomas Schwartz show that Lincoln’s strategy of division and conquest, cleverly designed and artfully executed over two years, not only secured his victory in America’s most cons...

The Hollywood Connection: The Influence of Fictional Media and Celebrity Politics on American Public Opinion is one of the first edited volumes offered in the political science discipline on the effects of fictional media and celebrity on public opinion, and synthesizes many niche areas of research into single text. Additionally, it emphasizes the importance of acknowledging a shift in academic focus away from the lateral interactions between celebrities and politicians (and in some cases ...

The 2016 presidential election was unconventional in many ways. The election of President Donald Trump caught many by surprise, with a true outsider — a candidate with no previous governmental experience and mixed support from his own party — won the election by winning in traditionally Democratic states with coattails that extended to Republican Senate candidates and resulted in unified Republican government for the first time since 2008. This result broke with the pre-election convention...

**WINNER OF THE 2026 PULITZER PRIZE FOR HISTORYONE OF PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA NEW YORK TIMES NOTABLE BOOK OF THE YEARNamed one of the Best Books of the Year by the Washington Post, New Yorker, Smithsonian, Bookpage, and the Chicago Public LibraryLonglisted for the 2025 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in NonfictionLonglisted for the 2026 Cun...

WINNER OF THE PULITZER PRIZE IN HISTORY 2026ONE OF BARACK OBAMA'S FAVORITE BOOKS OF 2025LONGLISTED FOR THE ANDREW CARNEGIE MEDAL FOR EXCELLENCE IN NONFICTION 2025THE INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLERA THE ECONOMIST, HISTORY TODAY, NEW YORK TIMES, NEW YORKER AND WASHINGTON POST BOOK OF THE YEAROn the 250th anniversa...

This “authoritative [and] important” (The New York Times Book Review) “biography” of America’s framing document explores topics ranging from presidential power and freedom of speech to birthright citizenship and beyond, explaining not only what the Constitution says but also why the Constitution says it.“Elegantly written, thorough but concise, and consistently enlightening . . . an indispensable reference.”—Scott Turow, The Washington Post Boo...

NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From the first woman to sit on the United States Supreme Court comes this fascinating book about the history and evolution of the highest court in the land.“[A] succinct, snappy account of how today’s court—so powerful, so controversial and so frequently dissected by the media—evolved from such startlingly humble and uncertain beginnings.”—The New York TimesOut of Order...

A provocative reconsideration of a presidency on the brink of Civil War.Almost no president was as well trained and well prepared for the office as James Buchanan. He had served in the Pennsylvania state legislature, the U.S. House, and the U.S. Senate; he was Secretary of State and was even offered a seat on the Supreme Court. And yet, by every measure except his own, James Buchanan was a miserable failure as president, leaving office in disgrace. Virtually all of...

"A timely exposé about the ways in which Americans . . . have frequently been misled by myths about the origins and history of the U.S. Constitution." —Richard R. Beeman, author of Plain Honest MenAmericans on both sides of the aisle love to reference the Constitution as the ultimate source of truth. But which truth? What did the framers really have in mind? In a book that author R. B. Bernstein calls "essential reading," acclaimed histor...

The sixteenth Chief Justice William H. Rehnquist’s classic book offers a lively and accessible history of the Supreme Court.Chief Justice Rehnquist’s engaging writing illuminates both the high and low points in the Court's history, from Chief Justice Marshall’s dominance of the Court during the early nineteenth century through the landmark decisions of the Warren Court. Citing cases such as the Dred Scott decision and Roosevelt's Court-packing plan, Rehnquist makes...

In 1787, the American union was in disarray. The incompatible demands of the separate states threatened its existence; some states were even in danger of turning into the kind of tyranny they had so recently deposed. A truly national government was needed, one that could raise money, regulate commerce, and defend the states against foreign threats–without becoming as overbearing as England. So thirty-six-year-old James Madison believed. That summer, the Virginian was instrumental in organi...

"Holt's fascinating study of partisan politics and the territorial slavery issue shows again why he is one of America's finest pre-civil war historians." —William W. Freehling, author of The Road to DisunionWhat brought about the Civil War? Leading historian Michael F. Holt convincingly offers a disturbingly contemporary answer: partisan politics. In this brilliant and succinct book, Holt distills a lifetime of scholarship to demonstrate ...