Fired by Stanford and the University of Chicago but recommended by his peers to the presidency of the American Economic Association, Thorstein Veblen remains a baffling figure in American intellectual history. In part because he was an eccentric who shunned publicity, he has also been one of our most neglected. Veblen is known to the general public only as coiner of the term "conspicuous consumption," and to scholars primarily as one of many social critics of the reform-minded Progressive ...

A revealing look at the true beginning of American politicsUntil recently rescued by David McCullough, John Adams has always been overshadowed by Washington and Jefferson. Volatile, impulsive, irritable, and self-pitying, Adams seemed temperamentally unsuited for the presidency. Yet in many ways he was the perfect successor to Washington in terms of ability, experience, and popularity.Possessed of a far-ranging intelligence, Adams took office amid the birth...

Whether intellectuals are counter-cultural escapists corrupting the young or secular prophets leading us to prosperity, they are a fixture of modern political life. In The Public Intellectual: Between Philosophy and Politics, Arthur M. Melzer, Jerry Weinberger, and M. Richard Zinman bring together a wide variety of noted scholars to discuss the characteristics, nature, and role of public thinkers. By looking at scholarly life in the West, this work explores the relationship betwee...

Barack Obama has called him “one of my favorite philosophers.” John McCain wrote that he is “a paragon of clarity about the costs of a good war.” Andrew Sullivan has said, “We need Niebuhr now more than ever.” For a theologian who died in 1971, Reinhold Niebuhr is maintaining a remarkably high profile in the twenty-first century.In Why Niebuhr Now? acclaimed historian John Patrick Diggins tackles the complicated question of why, at a time of great uncertainty about America...

Following his departure from office, Ronald Reagan was marginalized from public interest. But like Lincoln, who was also attacked for decades after his death, Reagan deserves to be regarded as one of our greatest presidents, an exemplar of true conservative values.In this bold and philosophical reevaluation, Diggins reveals that Reagan was a far more active and sophisticated president than we ever knew. His negotiations with Mikhail Gorbachev and his opposition to foreign intervent...

Mass-market edition of the first authoritative single-volume biography of John F. Kennedy to be written in nearly four decades. Drawing upon first-hand sources and never-before-opened archives, prize-winning historian Robert Dallek reveals more than we ever knew about Jack Kennedy, forever changing the way we think about his life, his presidency and his legacy.Dallek also discloses that, while labouring to present an image of robust good health, Kennedy was secretly in and out of h...

Step into the grand world of 19th-century France with the powerful, poetic, and socially conscious works of Victor Hugo—one of the greatest literary minds of all time. The Complete Collection of Victor Hugo brings together his most famous novels and lesser-known writings in one beautifully formatted Kindle edition. From the tragic redemption of Les Misérables to the sweeping romance and gothic grandeur of The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Hugo's vision of justice, love, freedom, and the human c...

“[A] monumental dual biography . . . a distinguished work, combining deep research, a pleasing narrative style and an abundance of fresh insights, a rare combination.”—The Dallas Morning NewsThe third and fourth presidents have long been considered proper gentlemen, with Thomas Jefferson’s genius overshadowing James Madison’s judgment and common sense. But in this revelatory book about their crucial partnership, both are seen as men of their times, hardboi...

What has Christianity ever done for us?A lot more than you might think, as Nick Spencer reveals in this fresh exploration of our cultural origins.Looking at the big ideas that characterize the West, such as human dignity, the rule of law, human rights, science – and even, paradoxically, atheism and secularism – he traces the varied ways in which many of our present values grew up and flourished in distinctively Christian soil.Always alert to the ten...

History enthusiasts and admirers of Team of Rivals will rejoice in this magisterial account of the extraordinary Americans who served the nation’s first chief executive: Together, they created the presidency for a country disgusted by crowns and the people who would wear them.In 1789, as George Washington became the first president of the United States, the world was all but certain that the American experiment in liberty and representative government woul...

The classic one-volume abridgement of the National Book Award–winning biography of the 7th U.S. president, from an esteemed historian."A wonderful portrait, rich in detail, of a fascinating and important man and an authoritative . . . account of his role in American History." — New York Times Book ReviewRobert V. Remini's acclaimed three-volume biography The Life of Andrew Jackson won the National Book Award on its completio...

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...