Biography: historical, political and military Books

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Book SynopsisIn January 2006, after the Republic of Liberia had been racked by fourteen years of brutal civil conflict, Ellen Johnson Sirleaf-Africa's 'Iron Lady' - was sworn in as president, an event that marked a tremendous turning point in the history of the West African nation. This memoir shares the inside story of her rise to power.Trade Review"This is the incredible story of a woman who spent her life talking tough to the lunatics surrounding her. It is an accessible walk through Liberian history, told by someone who was somehow always in the center of the political storm." -- New York Times Book Review "Exceptionally well written, a true story that seems as much a thriller as the remembrances of an ambitious and brave woman... This timely book, essential for anyone who hopes to understand West Africa in general and Liberia in particular, is a lesson in courage and perserverance." -- Washington Post "An inspiring inside look at a nation struggling to rebuild itself and the woman now behind those efforts." -- Booklist

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Book SynopsisAt thirteen, Rachel Lloyd found herself caught up in a world of pain and abuse, struggling to survive as a child with no responsible adults to support her. Vulnerable yet tough, she eventually ended up a victim of commercial sexual exploitation. This title presents her portrait.Trade Review"Riveting... [Lloyd's] passionate, persuasive arguments for recognition and protection give a voice to the thousands of girls all around us who work and suffer in near invisibility." -- Corrie Pikul, Elle "Fascinating and moving." -- Marie Claire "Heartbreaking... But the book is also at times funny, bawdy, and optimistic, as is Lloyd herself." -- Jennie Yabroff, Daily Beast "Rachel Lloyd's astonishing stories of life on the street have an accumulative power that left me reeling. What makes Girls Like Us such an extraordinary achievement is that her storytelling is unflinchingly honest, and yet filled with a sense of promise, filled with a profound sense of hope." -- Alex Kotlowitz, author of There Are No Children Here and The Other Side of the River "This book will burn a hole in your heart. The beauty of Rachel Lloyd's searing memoir is how she exorcises the pain of her own troubled girlhood by connecting with hundreds of young women on a brutal path." -- Mira Nair, director of Salaam Bombay!, Mississippi Masala, and The Namesake "With empathy and intellect, Rachel Lloyd brings to light the heart-breaking stories of these lost, forgotten, and abused girls. Her own life story is a source of inspiration and hope. She is an important new voice of conscience to which America needs to pay attention." -- Geoffrey Canada, president and CEO, Harlem Children's Zone "Rachel Lloyd's memoir should be mandatory reading for every cop, prosecutor, judge, and 'john', but also every mainstream American who thinks racism, classism, and misogyny don't exist." -- Sarah Jones, Tony Award-winning playwright/performer and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Sarah Jones, Tony Award-winning playwright/performer and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador Sarah Jones, Tony Award-winning playwright/performer and UNICEF Goodwill Ambassado "Girls Like Us is a life-changing book, in every sense of the word. Rachel Lloyd changed her life in order to help change the lives of thousands of others-read her incredibly powerful story, and your life will be changed too." -- Janice Erlbaum, author of Girlbomb: A Halfway Homeless Memoir and Have You Found Her: A Memoir "Girls Like Us is a powerful and eloquent recounting of the lives of children and young women caught up in the ravages of sexual exploitation...[It] offers valuable insights into understanding the complex emotional and economic factors that contribute to the exploitation of children and youth." -- Richard J. Estes, Professor of Social Work, University of Pennsylvania

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"An unforgettable story of female soldiers breaking the brass ceiling. The women who answered America's call to serve show that our military is stronger when it engages both halves of the population. This book will inspire you and remind you of the power that comes with defying limits." -- Sheryl Sandberg, author of Lean In "Gayle Tzemach Lemmon expertly gives readers an inside look at what it takes to work alongside America's elite forces. The book is a gripping, moving, and well-told war story, but more importantly it offers the first glimpse into a historic program." -- Kevin Maurer, author of Gentlemen Bastards "Lemmon has done her homework... She is a strong and capable guide... With a fine eye for detail, she shows us what set this program apart." -- Foreign Policy "A tremendous story... Very moving." -- The Daily Show with Jon Stewart "Ashley's War shares the remarkable stories of one of the first teams of women serving in the U.S. Army Special Operations Command. This team forged the path for American women who serve in harm's way all over the world and continue to make the ultimate sacrifice." -- Senator John McCain "Ashley's War quietly grips the reader with the untold story of a small group of women selected to serve in combat alongside the US's best soldiers... Rich storytelling... Compelling... In battle as in life, these women refuse to quit." -- Christian Science Monitor "Fascinating and often moving, Ashley's War follows one of the early groups of women who volunteered to serve alongside special operations soldiers, vividly portraying their training, their early missions as they learn their jobs, their bonds of friendship, and their reckoning with the toll of war. Remarkable." -- Phil Klay, author of Redeployment

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Trade Review“Important.... Reynolds, a former curator at the CIA Museum, demonstrates that Hemingway was afraid the FBI might uncover a dirty little secret he had hidden for more than 20 years: In 1940 he had agreed to assist the NKVD, the Soviet Union’s foreign intelligence agency.” — Wall Street Journal “Captivating. ... An important addition to the canon of one of America’s foremost writers. Reynolds’s unique biography reads like an espionage thriller.” — The Missourian “Nicholas Reynolds’s fascinating new research in Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy shows that [Hemingway] was in fact working for both the Russians and the Americans.” — New York Review of Books “Reynolds looks among the shadows and finds a Hemingway not seen before.” — London Review of Books “An engrossing read for Hemingway buffs as well as casual readers, Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy adds more fascinating details to a life that remains continually fascinating.” — Minneapolis Star Tribune “Renowned American novelist Ernest Hemingway led a shocking secret life as a Soviet spy, according to claims in a new book. The startling revelations are detailed in Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy by former CIA officer Nicholas Reynolds.“ — Daily Mail (UK) “The riveting, brand-new story of how America’s greatest writer was shaped by his secret adventures as a spy for both U.S. intelligence and the Soviet NKVD: Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy is compelling, vivid, and essential reading for all Hemingway and espionage fans.” — William Doyle, author of PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy “A thorough, well researched, and highly readable account of Ernest Hemingway’s engagement with espionage (American and Soviet), Communism, and military adventurism. ... In particular, Writer, Sailor, Soldier, Spy is the first book to put Hemingway’s dalliance with the Soviet NKVD in the broader context of Hemingway’s life.” — John Earl Haynes, coauthor of Spies: The Rise and Fall of the KGB in America “[An] engrossing story of Hemingway’s disillusionment with American politics, his sympathy with communism, and his attraction to adventure and subversion.” — Kirkus Reviews “Drawing on his intelligence background, Reynolds uncovers a trove of documents that point to American novelist Ernest Hemingway’s recruitment in 1940 by the NKVD. ... Reynolds ably researches Hemingway’s World War II adventures. ... Intriguing. ... Recommended.” — Library Journal “[A] thoroughly researched exploration of Hemingway’s military adventurism.” — Publishers Weekly “Nicholas Reynolds ably weaves Vassiliev’s revelation, unavailable to previous biographers, into the tangled fabric of Hemingway’s event-filled life. Hemingway’s readers... will find it fascinating.” — Times Literary Supplement (London) “Colorful, fast-paced. ... [Don’t] miss an opportunity to read this fascinating story.” — The Journal of America’s Military Past “A must read for anyone who is a Hemingway fan.” — American Sailing Journal

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Book SynopsisTrade Review"A dazzling achievement." — Steve Forbes, Editor in Chief, Forbes Media “Woodrow Wilson, the liberal idealist, and Vladimir Lenin, the illiberal totalitarian, hand-in-glove unwound the old nineteenth-century order and redefined war as an existential and global struggle over ideas—with disastrous twentieth-century results. In yet another well-written and fascinating dual biography, the prolific and insightful historian Arthur Herman shows how Wilson’s naive good intentions and Lenin’s deliberate ruthlessness nonetheless had the same pernicious effect of using the state to defy human nature. A fascinating and entirely original explanation of the American and Russian origins of the modern world.” — Victor Davis Hanson, Senior Fellow, the Hoover Institution, Stanford University “The pairing of these two diametrically opposed figures into one biography makes this illuminating read for anybody interested in World War I, the new political order it spawned, and the failures that led to the rise of Nazism and the horrors of World War II.” — Library Journal "Deeply researched and engagingly written, this is a gripping account of great battles won and lost, of a triumphant war followed by a failed peace, and of clashing ideologies that shaped a century." — Robert Kagan, author of The World America Made

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Book SynopsisNATIONAL BESTSELLERThe FBI’s former head of counterintelligence reveals the seven secrets of building and maintaining organizational excellenceA must read for serious leaders at every level. —General Barry R. McCaffrey (Ret.)Frank Figliuzzi was the Keeper of the Code, appointed the FBI’s Chief Inspector by then-Director Robert Mueller. Charged with overseeing sensitive internal inquiries and performance audits, he ensured each employee met the Bureau''s exacting standards. Now, drawing on his distinguished career, Figliuzzi reveals how the Bureau achieves its extraordinary track record of excellence—from the training of new recruits in The FBI Way to the Bureau''s rigorous maintenance of its standards up and down the organization. All good codes of conduct have one common trait: they reflect the core values of an organization. Individuals, companies, schools, teTrade Review"Far-reaching, arguing that the world can benefit not from particular FBI skills but from the organization’s principles of accuracy and accountability." — Devlin Barrett, Washington Post “The FBI Way is a sterling achievement in narrative nonfiction, thrilling without being a thriller, and one of those books people will be referencing for decades to come as a definitive tome for the times in which we live." — Providence Journal “Figliuzzi’s war stories of hunting terrorists are spellbinding, but equally important is his playbook for how the FBI’s methods for achieving excellence in performance can be duplicated by a wide variety of organizations. This should be required reading in business schools across America.” — Andrea Mitchell, Chief Foreign Affairs Correspondent, NBC News "Frank Figliuzzi is a patriot. He is an intelligent, straight-forward, and passionate voice for reason, loyalty, and what I have discovered are the simple but essential FBI values. In The FBI Way, through dramatic front-line stories and commentary, he demonstrates how to bring those values into our own lives." — Robert De Niro, Recipient of the Medal of Freedom "This is a must read for serious leaders at every level. Frank Figliuzzi served 25 years in the famed FBI rising to the highest levels of leadership. His assignments as chief counter-espionage officer for the Bureau, his street experience as a Special Agent confronting crime, corruption and police misconduct, and his perspective as an FBI policy maker offer us fresh insights into the links between preserving values, pursuing excellence, and defending anything worth keeping." — General Barry R. McCaffrey (U.S. Army Retired) “The institutions that best preserve and defend our nation’s values are made up of men and women who live and die by a code of excellence. ... As Frank Figliuzzi's The FBI Way makes clear, their survival and success are dependent on the same values that will determine the survival and success of our democracy. It’s time we all ask whether we are willing to live by that code.” — Leon E. Panetta, Former Secretary of Defense and Director of the CIA "For Frank Figliuzzi it's personal; for the rest of us, The FBI Way offers unique insights into how the men and women of the FBI serve with distinction and honor by adhering to a code that allows them to defend what matters most - our democracy." — Michael Steele, Former Chairperson of the Republican National Committee “An achievement in narrative nonfiction, a thrilling non-thriller.” — Richmond Times-Dispatch

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Book SynopsisINSTANT #1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER The former attorney general provides a candid account of his historic tenures serving two vastly different presidents, George H.W. Bush was largely the result of chance, while his second tenure under President Donald Trump a deliberate and difficult choice.

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Book SynopsisFifty years after she made history by refusing to give up her seat on a bus, Rosa Parks at last gets the major biography she deserves. The eminent historian Douglas Brinkley follows this thoughtful and devout woman from her childhood in Jim Crow Alabama through her early involvement in the NAACP to her epochal moment of courage and her afterlife as a beloved (and resented) icon of the civil rights movement. Well researched and written with sympathy and keen insight, the result is a moving, revelatory portrait of an American heroine and her tumultuous times.

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Book SynopsisThis is a joint biography of Daniel Webster, Henry Clay and John C. Calhoun, the most prominent of the second generation of American statesmen, from 1812 until 1850. It is at the same time a history of the America of the period: its political style and character, political ambition and reputation, success and failure, and ideas and interests. The three statesmen make a startling contrast - Webster, the staunch New England defender of the Union, Clay, first a `war hawk'' and later a populist politician, and Calhoun, the foremost advocate of Southern separatism and slavery. Their political lives were intertwined during much of this period.Trade Review`Merrill Peterson has given us a thorough and scholarly account of these three giants and the grand debates that consumed their lives.' The Book Review/Los Angeles Times`Elaborate and learned new study...Densely packed with facts and closely focused, The Great Triumvirate provides a richly rewarding account of party conflict in the antebellum period.' The Boston Sunday Globe`His details enable us to recognise how little the practices of parliamentary democracy have changed ... Mr Peterson's inclusiveness is valuable, too, in its attention to lesser figures, men who became footnotes after they died, but whose opinions and search for responsiveness were decisive while they lived.' The New Yorker`We are in debt to Merrill Peterson. Basing his work on a careful combing of the original sources, he has made a distinguished contribution to the study of American history.' New York Times Book Reviews`Mr Peterson imparts a good deal of excitement to the events of the past. He admires his subject but judges them harshly as well.' Washington Times`Without invoking grand theories, without statistics, and with only an occasional generalization of any kind, Merrill Peterson simply tells an interesting and momentous story.' Book World`A "thorough and scholarly" account of three enduring symbols of congressional leadership.' L.A.Times

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Book SynopsisJohn Marshall Harlan served on the Supreme Court from 1955 until his retirement and death in 1971. An articulate and forceful critic of the expansive civil liberties doctrines and constitutional trends of the period, Harlan is considered one of the most scholarly jurists ever to have served on the Supreme Court. This is the first book-length biography and analysis of his judicial and constitutional philosophy.Trade Review"An incisive and searching book on the life and judicial philosophy of the most respected conservative justice of our era. It merits wide and thoughtful reading."--Norman Dorsen, Stokes Professor of Law, New York University School of Law, and President, ACLU, 1976-1991 "Tinsley Yarbrough has done it again! His latest judicial biography provides a splendid analysis of Justice Harlan's impact on American constitutional law, the Supreme Court as an institution, and the pivotal role he played in shaping the courts of civil liberties. The book is must reading for every student of the Court."--Kermit L. Hall, Professor of History and Law, University of Florida, Gainesville "Provides the kind of masterful insight and evaluative prowess that enriches our understanding of the judiciary and the fascinatingly complex individuals who comprise it. John Marshall Harlan, although too often neglected, was one of its most meritorious, and we are in Professor Yarbrough's debt for bringing him to life in this splendid, eminently readable biography."--Henry J. Abraham, James Hart Professor, University of Virginia "Yarbrough offers the first major--and excellent--biography of one of the Warren Court's most interesting and brilliant figures....An absorbing and scholarly analysis of one of the Supreme Court's truly great jurists."--Kirkus Reviews

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Book SynopsisA study of Elizabeth I which focuses on her difficulty in building up power in a patriarchal society. The author uses literary and historical examination of three crises in her reign to trace the queen's struggle to retain control over the iconography of both her physical self and her political domain.Trade Review`impressively researched ... a book with many good things in it, and the introduction especially is a lucid critique of and response to work in the field' Times Literary Supplement

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Trade Review"For anyone interested in a snapshot view of the presidency, this anecdotal history of American presidential wives...is important to read--and certainly fun....Boller's anecdotes are fascinating and amusing."--Letitia Baldrige, Washington Post Book World"Boller has splendidly fulfilled his purpose of producing a fascinating...account of what it has meant for a woman to be the wife of a president....This collective history of presidential wives calls attention to their significance in the nation's history."--Journal of American History"Boller's deep insight into [these women's] lives and personalities...[adds] new historical detail to White House folklore."--Los Angeles Times Book Review"Boller excels at illuminating the pathos and tragedy that suffused the lives of...presidential wives."--The Chicago Tribune"It's a fascinating book that is easily read..." --Ken Moore, Naples Daily News

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Book SynopsisLone Star Rising, the first volume in Robert Dallek''s biography of LBJ, was hailed as a triumphant portrait of Lyndon Johnson as rich and oversized and complex as the nation that shaped him. Now, in the final volume, Dallek takes us through Johnson''s tumultuous years in the White House, his unprecedented accomplishments there, and the tragic war that would be his downfall. In these pages Johnson emerges as a character of almost Shakespearean dimensions, a man riddled with contradictions, a man of towering intensity and anguished insecurity, of grandiose ambition and grave self-doubt, a man who was brilliant, crude, intimidating, compassionate, overbearing, driven: A tornado in pants. Drawing on hundreds of newly released tapes and extensive interviews with those closest to LBJ--including fresh insights from Ladybird and his press secretary Bill Moyers--Dallek takes us behind the scenes to give us a portrait of Johnson that is at once even-handed and completely engrossing. We see JohnTrade ReviewFlawed Giant has a number of surprising revelations about Johnson's behavior after declining to run for re-election in 1968.--Daily NewsAn historical biographical tour de force. Once again, the author displays extraordinary diligence in thorough research and balanced presentation.... Flawed Giant is far from ordinary biography.--Richmond Times-DispatchLyndon B. Johnson could have been a contender for Mount Rushmore until his Presidency ran aground in Vietnam--a tragedy that is deftly explored in this readable portrait by a noted historian.--PeopleA substantial work, rewarding for those still grappling to understand the 1960's.--The Commercial AppealTo read Robert Dallack's new book on LBJ is to be transported back to the era that he helped make so angry and turbulent.... Flawed Giant captures in unforgiving detail a president whose flaws were tragically larger than life.--Chicago TribuneDallek has written history that has the unresolvability of great drama.--Salon MagazineIt's difficult to imagine a more definitive biography of America's embattled president than the 754-page story of the most important 12 years in the life of Lyndon Baines Johnson. Flawed Giant draws on interviews with hundreds of people closest to Johnson.... this book is exhaustively researched and gracefully written.--Naples Daily NewsDallek writes with clarity and pace. He weaves an enormous amount of detailed information into tightly focused chapters, concluding each with a few crisp, terse paragraphs of summary judgment. It is thus an easy book to read, and frequently compelling.--Philadelphia Inquirer OnlinePoised, scholarly, and readable.--The New YorkerDallek utilizes the mammoth documentation available at the LBJ Library and recently released telephone tapes to provide a comprehensive study of the Johnson presidency that far outdistances earlier works. It is both sympathetic and critical.--The News & ObserverDrawing upon hours of newly released White House tapes and dozens of interviews with people close to Johnson, Mr. Dallek has created, in this volume, a minutely detailed portrait of Johnson as a contradictory and larger-than-life figure, a Shakespearean character: needy, driven, devious, magnanimous and explosive...persuasively shows how Johnson's personality informed his policy making and day-by-day decisions.--The New York TimesUnlike some other recent renditions, this second half of a biography by a professional historian shows a President often enough disproportionate but never monstrous.--The New York Times Book Review, a Notable Book of 1998Taking advantage of thousands of hours of conversation taped in the Oval Office, Dallek lets Johnson speak for himself, and no writer could create a more colorful, entertaining, inspiring, eccentric, or troubling character. To read Dallek is to experience Lyndon Baines Johnson rather than the biographer himself. Dallek is less to his Johnson than a faithful, diligent, and thorough amanuensis. * The Boston Sunday Globe *In Dallek's forthright, balanced portrait, we find a man who was as deeply complex a personality as can be imagined in public life. It is a portrait which in the large scale is familiar--the impotent vice presidency,the anguished JFK succesion, the Great Society, growing Vietnam involvement and the forced abandonment of the White House--while the details emerge fresh in Dallek's research and writing.... The author's short afterword offers a cogent and telling summation of LBJ's career and ought to be must reading for historians.... The best and balanced look we now have at this most unforgettable figure.--IThe State ColumbiaDallek has established himself as the principal biographer of Johnson--and a worthy one.--Austin American-StatesmanIn this second and concluding volume of his biography of the 36th president, noted historian Robert Dallek describes the terrible toll the Vietnam War took on Johnson and suggests that the concerns raised about Johnson's state of mind were well-founded.--Houston ChronicleThe most comprehensive Johnson biography to date.... This superb biography, likely to be the standard, is highly recommended for academic and most public libraries.-- Library JournalA biography, by a leading presidential scholar, so comprehensive in coverage and fair-minded in analysis, as to offer a penetrating account of LBJ's world.--James MacGregor Burns, Williams CollegeBoston University historian Dallek draws from recently released presidential papers and transcripts, as well as interviews with Johnson proteges such as Bill Moyers, to vividly depict LBJ's tumultuous years as vice-president and president.... Dallek is always objective, chasing the facts whether they lead to the detriment or to the advantage of his troubled protagonist. The book is particularly strong in juxtaposing the magisterial, single-handed architect of sweeping domestic reform in the Great-Society with the public-school-educated, provincial legislator from the Texas hill country who felt inadequate when it came to matters of international relations.... Flawed Giant provides a complex yet elegantly rendered portrait of Lyndon Johnson as vice-president, president and man.--Publishers WeeklyDallek's book, Flawed Giant...sheds new light on the pivotal 1968 election, in which Republican Richard Nixon defeated Humphrey by a hair.... Dallek's book, based on interviews with former Johnson and Humphrey aides, offers the first evidence that Johnson ordered wiretaps on Humphrey's phones in the vice presidential office.-- Associated PressFlawed Giant is a lucid, well-written, and judicious study of Lyndon Johnson's days as power broker and president. A monumental Washington saga told by one of America's great historians. A must read!--Douglas Brinkley, Professor of History and Director of the Eisenhower Center, University of New Orleans, author of Lippmann and the American CenturyHistorian Robert Dallek has vividly brought to life one of the true originals of American politics. Avoiding the demonology that has marred other accounts of this fascinating man, Dallek shows not only his failures and his excesses but also his gargantuan accomplishments and subtle mind. Here is a Johnson without tears or cheers but in a clear, steady light.--The Washington Post Book World

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Book SynopsisFew scientists have made lasting contributions to as many fields as Francis Galton. He was an important African explorer, travel writer, and geographer. He was the meteorologist who discovered the anticyclone, a pioneer in using fingerprints to identify individuals, the inventor of regression and correlation analysis in statistics, and the founder of the eugenics movement. Now, Nicholas Gillham paints an engaging portrait of this Victorian polymath. The book traces Galton''s ancestry (he was the grandson of Erasmus Darwin and the cousin of Charles Darwin), upbringing, training as a medical apprentice, and experience as a Cambridge undergraduate. It recounts in colorful detail Galton''s adventures as leader of his own expedition in Namibia. Darwin was always a strong influence on his cousin and a turning point in Galton''s life was the publication of the Origin of Species. Thereafter, Galton devoted most of his life to human heredity, using then novel methods such as pedigree analysis Trade ReviewA splendidly readable and informative guide to Galton's life, works and impact ... the accounts of Galton's investigations of heredity and their reception make the book so useful and so absorbing ... succeeds remarkably well at communicating the shape and content of Galton's work on the physiology and populational dynamics of inheritance ... it will be the biography for a long time to come. * Heredity *

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Book SynopsisGeneral Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), called El Liberator, and sometimes the ''George Washington'' of Latin America, was the leading hero of the Latin American independence movement. His victories over Spain won independence for Bolivia, Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, and Venezuela. Bolívar became Columbia''s first president in 1819. In 1822, he became dictator of Peru. Upper Peru became a separate state, which was named Bolivia in Bolívar''s honor, in 1825. The constitution, which he drew up for Bolivia, is one of his most important political pronouncements. Today he is remembered throughout South America, and in Venezuela and Bolivia his birthday is a national holiday. Although Bolívar never prepared a systematic treatise, his essays, proclamations, and letters constitute some of the most eloquent writing not of the independence period alone, but of any period in Latin American history. His analysis of the region''s fundamental problems, ideas on political organization and proposals f

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Book SynopsisThrough a close and critical reading of biblical texts, ancient history, and recent archeological discoveries, Steven L. McKenzie concludes that David was indeed a real person. This David was not the humble shepherd who slew Goliath and became king, however, but was a usurper, adulterer, and murderer--a Middle Eastern despot of a familiar type. McKenzie shows that the story of humble beginnings is utterly misleading: shepherd is a metaphor for king, and David came from a wealthy, upper-class background. Similarly, McKenzie reveals how David''s ascent to power, traditionally attributed to popularity and divine blessing, in fact resulted from a campaign of terror and assassination. While instituting a full-blown Middle Eastern monarchy, David was an aggressive leader, a devious politician, and a ruthless war chief. Throughout his scandalous reign, important figures who stood in his way died at convenient times, under questionable circumstances. Even his own sons were not spared. David''sTrade ReviewMcKenzie is little short of brilliant. * The New York Times Book Review *A provocative look at a complex biblical figure....McKenzie uses biblical texts and recent archaeological discoveries to paint a searing portrait of the 'real' King David. * The Sunday Star-Ledger *[A] remarkable book....McKenzie brings to bear all the analytical tools of the modern historian....We see a darker and more realistic David and a more troubling biblical history..... McKenzie's portrait of David is both convincing and disturbing. * Bible Review *Mckenzie...uses historical analysis of the texts, augmented by archaeology and the immense body of scholarship about the ancient Middle East, to create a plausible real-life portrait of the figure who gets more space in the Bible than anybody, Moses and Jesus included....A spirited analysis. * The Fayetteville Observer *The conventional, laudatory image of David as a simple shepherd boy who courageously slew Goliath and rose to become Israel's greatest king despite some human failings is disputed by McKenzie. * Publishers Weekly *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Images: The Need for a Biography of David; 1. Was there a historical David? Extrabiblical Sources; 2. Royal Propaganda: The Bible's Account of David's Life; 3. Was David a Shepherd? David's origins and youth; 4. Who killed whom? The Goliath story and David's career as a soldier; 5. Holy terrorist: David and his outlaw band; 6. Assassin: David's reign as King of Judah; 7. The cost of kingship: the policies and changes of David's administration; 8. Like father, like son: the Bathsheba Affair and Absolom's revolt; 9. Poetic justice: the last days of King David; 10. Finished portrait: a synopsis

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Book SynopsisThe first full account of Whitman's Civil War years sheds new light on the man, his poetry, and the treatment of the war's sick and wounded.Trade ReviewIn this first full account of Whitman's Civil War years, Morris leaves readers with a new image of what he calls `a great mothering sort of man' who visited the hospitals in and around Washington, D.C. for three years, bringing his charges ice cream, tobacco, brandy, books, magazines, pens, and paper; he wrote letters for those who could not, and more than a few died in his arms.--Library JournalA thrilling narrative told with empathy and vast learning, rich with images that reinvigorate figures as familiar as Lincoln.--The New York Tiems Book ReviewMorris's skills as a researcher are evident and his writing is first rate. Teens can read Better Angel as a moving introduction to Whitman, for its information on the home front and the medical profession during the Civil War, or to gain insight into the sociological and psychological aftermath of the war on individuals or nations.--School LibraryBrillantly researched and written, Morris' book gives a full account of poet Walt Whitman's profoundly transformative Civil War years. Through his tireless tending of the sick and wounded, Whitman found his true, compassionate poetic voice, and Morris' examination is an invaluable addition to Whitman scholarship.--ETC, Etcetera MagazineThe Better Angel illuminates Walt Whitman's Civil War years with frankness and compassion. Its insights and compelling narrative afford us new and humanly rich understandings of the poet and his vision of America.-- Robert H. Abzug, author of Cosmos Crumbling: American Reform and the Religious Imagination and Inside the Vicious Heart: Americans and the Liberation of Nazi Concentration CampsRoy Morris, Jr.'s elegant and moving book shows how the great civil war that redeemed the nation's soul also reawakened the soul of the nation's greatest poet, Walt Whitman. It is essential reading for everyone who cares about American culture.-- Sean Wilentz, Princeton University, author of Chants Democratic and The Kingdom of MatthiasThis deftly written, almost unbearably moving book serves us to remind us powerfully of the horrors faced by the wounded on the Civil War battlefields, of the genius and compassion of Walt Whitman in dealing with them, and of the remarkable skill of one of America's most accomplished biographers in researching and telling so poignant a story.--Simon Winchester, author of The Professor and The MadmanThis pathbreaking study of Whitman's Civil War years reveals more facts--and a greater understanding--of the man than the vain, foppish poet-nurse that too many writers have sought to create.--James I. Robertson, Jr., author of Stonewall JacksonA particularly thorough and informative account of the poet's activities during the Civil War.--The Boston Book ReviewMorris brings us in for a close, often harrowing look at the poet in a moment of national and personal crisis. He follows Whitman's descent into hell and reveals how the lifeblood of a nation of young men revitalized and reinvented the 'Good Gay Poet'--Out MagazineThe Civil War years were transformative for Walt Whitman, leading him to a new, more direct poetic style. In The Better Anger, acclaimed biographer Roy Morris Jr. presents the first full account of this period in Whitman's life.--Inside BordersA thrilling narrative told with empathy and vast learning, rich with images that reinvigorate figures as familiar as Lincoln.--The New York Times Book Review, Books in Brief

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Book SynopsisProvides a fresh look at both the literary and material representations of Agrippina. This study exposes both the contrivances of the commissioned artists whose idealized portraits served to buttress the image of the regime and the contrasting designs of the historians whose rhetorical stereotypes and negative depictions aimed to undermine it.Trade ReviewThere is much to be praised here. * Kristina Milnor, Barnard College *[The editors'] decision to publish the text with only the lightest editorial intervention is entirely justified by the quality of Judith Ginsbury's work. But it is also, in its unfinished state, an affecting memorial to its author, dramatizing in its loose ends the loss of the discipline that her death represents. * Llewelyn Morgan, TLS *

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Book SynopsisPresents a biography of Jackson Barnett, who gained unexpected wealth from oil found on his property. This book explores how control of his fortune was violently contested by his guardian, the state of Oklahoma, the Baptist Church, the Bureau of Indian Affairs, and an adventuress who kidnapped and married him.Trade Review"An astounding tale, brilliantly told, of one man's simple dignity caught up in a hurricane of greed and chicanery."-- Mike Davis, author of Dead Cities and Other Tales"A historical tour-de-force that dramatically and depressingly shows how a confluence of law, racial attitudes, scheming individuals, and bureaucratic institutions devastated the considerable rights and resources of Jackson Barnett, a Creek Nation citizen, and by extension the rights of other similarly situated indigenous people. Thorne's lucid account is a worthy and timely successor to Angie Debo's And Still the Waters Run, a penetrating analysis of the systematic fraud and dispossession that was perpetuated on the citizens of the Five Civilized Tribes of Oklahoma by similar forces. Finally, this work graphically shows that oil-its exploration and exploitation--has long played a major role in indigenous politics as well as in national and international politics."--David E. Wilkins, University of Minnesota"For anyone interested in American Indians, this book is a must read about surviving cultural change for many traditionalists learning the ways of the white man in the early twentieth century."--Donald L. Fixico, University of Kansas"Not just the life story of Jackson Barnett, this is a story of the government's failure to meet its trust responsibility to protect 'restricted' or 'incompetent' Indians from those who preyed upon them and their oil-generated wealth. It is the story of the culture of greed that gripped early Oklahoma--a complex, sad, and sometimes ugly story, masterfully told."-Daniel F. Littlefield, Jr., University of Arkansas at Little Rock

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Book SynopsisLandon Carter, a Virginia planter patriarch, left behind one of the most revealing of all American diaries. In this astonishingly rich biography, Rhys Isaac mines this remarkable document--and many other sources--to reconstruct Carter''s interior world as it plunged into revolution. The aging patriarch, though a fierce supporter of American liberty, was deeply troubled by the rebellion and its threat to established order. His diary, originally a record of plantation business, began to fill with angry stories of revolt in his own little kingdom. Carter writes at white heat, his words sputtering from his pen as he documents the terrible rupture that the Revolution meant to him. Indeed, Carter felt in his heart he was chronicling a world in decline, the passing of the order that his revered father had bequeathed to him. Not only had Landon''s king betrayed his subjects, but Landon''s own household betrayed him: his son showed insolent defiance, his daughter Judith eloped with a forbiddenTrade Review"A detailed, persuasive picture of a world so different from our own as to be almost unimaginable."--Jonathan Yardley, Washington Post Book World"A major contribution to the study of the American Revolution.... Readers will be fascinated by Carter's impassioned narratives, masterfully placed in their time by Isaac's brilliant analysis. This admirable study joins Claire Tomalin's Samuel Pepys as an example of the finest scholarly analysis of personal diaries."--Library Journal (starred review)"As an expert and incredibly knowledgeable editor, Rhys Isaac guides us through the diaries of the great and deeply human Virginia patriarch, Landon Carter, ultimately the owner of over 700 black slaves, as he responds with both joy and furious anger to the coming of the American Revolution and to the seismic shocks it brought to Virginia's old regime and to his own authoritarian family."--David Brion Davis"A poignant tale of crumbling patriarchy in a world of revolutions.... Unlike most historians, who try to maintain the appearance of objectivity, Isaac, like many anthropologists, feels that his personal perspective and subjective reactions should be made explicit.... The result is a very personal and intimate portrait of a Virginia patriarch."--Gordon S. Wood, The New York Review of Books"An outstanding work of history.... An extraordinary, fascinating set of firsthand accounts from the revolutionary era."--Kirkus Reviews (starred review)"Full of rich cultural and psychological insights. Isaac sympathetically reveals Carter as a tragic figure, almost as cruel to himself as he was to others. Driven by a perverse but pervasive sense of duty, he alienated almost everyone in his angry wake."--Alan Taylor, New Republic"Offers fresh insights into the character of the plantocracy and its evolution. There is no doubt about the importance of Landon Carter's diary as a window on the planter class and Carter himself. It reveals a man who saw himself as a link in the long chain of patriarchy, whose history stretched back to time immemorial."--Ira Berlin, The Nation"If for nothing else, we should read Landon Carter because he was an honest man, and Rhys Isaac's Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom because it is a skilled and honest depiction of the man, his place, and his age."--Christianity Today"Isaac convincingly portrays Carter, one of Virginia's twelve richest men, as a figure ensnared by contradictions: In his energetic defense of American liberty, Carter appreciated that he was helping to destroy a hierarchical world to which he was intensely attached....Isaac is a sensitive guide to Carter's world, and reading his systematic exploration is the only way for the layman to comprehend the diaries properly."--Ben Schwarz, Atlantic Monthly"By creatively exploiting the remarkable diary of the eighteenth-century Virginia planter Landon Carter of Sabine Hall--a character out of a Fielding novel if there ever was one--Rhys Isaac has written an extremely imaginative book that brings to life the world of this well-meaning but often ludicrous slave-master in all its humanity and inhumanity. From Isaac's rendition of Carter's story-filled diary we learn, among other things, how rebellions against patriarchal authority both in Carter's own household and in the British empire were transforming American society."--Gordon S. Wood"A captivating view of a leading planter's personal life and political transformation during the Revolutionary era. Isaac deftly blends pungent extracts from Carter's diary with illuminating biographical details and historical commentary.... A splendid addition to our understanding of the Virginia gentry--and of ourselves."--David Shi, Christian Science Monitor"A lively portrait of a busy, prolific character who went from being a monarchist to a reluctant revolutionary in the course of one lively adulthood. An irascible figure among neighbors, a respected member of Virginia's pre-Revolutionary House of Burgesses, and an often-brutal, sometimes-charitable master to his slaves and children, Carter embodied the paradoxes of his age. Carter was a dutiful chronicler of this changing world. And Mr. Isaac, who won a Pulitzer Prize in 1983 for "The Transformation of Virginia, 1740-90," proves to be a strong advocate for Carter's voluminous musings."--New York Sun"An eloquent and unique look at the beginnings and consequences of the American Revolution as seen through the eyes of early America's finest diarist, Landon Carter.... Isaac weaves entries from Carter's diary with a splendid biographical narrative to provide a profound and intimate glimpse into one portion of early America."--Publishers Weekly (starred review)"Masterfully, creatively, Rhys Isaac uses the words of one of America's great patricians to tell the story of the birth of the new republic and the psychological traumas that resulted. Deftly, Isaac moves between the public and the domestic, the political and the psychological in a tale as complex, nuanced and fascinating as was the figure it describes." --Carroll Smith-Rosenberg, Mary Frances Berry Collegiate Professor of History and American Culture, University of Michigan"Landon Carter's diary is an unedited literary masterpiece full of Faulknerian stories. Now it has found a worthy editor and commentator in Rhys Isaac, a great storyteller in his own right. The result is a fascinating tale of public storms and personal furies that illuminates not only the dying world of the eighteenth century slaveholder but the dawning age of democratic revolution. Landon Carter's Uneasy Kingdom is itself a literary and historical masterpiece." --John Gillis, Rutgers University, author of A World of Their Own Making: Myth, Legenc and the Quest for Family Values

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Book SynopsisWorshipped by her fans, denounced by her enemies, and forever shadowed by controversy and scandal, the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand was a powerful thinker whose views on government and markets shaped the conservative movement from its earliest days. Drawing on unprecedented access to Rand's private papers and the original, unedited versions of Rand's journals, Jennifer Burns offers a groundbreaking reassessment of this key cultural figure, examining her life, her ideas, and her impact on conservative political thought. Goddess of the Market follows Rand from her childhood in Russia through her meteoric rise from struggling Hollywood screenwriter to bestselling novelist, including the writing of her wildly successful The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Burns highlights the two facets of Rand's work that make her a perennial draw for those on the right: her promotion of capitalism, and her defense of limited government. Both sprang from her early, bitter experience of life underTrade ReviewBurns has crafted a superb biography that traces her influence, places Rand in historical context, avoids both condemnation and hagiography, and undercuts the view, fostered by Rand herself, that she was a self-created genius. * Lewis A. Erenberg, Journal of Historical Biography *a pleasure to read * Political Studies Review *[an] important study * Elaine Showalter, Times Literary Supplement *A smart assessment of Rand's life and ideas and how they influenced each other... As Ms. Burns successfully demonstrates, Rand's ideas have remained an important part of the American ideological mix, especially in how she honored the creative powers of American business in a free market to improve human lives. Ms. Burns' readers will see Rand still has the power to instruct on the meaning and scary implications of government growth in the age of Barack Obama. * Brian Doherty, The Washington Times *Burns has the edge, though, in identifying Rand's intellectual legacy. She describes Rand as "the ultimate gateway drug to life on the right" elaborating: "Just as Rand had provided businessmen with a set of ideas that met their need to feel righteous and honorable in their professional lives, she gave young people a philosophical system that met their deep need for order and certainty. * Washington Monthly Magazine *Burns, a professor of history, more ably situates Rand within and against the world of American conservatism * The New Yorker *A well-written and absorbing biography of Rand, it also places her ideas and influence in three overlapping contexts. Goddess of the Market goes a long way toward explaining both the popularity of Rand's ideas and their somewhat marginalized status. * U.S. Intellectual History *This is a significant contribution to Rand scholarship and an engaging read for anyone interested in Rand or 20th-century politics and intellectual life * M. L. Jackson, CHOICE *balanced and engaging * Alex Goodall, Literary Review *At last! A well-balances book about Ayn Rand (1905-82), the guru of selfishness. After all the attack memoirs and right-wing adulation, Jennifer Burns has finally given us an intellectual biography * Tribune *a well researched and readable account of Objectivist philosophy, Rand's life and accounts of the sometimes misanthropic personalities if not the philosophy involved. * Martin Jenkins, Chartist *Excellent * Time magazine *Burns contributes so much to understanding the philosophies behind Rand's literature, libertarian thinking, and the philosophical underpinnings of the American right, that this book is sure to be of interest to many. * John Krueckeberg, Literature & History *Table of ContentsI. THE EDUCATION OF AYN RAND, 1905-1943 ; 1. From Russia to Roosevelt ; 2. Individualists of the World, Unite! ; 3. A New Credo of Freedom ; II. FROM NOVELIST TO PHILOSOPHER, 1944-1957 ; 4. . The Real Root of Evil ; 5. . A Round Universe ; III. JOHN GALT SPEAKING, 1957-1968 ; 6. . Big Sister is Watching You ; 7. . Radicals for Capitalism ; 8. . Love is Exception Making ; IV. CODA: 1968 AND EVERYTHING AFTER ; 9. . It Usually Begins with Ayn Rand ; 10. The Ayn Rand School for Tots

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Book SynopsisThe life of Arsinoë II (c. 316-c.270 BCE), daughter of Ptolemy Soter, the founder of the Ptolemaic dynasty, is characterized by dynastic intrigue. Her marriage to her full brother Ptolemy II, king of Egypt, was the first of the sibling marriages that became the dynastic signature of the Ptolemies. With Ptolemy II, she ended her days in great wealth and security and was ultimately deified. However, in order to reach that point she was forced to endure two tumultuous marriages, both of which led her to flee for her life, leaving war, murder, and bloodshed in her wake. Throughout much of her life, Arsinoë controlled great wealth and exercised political influence, but domestic stability characterized only her last few years. Arsinoë was the model for the powerful role Ptolemaic women gradually acquired as co-rulers of their empire. Her image continued to play a role in dynastic loyalty and solidarity for centuries to come. Despite the fact that Arsinoë was the pivotal figure in the eventuaTrade ReviewThe Hellenistic Age continues to fascinate. One of the latest, and best, books it's stimulated is Arsinoë of Egypt and Macedon A Royal Life, by that fine fistorian Elizabeth Donnelly Carney... Parsing the propaganda, skilfully plugging the gaps in our tattered evidence, as compulsively readable as she's critically sharp, Carney offers us a work of high scholarship that's also a compulsive page-turner. * Peter Green, The Times Literary Supplement *An interesting and enriching book. * Jean Bartels, Bryn Mawr Classical Review *Table of ContentsAbbreviations ; Timeline ; Genealogical Tables ; Map of Eastern Mediterranean ; Introduction ; Chapter 1: Arsinoe's background and youth: 318-14-300 ; Chapter 2: Arsinoe as the wife of Lysimachus: c.300-281 ; Chapter 3: Arsinoe and Ptolemy Ceraunus: 281-279-6 ; Chapter 4: Arsinoe's return to Egypt and marriage to Ptolemy II: 279-275 ; Chapter 5: Arsinoe II as wife of Ptolemy II: c. 275-270 (268) ; Chapter 6: Arsinoe's Afterlife ; Appendix: Sources on the life of Arsinoe II ; Notes ; Glossary ; Important People in the life of Arsinoe II ; Bibliography ; Index

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Book SynopsisOxford Scholarly Classics is a new series that makes available again great academic works from the archives of Oxford University Press. Reissued in uniform series design, the reissues will enable libraries, scholars, and students to gain fresh access to some of the finest scholarship of the last century.

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Book SynopsisA Historical Commentary on Arrian's History of Alexander Volume I. Books I-III

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Book SynopsisThe anonymous "Life of King Edward", written about the time of the Norman conquest, is an important and intriguing source for the history of Anglo-Saxon England in the years just before 1066 and provides an account of Edward the Confessor and his family.Trade Review'For all the elegance of Barlow's translation and the wealth of learning he deploys, the Vita Edwardi remains one of the problem-texts of English historical writing. We can only be grateful that this edition disperses so much of the surrounding fog.' Times Literary SupplementTable of ContentsIllustrations; Abbreviated References; Introduction; Vita AEdwardi Regis; Appendices; Index.

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Book SynopsisIn sixteenth-century England Robert Devereux, 2nd earl of Essex, enjoyed great domestic and international renown as a favourite of Elizabeth I. He was a soldier and a statesman of exceptionally powerful ambition. After his disastrous uprising in 1601 Essex fell from the heights of fame and favour, and ended his life as a traitor on the scaffold. This interdisciplinary account of the political culture of late Elizabethan England explores the ideological contexts of Essex''s extraordinary career and fall from grace, and the intricate relationship between thought and action in Elizabethan England. By the late sixteenth century, fundamental political models and vocabularies that were employed to legitimise the Elizabethan polity were undermined by the strains of war, the ambivalence that many felt towards the church, continued uncertainty over the succession, and the perceived weaknesses of the rule of the aging Elizabeth. Essex''s career and revolt threw all of these strains into relief. Trade Reviewa nuanced study, essential reading on the rebellion and its aftermath; the confused and often terrifying political culture of late Elizabethan England; and the varied and over-confident followers who flocked to the Earl, believing that he had the power to solve their problems. * Andrew Hadfield, Times Literary Supplement *... a must-read for everyone interested in late Elizabethan history and political culture. * Kinga Földváry, Sixteenth Century Journal *an intellectual analysis of Essex's career, one based on a formidable range of research in a range of aspects of sixteenth-century political and intellectual history. It seems unlikely that a better analysis of this topic will be produced. * Neil Younger, English Historical Review *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; 1. The Essex Rising of 1601 ; 2. Justifying War ; 3. 'Profane pollicy'? Religion, Toleration, and the Politics of Succession ; 4. Physician of the State: Essex and the Elizabethan Polity ; 5. The Popular Traitor: Responses to Essex ; 6. Scholars and Martialists: The Politics of History and Scholarship ; Conclusion ; Bibliography

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Book SynopsisWorshipped by her fans, denounced by her enemies, and forever shadowed by controversy and scandal, the novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand was a powerful thinker whose views on government and markets shaped the conservative movement from its earliest days. Drawing on unprecedented access to Rand''s private papers and the original, unedited versions of Rand''s journals, Jennifer Burns offers a groundbreaking reassessment of this key cultural figure, examining her life, her ideas, and her impact on conservative political thought. Goddess of the Market follows Rand from her childhood in Russia through her meteoric rise from struggling Hollywood screenwriter to bestselling novelist, including the writing of her wildly successful The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged. Burns highlights the two facets of Rand''s work that make her a perennial draw for those on the right: her promotion of capitalism, and her defense of limited government. Both sprang from her early, bitter experience of life under Communism, and became among the most deeply enduring of her messages, attracting a diverse audience of college students and intellectuals, business people and Republican Party activists, libertarians and conservatives. The book also traces the development of Rand''s Objectivist philosophy and her relationship with Nathaniel Branden, her closest intellectual partner, with whom she had an explosive falling out in 1968. One of the Denver Post''s Great Reads of 2009 One of Bloomberg News''s Top Nonfiction Books of 2009 Excellent. --Time magazine A terrific book--a serious consideration of Rand''s ideas, and her role in the conservative movement of the past three quarters of a century. --The American Thinker A wonderful book: beautifully written, completely balanced, extensively researched. The match between author and subject is so perfect that one might believe that the author was chosen by the gods to write this book. She has sympathy and affection for her subject but treats her as a human being, with no attempt to cover up the foibles. --Mises Economics BlogTrade ReviewBurns has crafted a superb biography that traces her influence, places Rand in historical context, avoids both condemnation and hagiography, and undercuts the view, fostered by Rand herself, that she was a self-created genius. * Lewis A. Erenberg, Journal of Historical Biography *a well researched and readable account of Objectivist philosophy, Rand's life and accounts of the sometimes misanthropic personalities if not the philosophy involved. * Martin Jenkins, Chartist *Burns contributes so much to understanding the philosophies behind Rand's literature, libertarian thinking, and the philosophical underpinnings of the American right, that this book is sure to be of interest to many. * John Krueckeberg, Literature & History *Table of ContentsIntroduction ; Part I. The Education of Ayn Rand, 1905-1943 ; Ch. 1. From Russia to Roosevelt ; Ch. 2. Individualists of the World, Unite! ; Ch. 3. A New Credo of Freedom ; Part II. From Novelist to Philosopher, 1944-1957 ; Ch. 4. The Real Root of Evil ; Ch. 5. A Round Universe ; Part III. Who Is John Galt? 1957-1968 ; Ch. 6. Big Sister is Watching You ; Ch. 7. Radicals for Capitalism ; Ch. 8. Love is Exception Making ; Part IV. Legacies ; Ch. 9. It Usually Begins with Ayn Rand ; Epilogue Ayn Rand in American Memory ; Notes ; Essay on Sources ; Bibliography

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Book SynopsisAudre Lorde was not only a famous poet; she was also one of the most important radical black feminists of the past century. Her writings and speeches grappled with an impressive broad list of topics, including sexuality, race, gender, class, disease, the arts, parenting, and resistance, and they have served as a transformative and important foundation for theorists and activists in considering questions of power and social justice. Lorde embraced difference, and at each turn she emphasized the importance of using it to build shared strength among marginalized communities. I Am Your Sister is a collection of Lorde''s non-fiction prose, written between 1976 and 1990, and it introduces new perspectives on the depth and range of Lorde''s intellectual interests and her commitments to progressive social change. Presented here, for the first time in print, is a major body of Lorde''s speeches and essays, along with the complete text of A Burst of Light and Lorde''s landmark prose works Sister Outsider and The Cancer Journals. Together, these writings reveal Lorde''s commitment to a radical course of thought and action, situating her works within the women''s, gay and lesbian, and African American Civil Rights movements. They also place her within a continuum of black feminists, from Sojourner Truth, to Anna Julia Cooper, Amy Jacques Garvey, Lorraine Hansberry, and Patricia Hill Collins. I Am Your Sister concludes with personal reflections from Alice Walker, Gloria Joseph, Johnnetta Betsch Cole, Beverly Guy-Sheftall, and bell hooks on Lorde''s political and social commitments and the indelibility of her writings for all who are committed to a more equitable society.Trade ReviewThis book, clearly a labor of love by three colleagues who also call themselves friends, meets its objectives and more...This invaluable collections enables us to hear Lorde's voice again and to use the life lessons she shared with us. * Women's Review of Books *A thorough survey, to say the least...I Am Your Sister reveals Lorde's legacy anew. * Bitch Magazine *The editors of this abundant feast of a book remind us of the importance of Audre Lorde's work, which for 40 years has served as a foundation and catalyst for questions of identity, difference, power and social justice. There is much to ponder, discuss, teach and revere in this compilation. * Ms. Magazine *I Am Your Sister is a collection for those who want and need to be introduced to Audre Lorde's thinking, and it is a great anthology for those who have read and been inspired by Lorde's writing all of their lives...a celebration, an honoring, and a thoughtful presentation of who Lorde was...an eye opener to how the struggles of past times continue to be what we grapple with today...a tool for survival--a teacher to help us realize our possibilities for change. * Feminist Review *I Am Your Sister combines some of Lorde's most powerful essays with previously unavailable writings, as well as reflections on her work from other influential artists and activists. * Southern Voice *Table of ContentsIntroduction: Create Your Own Fire: Audre Lorde and the Tradition of Black Radical Thought, Rudolph P. Byrd ; Part I: From Sister Outsider and A Burst of Light ; 1. The Transformation of Silence into Language and Action ; 2. Sexism: An American Disease in Blackface ; 3. Sadomasochism: Not About Condemnation: An Interview with Audre Lorde, Susan Leigh Star ; 4. I Am Your Sister: Black Women Organizing Across Sexualities ; 5. Apartheid U.S.A. ; 6. Turning the Beat Around: Lesbian Parenting 1986 ; 7. A Burst of Light: Living with Cancer ; Part II: My Words Will Be There ; 8. Eva's Man by Gayl Jones: A Review ; 9. Self-Defi nition and My Poetry ; 10. Introduction: Movement in Black by Pat Parker ; 11. My Words Will Be There ; 12. Foreword to the English Edition of Farbe bekennen: Afro-deutsche Frauen auf den Spuren ihrer Geschichte ; 13. Preface to a New Edition of Need: A Chorale for Black Woman Voices ; 14. Poet as Teacher-Human as Poet-Teacher as Human ; 15. Poetry Makes Something Happen ; 16. My Mother's Mortar ; Part III: Difference and Survival ; 17. Difference and Survival: An Address at Hunter College ; 18. The First Black Feminist Retreat: July 6, 1977 ; 19. When Will the Ignorance End? Keynote Speech at the National Third World Gay and Lesbian Conference, ; October 13, 1979 ; 20. An Address Delivered as Part of the "Litany of Commitment" at the March on Washington, August 27, 1983 ; 21. Commencement Address: Oberlin College, May 29, 1989 ; 22. There Is No Hierarchy of Oppression ; 23. What Is at Stake in Lesbian and Gay Publishing Today: The Bill Whitehead Award Ceremony, 1990 ; 24. Is Your Hair Still Political? ; Part IV: Reflections ; 25. Audre Lorde: My Shero, My Teacher, My Sister Friend, Johnnetta Betsch Cole ; 26. Audre's Voice, Alice Walker ; 27. Lorde: The Imagination of Justice, bell hooks ; 28. Remembering Audre Lorde, Gloria I. Joseph ; Epilogue. Bearing Witness: The Legacy of Audre Lorde, Beverly Guy-Sheftall ; Contributors ; Selected Bibliography ; Chronology

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Book SynopsisList of Illustrations Conventions andReferences A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery inside an Enigma No Great Expectations Early Manhood A Scandal in Bohemia Richer Than All his Tribe The Fault Is Not in our Stars Some Achieve Greatness Go, Captain, Greet the Danish King At the Parting of the Ways The Wheel Is Come Full Circle Once More unto the Breach From the Fury of the Norsemen Deliver Us Of Peace and Other Demons Decline and Fall Assassination Is the Quickest Way But Brutus Says He Was Ambitious References Bibliography IndexTrade Review'...thanks to his profound knowledge of the Thirty Years War and his wide reading of both the older and most recent historiography, he is able to offer a very informative, trustworthy and readable account of Wallenstein's life.' The Journal of Military HistoryTable of ContentsList of Illustrations Conventions and References A Riddle Wrapped in a Mystery inside an Enigma No Great Expectations Early Manhood A Scandal in Bohemia Richer Than All his Tribe The Fault Is Not in our Stars Some Achieve Greatness Go, Captain, Greet the Danish King At the Parting of the Ways The Wheel Is Come Full Circle Once More unto the Breach From the Fury of the Norsemen Deliver Us Of Peace and Other Demons Decline and Fall Assassination Is the Quickest Way But Brutus Says He Was Ambitious References Bibliography Index

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Book SynopsisAlexander the Great is considered one of the most successful commanders of all time and was known to be undefeated in battle. In this masterful biography, Alexander's influence on the course of cultural and political history and the scope of his military prowess remains awe-inspiring to this day.Table of ContentsBefore Alexander Early Days Chaeronea Long Live the King From Granicus to Halicarnassus Turning Point at Issus The Reduction of Tyre Bloody Gaza Wonders of the World Decision at Gaugamela Last Stand at Persian Gate Men Fly Over Sogdian Rock Siege at Aornos Triumph at Hydaspes Trouble on the Indus Death in Babylon What Was What Might Have Been Lasting Legacy

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Book SynopsisBy turns outlandish, humorous, and scatological, the ""Historia Augusta"" is an eccentric compilation of biographies of the Roman emperors and usurpers of the second and third centuries. David Rohrbacher offers a literary analysis of the work, focusing on its many playful allusions.

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