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Books for Presidents' Day

Cover art for INDOMITABLE WILL
NONFICTION
Released: March 13, 2012
INDOMITABLE WILL: LBJ IN THE PRESIDENCY
by Mark K. Updegrove
"A readable, endlessly interesting look at the LBJ years."
Hey, hey, LBJ: The former president, not much talked about these days, comes in for assessment by political colleagues and journalists of the day. Read full book review >
Cover art for WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON
NONFICTION
Released: Jan. 17, 2012
WILLIAM HENRY HARRISON
by Gail Collins
"Although more a journalist than a historian, Collins has done her homework and written a lively, opinionated portrait of early-19th-century America and the modestly talented general who briefly became president."
This splendid series of slim biographies nears completion with a satisfying life of our ninth and least important president. Read full book review >
Cover art for THE PLOTS AGAINST THE PRESIDENT
NONFICTION
Released: Jan. 3, 2012
THE PLOTS AGAINST THE PRESIDENT: FDR, A NATION IN CRISIS, AND THE RISE OF THE AMERICAN RIGHT
by Sally Denton
"Demonstrates how political popularity has a bitter, resentful relative who acts as if elections are valid only when his side wins--and who sometimes packs heat."
Investigative journalist Denton (Pink Lady: The Many Lives of Helen Gahagan Douglas, 2009, etc.) follows critical moments in the career of four-term president Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who, demonized by far left and far right, escaped an assassin's bullet and a bizarre coup plot. Read full book review >
Cover art for FOUNDING RIVALS
NONFICTION
Released: Nov. 14, 2011
FOUNDING RIVALS: MADISON VS. MONROE: THE BILL OF RIGHTS AND THE ELECTION THAT SAVED A NATION
by Chris DeRose
"A lively, clear-cut study of the myriad hurdles and uncertainty that characterized the first attempts to form the U.S. government."
A fresh, narrow, knowledgeable-of-minutia take on a well-known friendship and rivalry during the early establishment of the U.S. Constitution. Read full book review >
Cover art for JAMES MADISON
NONFICTION
Released: Oct. 4, 2011
JAMES MADISON
by Richard Brookhiser
"A useful introduction to a man who is often outshone by his presidential predecessors but who nevertheless was instrumental in creating our modern political system."
Brookhiser (Right Time, Right Place: Coming of Age with William F. Buckley Jr. and the Conservative Movement, 2009, etc.) explores America's tangled two-party political system and the man instrumental in creating it, James Madison (1751–1836). Read full book review >
Cover art for THE DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC
NONFICTION
Released: Sept. 20, 2011
Kirkus Star THE DESTINY OF THE REPUBLIC: A TALE OF MADNESS, MEDICINE, AND THE MURDER OF A PRESIDENT
by Candice Millard
"Superb American history."
The shocking shooting and the painful, lingering death of the 20th president. Read full book review >