A fresh perspective on history.
Imagining the world as it might have been.
Veteran speechwriter Nussbaum highlights the contingencies of history by examining crucial speeches that, because of a change of events or a speaker’s change of mind, never were given. “Each of these speeches,” he writes, “provides a window into the fraught moments in which it was penned.” Besides offering key excerpts, and in some cases the entire speech, the author provides historical and biographical context, close readings for language and style, and speculations about how the speech might have altered the course of subsequent events. Among the undelivered speeches he identifies are John Lewis’ proposed remarks at the March on Washington, D.C., in 1963; Native American leader Wamsutta Frank James’ speech at the 350th anniversary of the Pilgrim landing at Plymouth Rock; Helen Keller’s brief remarks at a suffrage parade in 1913, undelivered because of mob rioting; “the speech President Nixon was prepared to make refusing to resign in 1974”; Edward VIII’s equivocation about abdicating in 1939; Dwight Eisenhower’s apology in case of the failure of D-Day; Emperor Hirohito’s “shame-ridden apology for his role in starting World War II”; Condoleezza Rice’s foreign policy speech, planned for Sept. 11, 2001; and Hillary Clinton’s victory speech in 2016. Some of these texts, unearthed by Nussbaum, currently Joe Biden’s senior speechwriter, had been filed away for decades. Edward’s words, for example were rediscovered after nearly 70 years in documents released by the British Public Record Office in 2003. His plan—quashed by his ministers—“was to say that he wished to marry Mrs. Simpson, but neither of them would insist that she be queen. He would then go away to a foreign country while people made up their minds. If he were called back, he would resume his reign with Mrs. Simpson as his consort. If he weren’t, he would abdicate.” Nussbaum speculates that if Edward—sympathetic to Germany—had continued as king, the course of the war would have been dramatically different.
A fresh perspective on history.Pub Date: May 10, 2022
ISBN: 978-1-250-24070-5
Page Count: 384
Publisher: Flatiron Books
Review Posted Online: March 7, 2022
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2022
HISTORY | MILITARY | UNITED STATES | WORLD | GENERAL HISTORY
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.
Greed, depravity, and serial murder in 1920s Oklahoma.
During that time, enrolled members of the Osage Indian nation were among the wealthiest people per capita in the world. The rich oil fields beneath their reservation brought millions of dollars into the tribe annually, distributed to tribal members holding "headrights" that could not be bought or sold but only inherited. This vast wealth attracted the attention of unscrupulous whites who found ways to divert it to themselves by marrying Osage women or by having Osage declared legally incompetent so the whites could fleece them through the administration of their estates. For some, however, these deceptive tactics were not enough, and a plague of violent death—by shooting, poison, orchestrated automobile accident, and bombing—began to decimate the Osage in what they came to call the "Reign of Terror." Corrupt and incompetent law enforcement and judicial systems ensured that the perpetrators were never found or punished until the young J. Edgar Hoover saw cracking these cases as a means of burnishing the reputation of the newly professionalized FBI. Bestselling New Yorkerstaff writer Grann (The Devil and Sherlock Holmes: Tales of Murder, Madness, and Obsession, 2010, etc.) follows Special Agent Tom White and his assistants as they track the killers of one extended Osage family through a closed local culture of greed, bigotry, and lies in pursuit of protection for the survivors and justice for the dead. But he doesn't stop there; relying almost entirely on primary and unpublished sources, the author goes on to expose a web of conspiracy and corruption that extended far wider than even the FBI ever suspected. This page-turner surges forward with the pacing of a true-crime thriller, elevated by Grann's crisp and evocative prose and enhanced by dozens of period photographs.
Dogged original research and superb narrative skills come together in this gripping account of pitiless evil.Pub Date: April 18, 2017
ISBN: 978-0-385-53424-6
Page Count: 352
Publisher: Doubleday
Review Posted Online: Feb. 1, 2017
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Feb. 15, 2017
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
BOOK TO SCREEN
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.
Words that made a nation.
Isaacson is known for expansive biographies of great thinkers (and Elon Musk), but here he pens a succinct, stimulating commentary on the Founding Fathers’ ode to “life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.” His close reading of the Declaration of Independence’s second sentence, published to mark the 250th anniversary of the document’s adoption, doesn’t downplay its “moral contradiction.” Thomas Jefferson enslaved hundreds of people yet called slavery “a cruel war against human nature” in his first draft of the Declaration. All but 15 of the document’s 56 signers owned enslaved people. While the sentence in question asserted “all men are created equal” and possess “unalienable rights,” the Founders “consciously and intentionally” excluded women, Native Americans, and enslaved people. And yet the sentence is powerful, Isaacson writes, because it names a young nation’s “aspirations.” He mounts a solid defense of what ought to be shared goals, among them economic fairness, “moral compassion,” and a willingness to compromise. “Democracy depends on this,” he writes. Isaacson is excellent when explaining how Enlightenment intellectuals abroad influenced the founders. Benjamin Franklin, one of the Declaration’s “five-person drafting committee,” stayed in David Hume’s home for a month in the early 1770s, “discussing ideas of natural rights” with the Scottish philosopher. Also strong is Isaacson’s discussion of the “edits and tweaks” made to Jefferson’s draft. As recommended by Franklin and others, the changes were substantial, leaving Jefferson “distraught.” Franklin, who emerges as the book’s hero, helped establish municipal services, founded a library, and encouraged religious diversity—the kind of civic-mindedness that we could use more of today, Isaacson reminds us.
A short, smart analysis of perhaps the most famous passage in American history reveals its potency and unfulfilled promise.Pub Date: Nov. 18, 2025
ISBN: 9781982181314
Page Count: 80
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Review Posted Online: Aug. 29, 2025
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Oct. 1, 2025
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