An intimate portrait of the first president of the 20th centuryThe warm and knowing biography traces Roosevelt's involvement in the politics of New York City and New York State, his celebrated, military career, and his ascent to the national political stage. Caricatured through history as the "bull moose", Roosevelt was in fact a man of extraordinary discipline whose refined and literate tastes actually helped spawn his fascination with the rough-and-ready...

A bestselling historian and political commentator reconsiders McKinley's overshadowed legacy. By any serious measurement, bestselling historian Kevin Phillips argues, William McKinley was a major American president. It was during his administration that the United States made its diplomatic and military debut as a world power. McKinley was one of eight presidents who, either in the White House or on the battlefield, stood as principals in successful...

Leading scholars define the special contributions and qualifications of our first president. Washington's legacy is a successful experiment in collective leadership, great initiatives in establishing a strong executive branch and the formulation of innovative and lasting economic and foreign policies. Along with highlighting these accomplishments, the authors also trace Washington's later dissatisfaction with public life and the seeds of dissent and...

The former senator and presidential candidate offers a provocative new assessment of the first "national security president" James Monroe is remembered today primarily for two things: for being the last of the "Virginia Dynasty"-following George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison-and for issuing the Monroe Doctrine, his statement of principles in 1823 that the western hemisphere was to be considered closed to European intervention. But...

The towering figure who sought to transform America into a "Great Society" but whose ambitions and presidency collapsed in the tragedy of the Vietnam War Few figures in American history are as compelling and complex as Lyndon Baines Johnson, who established himself as the master of the U.S. Senate in the 1950s and succeeded John F. Kennedy in the White House after Kennedy's assassination on November 22, 1963. Charles Peters, a keen observer of Washington...

The story of a pivotal president who watched over our westward expansion and solidified the dream of Jacksonian democracy James K. Polk was a shrewd and decisive commander in chief, the youngest president elected to guide the still-young nation, who served as Speaker of the House and governor of Tennessee before taking office in 1845. Considered a natural successor to Andrew Jackson, "Young Hickory" miraculously revived his floundering political...

A bestselling historian and political commentator reconsiders McKinley's overshadowed legacy By any serious measurement, bestselling historian Kevin Phillips argues, William McKinley was a major American president. It was during his administration that the United States made its diplomatic and military debut as a world power. McKinley was one of eight presidents who, either in the White House or on the battlefield, stood as principals in successful...

Barack Obama is known by many as the first Black president of the United States. But readers might not know that President Obama likes to collect comic books and play basketball!