Kissimmee, Florida traces its name to the Jororo tribe, among the first to settle along the river valley. Riverboat captains, entrepreneurs, and speculators found Kissimmee and nearby Lake Tohopekaliga irresistible, and soon settlers followed. The 1880s marked this city's first brush with tourism, as the Tropical Hotel became the largest resort hotel south of Jacksonville. As the cattle town struggled to survive floods, the Depression, and downtown neglect in favor of spillover Walt Disney...

Today, diverse women of all hues represent this country overseas. Some have called this development the “Hillary Effect.” But well before our most recent female secretary of state there was Madeleine Albright, the first woman to serve in that capacity, and later Condoleezza Rice. Beginning at a more junior post in the Department of State in 1971, there was “the little Elam girl” from Boston.Diversifying Diplomacy tells the story of Harriet Lee Elam-Thomas, a young black wo...

In this brave, beautiful, and deeply personal memoir, Laura Bush, one of our most beloved and private first ladies, tells her own extraordinary story.Born in the boom-and-bust oil town of Midland, Texas, Laura Welch grew up as an only child in a family that lost three babies to miscarriage or infant death. She vividly evokes Midland's brash, rugged culture, her close relationship with her father, and the bonds of early friendships that sustain her to this day. For ...

Author of the instant #1 New York Times Bestseller What HappenedHillary Rodham Clinton is known to hundreds of millions of people around the world. Yet few beyond her close friends and family have ever heard her account of her extraordinary journey. She writes with candor, humor and passion about her upbringing in suburban, middle-class America in the 1950s and her transformation from Goldwater Girl to student activist to First Lady.

A fascinating account of how the Mississippi River shaped AmericaIn Old Man River, Paul Schneider tells the story of the river at the center of America's rich history—the Mississippi. Some fifteen thousand years ago, the majestic river provided Paleolithic humans with the routes by which early man began to explore the continent's interior. Since then, the river has been the site of historical significance, from the arrival of Spanish and French explorers in...

President Bill Clinton’s My Life is the strikingly candid portrait of a global leader who decided early in life to devote his intellectual and political gifts, and his extraordinary capacity for hard work, to serving the public.It shows us the progress of a remarkable American, who, through his own enormous energies and efforts, made the unlikely journey from Hope, Arkansas, to the White House—a journey fueled by an impassioned interest in the political process which manif...

Join Uncle John as he treks through every one of America’s National Parks!If you like the great outdoors, you’re going to love this book. We’re plunging into every national park, monument, site, and trail (more than 150 in all!) in true Uncle John fashion and uncovering some unique stories behind all of them. You’re sure to find hidden facets of each national park that you never imagined. Read about...* Yosemite’s firefall and why it came to a sudden end

The edited and abridged diaries of the 40th U.S. president, chronicling the day-to-day of his two terms in office and revealing his true character.#1 New York Times BestsellerDuring his two terms as the fortieth president of the United States, Ronald Reagan kept a daily diary in which he recorded, by hand, his innermost thoughts and observations on the extraordinary, the historic, and the routine day—to-day occruences of his presidency. Brought toget...

Relive the extraordinary Presidency of Barack Obama through White House photographer Pete Souza's behind-the-scenes images and stories in this #1 New York Times bestseller with a foreword from the President himself.During Barack Obama's two terms, Pete Souza was with the President during more crucial moments than anyone else—and he photographed them all. Souza captured nearly two million photographs of President Obama, in ...

The New York Times–bestselling autobiography of a legendary political and military leaderIt could be said that Leon Panetta has had two of the most consequential careers of any American public servant in the past fifty years. His first career, beginning as an Army intelligence officer and including a distinguished run as one of the most powerful and respected members of Congress, lasted thirty-five years and culminated in his transformational role as budge...

Taylor Branch’s groundbreaking book about the modern presidency, The Clinton Tapes, invites readers into private dialogue with a gifted, tormented, resilient president. Here is what President Clinton thought and felt but could not say in public.This book rests upon a secret project, initiated by Clinton, to preserve for future historians an unfiltered record of presidential experience. During his eight years in office, between 1993 and 2001, Clinton answer...

The Red River's dramatic bend in southwestern Arkansas is the most distinctive characteristic along its 1,300 miles of eastern flow through plains, prairies and swamplands. This stretch of river valley has defined the culture, commerce and history of the region since the prehistoric days of the Caddo inhabitants. Centuries later, as the plantation South gave way to westward expansion, people found refuge and adventure along the area's trading paths, military roads, riverbanks, rail lines a...