Very popularly written, these lectures are seven in number, and treat respectively of Jefferson as revolutionist, democratizer of state institutions, diplomat, democratizer of federal institutions, and president, and of his influence upon freedom of religion in America and upon our educational institutions. Jefferson has not been entirely fortunate in his biographers, many of his points of view being so at odds with those of Europe that their effect has been distorted or minimized; but wit...

This New York Times bestseller offers "an unblinking view of our national heroes by one who cherishes them, warts and all" ( New York Review of Books).In Inventing a Nation, National Book Award winner Gore Vidal transports the reader into the minds, the living rooms (and bedrooms), the convention halls, and the salons of George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, John Adams, and others. We come to know these men, through Vidal's splendid prose, ...

At various times during the latter half of the eighteenth century there crossed the Atlantic two Protestant Irishmen, a Lowland Scotsman, and an Englishman, and thereby they fixed the character of Mr Henry James' genius. For the essential thing about Mr James was that he was an American; and that meant, for his type and generation, that he could never feel at home until he was in exile. He came of a stock that was the product of culture and needed it as part of its environment. But at the ...

"[A] wide-ranging and nuanced group portrait of the Founding Fathers" by a Pulitzer Prize winner ( The New Yorker).In the early 1770s, the men who invented America were living quiet, provincial lives in the rustic backwaters of the New World, devoted to family and the private pursuit of wealth and happiness. None set out to become "revolutionary." But when events in Boston escalated, they found themselves thrust into a crisis that moved quickly from protest...

* Illustrated* Author Biography* Interactive Table of ContentsThe Negro ProblemHere are six historic essays on the state of race relations during the Reconstruction and early twentieth century, written from the African American point of view. These essays show us how far race relations have progressed, and sadly how far we have yet to go. Included are "Industrial Education for the Negro" by Booker T. Washington, "The Talente...

A compilation of the most historically significant speeches and writings on liberty from the seventeenth century to the present day.Many of the declarations contained in these pages have influenced and inspired legislation, shaping United States policies on human equality and civil rights. Several works by theorists and philosophers who drove the expansion of capitalism and democracy are included, such as John Locke, Edmund Burke, and Samuel Adams.Many of A...

Alexander Hamilton is one of the least understood, most important, and most impassioned and inspiring of the founding fathers. At last Hamilton has found a modern biographer who can bring him to full-blooded life; Richard Brookhiser. In these pages, Alexander Hamilton sheds his skewed image as the "bastard brat of a Scotch peddler," sex scandal survivor, and notoriously doomed dueling partner of Aaron Burr. Examined up close, throughout his meteoric and ever-fascinating (if tragically brie...

W. E. B. Du Bois was a public intellectual, sociologist, and activist on behalf of the African American community. He profoundly shaped black political culture in the United States through his founding role in the NAACP, as well as internationally through the Pan-African movement. Du Bois's sociological and historical research on African-American communities and culture broke ground in many areas, including the history of the post-Civil War Reconstruction period. Du Bois was also a prolifi...

The definitive life of Jefferson in one volume, this biography relates Jefferson's private life and thought to his prominent public position and reveals the rich complexity of his development. As Peterson explores the dominant themes guiding Jefferson's career--democracy, nationality, and enlightenment--and Jefferson's powerful role in shaping America, he simultaneously tells the story of nation coming into being.

Most Americans hold basic misconceptions about the Confederacy, the Civil War, and the actions of subsequent neo-Confederates. For example, two thirds of Americans—including most history teachers—think the Confederate States seceded for “states' rights.” This error persists because most have never read the key documents about the Confederacy.These documents have always been there. When South Carolina seceded, it published “Declaration of the Immediate Causes Which Induce and Justif...

Abraham lincoln measured the promise—and cost—of American freedom in lucid and extraordinarily moving prose, famous for its native wit, simple dignity of expressions, and peculiarly American flavor. This volume, with its companion, Abraham Lincoln: Speeches and Writing 1859–1865, comprises the most comprehensive selection ever published. over 240 speeches, letters, and drafts take Lincoln from rural law practice to national prominence, and chart his emergence as an eloquent antisl...

This edition features a linked Table of Contents.CONTENTSI. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE NATIONAL JUDICIARYII. MARSHALL'S EARLY YEARSIII. JEFFERSON'S WAR ON THE JUDICIARYIV. THE TRIAL OF AARON BURRV. THE TENETS OF NATIONALISMVI. THE SANCTITY OF CONTRACTSVII. THE MENACE OF STATE RIGHTSVIII. AMONG FRIENDS AND NEIGHBORSIX. EPILOGUEBIBLIOGRAPHICAL NOTE