The End of Greatness

Download The End of Greatness PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : St. Martin's Press
ISBN 13 : 1137464461
Total Pages : 290 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (374 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The End of Greatness by : Aaron David Miller

Download or read book The End of Greatness written by Aaron David Miller and published by St. Martin's Press. This book was released on 2014-10-07 with total page 290 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Presidency has always been an implausible—some might even say an impossible—job. Part of the problem is that the challenges of the presidency and the expectations Americans have for their presidents have skyrocketed, while the president's capacity and power to deliver on what ails the nations has diminished. Indeed, as citizens we continue to aspire and hope for greatness in our only nationally elected office. The problem of course is that the demand for great presidents has always exceeded the supply. As a result, Americans are adrift in a kind of Presidential Bermuda Triangle suspended between the great presidents we want and the ones we can no longer have. The End of Greatness explores the concept of greatness in the presidency and the ways in which it has become both essential and detrimental to America and the nation's politics. Miller argues that greatness in presidents is a much overrated virtue. Indeed, greatness is too rare to be relevant in our current politics, and driven as it is by nation-encumbering crisis, too dangerous to be desirable. Our preoccupation with greatness in the presidency consistently inflates our expectations, skews the debate over presidential performance, and drives presidents to misjudge their own times and capacity. And our focus on the individual misses the constraints of both the office and the times, distorting how Presidents actually lead. In wanting and expecting our leaders to be great, we have simply made it impossible for them to be good. The End of Greatness takes a journey through presidential history, helping us understand how greatness in the presidency was achieved, why it's gone, and how we can better come to appreciate the presidents we have, rather than being consumed with the ones we want.

Recarving Rushmore

Download Recarving Rushmore PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781598131291
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (312 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Recarving Rushmore by : Ivan Eland

Download or read book Recarving Rushmore written by Ivan Eland and published by . This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "Updated rankings from George Washington to Barack Obama."

Monument

Download Monument PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1684129257
Total Pages : 994 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (841 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Monument by : Robert Dallek

Download or read book Monument written by Robert Dallek and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2020-05-05 with total page 994 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From personal correspondence to presidential speeches and documents, Monument: Four Presidents Who Sculpted America explores the written words of the men forever remembered on the face of Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota. Originally a project to boost tourism, the sculpture received congressional approval in 1925, and construction was completed in 1941, shortly after the death of sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Canterbury Classics has gathered historic documents penned by George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Theodore Roosevelt into this beautiful leather-bound volume, and added introductions by learned scholars to outline the contribution each president made to the birth, growth, development, and preservation of the United States. Also included is the story of how Mount Rushmore came to be, and a foreword written by historian Robert Dallek. With more than two million visitors annually, Mount Rushmore lives up to its status as a “Shrine of Democracy,” and this rich piece of U.S. history is preserved in this timeless collectible edition.

The Presidents

Download The Presidents PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : PublicAffairs
ISBN 13 : 154177437X
Total Pages : 626 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (417 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Presidents by : Brian Lamb

Download or read book The Presidents written by Brian Lamb and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2019-04-23 with total page 626 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The complete rankings of our best -- and worst -- presidents, based on C-SPAN's much-cited Historians Surveys of Presidential Leadership. Over a period of decades, C-SPAN has surveyed leading historians on the best and worst of America's presidents across a variety of categories -- their ability to persuade the public, their leadership skills, their moral authority, and more. The crucible of the presidency has forged some of the very best and very worst leaders in our national history, along with everyone in between. Based on interviews conducted over the years with a variety of presidential biographers, this book provides not just a complete ranking of our presidents, but stories and analyses that capture the character of the men who held the office. From Abraham Lincoln's political savvy and rhetorical gifts to James Buchanan's indecisiveness, this book teaches much about what makes a great leader -- and what does not. As America looks ahead to our next election, this book offers perspective and criteria to help us choose our next leader wisely.

Leadership

Download Leadership PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon & Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1476795932
Total Pages : 496 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (767 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Leadership by : Doris Kearns Goodwin

Download or read book Leadership written by Doris Kearns Goodwin and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2019-10-01 with total page 496 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Pulitzer Prize–winning author and esteemed presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin, an invaluable guide to the development and exercise of leadership from Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Lyndon B. Johnson, and Franklin D. Roosevelt. The inspiration for the multipart HISTORY Channel series Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. “After five decades of magisterial output, Doris Kearns Goodwin leads the league of presidential historians” (USA TODAY). In her “inspiring” (The Christian Science Monitor) Leadership, Doris Kearns Goodwin draws upon the four presidents she has studied most closely—Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson (in civil rights)—to show how they recognized leadership qualities within themselves and were recognized as leaders by others. By looking back to their first entries into public life, we encounter them at a time when their paths were filled with confusion, fear, and hope. Leadership tells the story of how they all collided with dramatic reversals that disrupted their lives and threatened to shatter forever their ambitions. Nonetheless, they all emerged fitted to confront the contours and dilemmas of their times. At their best, all four were guided by a sense of moral purpose. At moments of great challenge, they were able to summon their talents to enlarge the opportunities and lives of others. Does the leader make the times or do the times make the leader? “If ever our nation needed a short course on presidential leadership, it is now” (The Seattle Times). This seminal work provides an accessible and essential road map for aspiring and established leaders in every field. In today’s polarized world, these stories of authentic leadership in times of apprehension and fracture take on a singular urgency. “Goodwin’s volume deserves much praise—it is insightful, readable, compelling: Her book arrives just in time” (The Boston Globe).

9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America

Download 9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1621574911
Total Pages : 353 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (215 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis 9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America by : Brion McClanahan

Download or read book 9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America written by Brion McClanahan and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2016-02-08 with total page 353 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Of the forty-four presidents who have led the United States, nine made mistakes that permanently scarred the nation. Which nine? Brion McClanahan, author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Founding Fathers and The Founding Fathers' Guide to the Constitution, will surprise readers with his list, which he supports with exhaustive and entertaining evidence. 9 Presidents Who Screwed Up America is a new look back at American history that unabashedly places blame for our nation's current problems on the backs of nine very flawed men.

The Virginia Dynasty

Download The Virginia Dynasty PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Penguin
ISBN 13 : 1101980052
Total Pages : 449 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (19 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Virginia Dynasty by : Lynne Cheney

Download or read book The Virginia Dynasty written by Lynne Cheney and published by Penguin. This book was released on 2021-09-21 with total page 449 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: “The narrative offers informed, exacting characterizations of the uncertain political alliances, strained interactions and ideological growing pains that elites of the post-revolutionary decades put the country through.”—Andrew Burstein, The Washington Post A vivid account of leadership focusing on the first four Virginia presidents—George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe—from the bestselling historian and author of James Madison. From a small expanse of land on the North American continent came four of the nation's first five presidents—a geographic dynasty whose members led a revolution, created a nation, and ultimately changed the world. George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe were born, grew to manhood, and made their homes within a sixty-mile circle east of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Friends and rivals, they led in securing independence, hammering out the United States Constitution, and building a working republic. Acting together, they doubled the territory of the United States. From their disputes came American political parties and the weaponizing of newspapers, the media of the day. In this elegantly conceived and insightful new book from bestselling author Lynne Cheney, the four Virginians are not marble icons but vital figures deeply intent on building a nation where citizens could be free. Focusing on the intersecting roles these men played as warriors, intellectuals, and statesmen, Cheney takes us back to an exhilarating time when the Enlightenment opened new vistas for humankind. But even as the Virginians advanced liberty, equality, and human possibility, they held people in slavery and were slaveholders when they died. Lives built on slavery were incompatible with a free and just society; their actions contradicted the very ideals they espoused. They managed nonetheless to pass down those ideals, and they became powerful weapons for ending slavery. They inspired Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass and today undergird the freest nation on earth. Taking full measure of strengths and failures in the personal as well as the political lives of the men at the center of this book, Cheney offers a concise and original exploration of how the United States came to be.

President Reagan

Download President Reagan PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : PublicAffairs
ISBN 13 : 078672417X
Total Pages : 916 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (867 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis President Reagan by : Lou Cannon

Download or read book President Reagan written by Lou Cannon and published by PublicAffairs. This book was released on 2008-08-04 with total page 916 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Hailed by the New Yorker as "a superlative study of a president and his presidency," Lou Cannon's President Reagan remains the definitive account of our most significant presidency in the last fifty years. Ronald Wilson Reagan, the first actor to be elected president, turned in the performance of a lifetime. But that performance concealed the complexities of the man, baffling most who came in contact with him. Who was the man behind the makeup? Only Lou Cannon, who covered Reagan through his political career, can tell us. The keenest Reagan-watcher of them all, he has been the only author to reveal the nature of a man both shrewd and oblivious. Based on hundreds of interviews with the president, the First Lady, and hundreds of the administration's major figures, President Reagan takes us behind the scenes of the Oval Office. Cannon leads us through all of Reagan's roles, from the affable cowboy to the self-styled family man; from the politician who denounced big government to the president who created the largest peace-time deficit; from the statesman who reviled the Soviet government to the Great Communicator who helped end the cold war.

Where They Stand

Download Where They Stand PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 145162543X
Total Pages : 320 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (516 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Where They Stand by : Robert W. Merry

Download or read book Where They Stand written by Robert W. Merry and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2012-06-26 with total page 320 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The author of the acclaimed biography of President James Polk, A Country of Vast Designs, offers a fresh, playful, and challenging way of playing “Rating the Presidents,” by pitching historians’ views and subsequent experts’ polls against the judgment and votes of the presidents’ own contemporaries. Merry posits that presidents rise and fall based on performance, as judged by the electorate. Thus, he explores the presidency by comparing the judgments of historians with how the voters saw things. Was the president reelected? If so, did his party hold office in the next election? Where They Stand examines the chief executives Merry calls “Men of Destiny,’’ those who set the country toward new directions. There are six of them, including the three nearly always at the top of all academic polls—Lincoln, Washington, and FDR. He describes the “Split-Decision Presidents’’ (including Wilson and Nixon)—successful in their first terms and reelected; less successful in their second terms and succeeded by the opposition party. He describes the “Near Greats’’ (Jefferson, Jackson, Polk, TR, Truman), the “War Presidents’’ (Madison, McKinley, Lyndon Johnson), the flat-out failures (Buchanan, Pierce), and those whose standing has fluctuated (Grant, Cleveland, Eisenhower). This voyage through our history provides a probing and provocative analysis of how presidential politics works and how the country sets its course. Where They Stand invites readers to pitch their opinions against the voters of old, the historians, the pollsters—and against the author himself. In this year of raucous presidential politics, Where They Stand will provide a context for the unfolding campaign drama.

America's Presidents

Download America's Presidents PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Centennial Books
ISBN 13 : 1951274407
Total Pages : 96 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (512 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis America's Presidents by : Jason Stahl

Download or read book America's Presidents written by Jason Stahl and published by Centennial Books. This book was released on 2020-09-22 with total page 96 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In 2020, as we set our sights on another election, this book takes a look at all of the presidents of the United States—ranked from best to worst (the results may surprise you)—and their legacies, achievements and what we learned from their leadership. The book spans from 1789 when George Washington (spoiler alert: he's in the "Best Presidents" category) took the first-ever oath of office. Forty-four different men have sworn to “faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States” and what makes a great leader has been vision, conviction, and setting the nation on the right course. The Revolutionary War showed us we needed commanders who were going to fight for our freedom. The Civil War showed we needed leaders who were going to unite this nation. We looked to the President during hard times like the Great Depression, who were going to pick us up, dust us off and, with a steady hand, guide us to more promising times, which Franklin Delano Roosevelt did over his unprecedented four terms. Over the next many, many decades, and many wars and battles later, the President of the United States has shown they are the most powerful person on this planet. But they are also vulnerable. They’ve been targets of assassination attempts, and some, sadly, have been successful. Their transgressions have lead to scandals and impeachments. Presidents have been accused of abusing power and the advent of social media has ushered in a new form of communicating to constituents and young voters. In an election year when interest in Presidents is strong, join Centennial Books as we look to the nation's shared history to see what we can learn for today and the future.

The Spoils of War

Download The Spoils of War PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Public Affairs
ISBN 13 : 1610396626
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (13 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Spoils of War by : Bruce Bueno de Mesquita

Download or read book The Spoils of War written by Bruce Bueno de Mesquita and published by Public Affairs. This book was released on 2016-09-27 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "It's striking how many of the presidents Americans venerate--Abraham Lincoln, George Washington, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and John F. Kennedy, to name a few--oversaw some of the republic's bloodiest years. Perhaps it's because they looked out for important political causes. Or maybe they just looked out for themselves. This ... book puts some of America's greatest leaders under the microscope, [positing that] their calls for war, usually remembered as brave and noble, were in fact selfish and convenient"--

Accidental Presidents

Download Accidental Presidents PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Simon & Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1501109839
Total Pages : 528 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (11 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Accidental Presidents by : Jared Cohen

Download or read book Accidental Presidents written by Jared Cohen and published by Simon & Schuster. This book was released on 2020-01-28 with total page 528 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This New York Times bestselling “deep dive into the terms of eight former presidents is chock-full of political hijinks—and déjà vu” (Vanity Fair) and provides a fascinating look at the men who came to the office without being elected to it, showing how each affected the nation and world. The strength and prestige of the American presidency has waxed and waned since George Washington. Eight men have succeeded to the presidency when the incumbent died in office. In one way or another they vastly changed our history. Only Theodore Roosevelt would have been elected in his own right. Only TR, Truman, Coolidge, and LBJ were re-elected. John Tyler succeeded William Henry Harrison who died 30 days into his term. He was kicked out of his party and became the first president threatened with impeachment. Millard Fillmore succeeded esteemed General Zachary Taylor. He immediately sacked the entire cabinet and delayed an inevitable Civil War by standing with Henry Clay’s compromise of 1850. Andrew Johnson, who succeeded our greatest president, sided with remnants of the Confederacy in Reconstruction. Chester Arthur, the embodiment of the spoils system, was so reviled as James Garfield’s successor that he had to defend himself against plotting Garfield’s assassination; but he reformed the civil service. Theodore Roosevelt broke up the trusts. Calvin Coolidge silently cooled down the Harding scandals and preserved the White House for the Republican Herbert Hoover and the Great Depression. Harry Truman surprised everybody when he succeeded the great FDR and proved an able and accomplished president. Lyndon B. Johnson was named to deliver Texas electorally. He led the nation forward on Civil Rights but failed on Vietnam. Accidental Presidents shows that “history unfolds in death as well as in life” (The Wall Street Journal) and adds immeasurably to our understanding of the power and limits of the American presidency in critical times.

The Accidental President

Download The Accidental President PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
ISBN 13 : 0544617347
Total Pages : 461 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (446 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Accidental President by : Albert J. Baime

Download or read book The Accidental President written by Albert J. Baime and published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. This book was released on 2017 with total page 461 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: During the atomic, earthshaking first 120 days of Harry Truman's unlikely presidency, an unprepared, small-town man had to take on Germany, Japan, Stalin, and a secret weapon of unimaginable power--marking the most dramatic rise to greatness in American history.

The Emancipation Proclamation

Download The Emancipation Proclamation PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Good Press
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 13 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (64 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Emancipation Proclamation by : Abraham Lincoln

Download or read book The Emancipation Proclamation written by Abraham Lincoln and published by Good Press. This book was released on 2020-03-16 with total page 13 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: This is one of President Lincoln's most famous pieces of writing in which he announced during the second year of the civil war, that slaves fighting for America should become free men. It was a brave move because he was not sure how it would affect the outcome of the war but he stuck to his principles announcing that he had never felt more right in his life. It is possibly among the most important documents ever written.

The Forgotten Presidents

Download The Forgotten Presidents PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0199967792
Total Pages : 336 pages
Book Rating : 4.1/5 (999 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Forgotten Presidents by : Michael J. Gerhardt

Download or read book The Forgotten Presidents written by Michael J. Gerhardt and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2013-04-11 with total page 336 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: In The Constitutional Legacy of Forgotten Presidents, eminent constitutional scholar Michael Gerhardt tells the stories of thirteen presidents whom most Americans do not remember and scholars think had no constitutional impact, among them Chester Arthur, Martin Van Buren, and William Howard Taft. As Gerhardt shows, our forgotten presidents played crucial roles in laying some of the groundwork followed by Lincoln and other modern presidents, as well as providing examples for future lawmakers of constitutional choices to avoid.

The Presidents and the Constitution

Download The Presidents and the Constitution PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : NYU Press
ISBN 13 : 1479839906
Total Pages : 711 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (798 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis The Presidents and the Constitution by : Ken Gormley

Download or read book The Presidents and the Constitution written by Ken Gormley and published by NYU Press. This book was released on 2016-05-10 with total page 711 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shines new light on America's brilliant constitutional and presidential history, from George Washington to Barack Obama. In this sweepingly ambitious volume, the nation’s foremost experts on the American presidency and the U.S. Constitution join together to tell the intertwined stories of how each American president has confronted and shaped the Constitution. Each occupant of the office—the first president to the forty-fourth—has contributed to the story of the Constitution through the decisions he made and the actions he took as the nation’s chief executive. By examining presidential history through the lens of constitutional conflicts and challenges, The Presidents and the Constitution offers a fresh perspective on how the Constitution has evolved in the hands of individual presidents. It delves into key moments in American history, from Washington’s early battles with Congress to the advent of the national security presidency under George W. Bush and Barack Obama, to reveal the dramatic historical forces that drove these presidents to action. Historians and legal experts, including Richard Ellis, Gary Hart, Stanley Kutler and Kenneth Starr, bring the Constitution to life, and show how the awesome powers of the American presidency have been shapes by the men who were granted them. The book brings to the fore the overarching constitutional themes that span this country’s history and ties together presidencies in a way never before accomplished.

Presidents of War

Download Presidents of War PDF Online Free

Author :
Publisher : Crown
ISBN 13 : 0307409619
Total Pages : 754 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (74 download)

DOWNLOAD NOW!


Book Synopsis Presidents of War by : Michael Beschloss

Download or read book Presidents of War written by Michael Beschloss and published by Crown. This book was released on 2019-10-22 with total page 754 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • From a preeminent presidential historian comes a “superb and important” (The New York Times Book Review) saga of America’s wartime chief executives “Fascinating and heartbreaking . . . timely . . . Beschloss’s broad scope lets you draw important crosscutting lessons about presidential leadership.”—Bill Gates Widely acclaimed and ten years in the making, Michael Beschloss’s Presidents of War is an intimate and irresistibly readable chronicle of the Chief Executives who took the United States into conflict and mobilized it for victory. From the War of 1812 to Vietnam, we see these leaders considering the difficult decision to send hundreds of thousands of Americans to their deaths; struggling with Congress, the courts, the press, and antiwar protesters; seeking comfort from their spouses and friends; and dropping to their knees in prayer. Through Beschloss’s interviews with surviving participants and findings in original letters and once-classified national security documents, we come to understand how these Presidents were able to withstand the pressures of war—or were broken by them. Presidents of War combines this sense of immediacy with the overarching context of two centuries of American history, traveling from the time of our Founders, who tried to constrain presidential power, to our modern day, when a single leader has the potential to launch nuclear weapons that can destroy much of the human race. Praise for Presidents of War "A marvelous narrative. . . . As Beschloss explains, the greatest wartime presidents successfully leaven military action with moral concerns. . . . Beschloss’s writing is clean and concise, and he admirably draws upon new documents. Some of the more titillating tidbits in the book are in the footnotes. . . . There are fascinating nuggets on virtually every page of Presidents of War. It is a superb and important book, superbly rendered.”—Jay Winik, The New York Times Book Review "Sparkle and bite. . . . Valuable and engrossing study of how our chief executives have discharged the most significant of all their duties. . . . Excellent. . . . A fluent narrative that covers two centuries of national conflict.” —Richard Snow, The Wall Street Journal