Credible Threat

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 :
Total Pages : 272 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (831 download)

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Book Synopsis Credible Threat by : Ken Fite

Download or read book Credible Threat written by Ken Fite and published by . This book was released on 2021-12-12 with total page 272 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: They're going to assassinate the president. Can Blake Jordan stop them? After he's fired from the Department of Domestic Counterterrorism, former agent Blake Jordan heads to DC for President-elect Keller's inauguration. But there are men in power who won't let that happen. When Keller asks Blake to create an off-the-books black ops team to stop terrorists, he refuses. But when someone tries to take Blake out of the picture, he learns of a plot to assassinate Keller. If he wants to stop the killers, Blake must form a team to save his friend. But the terrorists have something far more sinister planned... and it can't be stopped because it's already been done. CREDIBLE THREAT is a fast-paced thriller you'll be reading late into the night. Here's what readers are saying... ★★★★★ "It drew me in, I could not put it down." ★★★★★ "Well crafted, full of twists and turns." ★★★★★ "...a real page-turner." ★★★★★ "I thoroughly enjoyed this thriller." ★★★★★ "Read in one sitting, couldn't put it down." ★★★★★ "It held my attention beginning to end." ★★★★★ "...great storytelling." ★★★★★ "Fast-paced, highly recommended!" ★★★★★ "You won't want to put this book down." ★★★★★ "A great book in the Blake Jordan series!" Are you ready for a great story? Start reading now.

Al Franken, Giant of the Senate

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Publisher : Twelve
ISBN 13 : 1455540439
Total Pages : 523 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (555 download)

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Book Synopsis Al Franken, Giant of the Senate by : Al Franken

Download or read book Al Franken, Giant of the Senate written by Al Franken and published by Twelve. This book was released on 2017-05-30 with total page 523 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From Senator Al Franken - #1 bestselling author and beloved SNL alum -- comes the story of an award-winning comedian who decided to run for office and then discovered why award-winning comedians tend not to do that. "Flips the classic born-in-a-shack rise to political office tale on its head. I skipped meals to read this book - also unusual - because every page was funny. It made me deliriously happy." -- Louise Erdrich, The New York Times This is a book about an unlikely campaign that had an even more improbable ending: the closest outcome in history and an unprecedented eight-month recount saga, which is pretty funny in retrospect. It's a book about what happens when the nation's foremost progressive satirist gets a chance to serve in the United States Senate and, defying the low expectations of the pundit class, actually turns out to be good at it. It's a book about our deeply polarized, frequently depressing, occasionally inspiring political culture, written from inside the belly of the beast. In this candid personal memoir, the honorable gentleman from Minnesota takes his army of loyal fans along with him from Saturday Night Live to the campaign trail, inside the halls of Congress, and behind the scenes of some of the most dramatic and/or hilarious moments of his new career in politics. Has Al Franken become a true Giant of the Senate? Franken asks readers to decide for themselves.

The Senator: a Remarkable Story

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Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781980263906
Total Pages : 172 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (639 download)

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Book Synopsis The Senator: a Remarkable Story by : Grace Kerry

Download or read book The Senator: a Remarkable Story written by Grace Kerry and published by . This book was released on 2018-04-04 with total page 172 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The Senator is a story about Mrs B U Kerry, Nigeria's first lady senator. It sheds light on a period spanning almost a hundred years (1912-2005). In this regard the book documents the role(s) and status (and subsequent influence) of women in Nigerian society during that time. For Historians and social-political commentators, it is the first of its kind to give insight into the realpolitik of the twentieth century African diplomacy during a decade of great political and cultural upheaval.

The Road Taken

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Publisher : Simon and Schuster
ISBN 13 : 1982157356
Total Pages : 480 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (821 download)

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Book Synopsis The Road Taken by : Patrick Leahy

Download or read book The Road Taken written by Patrick Leahy and published by Simon and Schuster. This book was released on 2022-08-23 with total page 480 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "In his landmark memoir The Road Taken, Patrick Leahy looks back on a life lived on the front lines of American politics. As the senior-most member and de facto dean of the chamber, Senator Leahy has been a key author of the American story. Leahy established himself as a moral leader and liberal pioneer over four decades spanning nine presidential administrations. [...] The Road Taken is also a moving personal portrait. Born in Vermont in 1940, Leahy got his first taste of politics at age six after riding his tricycle into the Governor’s office. Twenty-eight years later he became the first Democrat and youngest person ever elected to the United States Senate from Vermont. He writes movingly of his wife of nearly sixty years, Marcelle, his family life, his beloved home state of Vermont, and his unexpected life as an actor with cameos in five Batman movies. Despite being born legally blind in one eye, Leahy became an accomplished photographer, shooting history as he witnessed it. His intimate portraits illustrate the book, showcasing history through the lens of his life." -- Publisher's website.

Target

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Publisher : Lila's Rose, LLC
ISBN 13 : 9780692979730
Total Pages : 432 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (797 download)

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Book Synopsis Target by : Ralph Cipriano

Download or read book Target written by Ralph Cipriano and published by Lila's Rose, LLC. This book was released on 2017-11-28 with total page 432 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: As the Senator, Vincent J. Fumo was a master politician who reigned for a generation over Philadelphia and the state capitol of Harrisburg, cutting deals and red tape, and bringing in billions of dollars for his constituents. Fumo personified a bare-knuckles, take-no-prisoners style of politics that is no longer socially acceptable, or as prosecutors would successfully argue, legal.Since he was convicted in 2009 of 137 counts of corruption, he is served his time and kept a low profile, granting no interviews. Until now, when he finally tells his story with characteristic bluntness, candor, and insight. Only now, thanks to formerly confidential grand jury transcripts and FBI files, can we dispel the distortions and furor that surrounded the frenzied pursuit of the Vince of Darkness by the feds and the media. Only now can we paint the full portrait of a brilliant but flawed and deeply complicated man. And tell the story of how he gained power, how he wielded power, and how he lost it in spectacular fashion. It is a tale of excess, by both the hunted and the hunters.

The Senator Next Door

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Publisher : Macmillan
ISBN 13 : 1627794174
Total Pages : 369 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (277 download)

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Book Synopsis The Senator Next Door by : Amy Klobuchar

Download or read book The Senator Next Door written by Amy Klobuchar and published by Macmillan. This book was released on 2015-08-25 with total page 369 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Autobiography of the Democratic senior senator from Minnesota.

The Senator's Children

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Publisher : Tin House Books
ISBN 13 : 1941040802
Total Pages : 258 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (41 download)

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Book Synopsis The Senator's Children by : Nicholas Montemarano

Download or read book The Senator's Children written by Nicholas Montemarano and published by Tin House Books. This book was released on 2017-11-07 with total page 258 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "It's hard to look so deeply into other people's lives that you really understand them, except perhaps through fiction, and that is what Montemarano has done here, with deftness and subtlety." —The New York Times In a country that loves second chances, are some transgressions simply unforgivable? Sisters Betsy and Avery have never met, but they have both spent their lives under the scrutiny of prying cameras and tabloid journalists. Their father, David Christie, was a charismatic senator and promising presidential candidate until infidelity destroyed his campaign and his family’s life. In the aftermath, Betsy grieves her broken family, while Avery struggles with growing up estranged from her infamous father yet still exposed by the national spotlight. Years later, as David’s health declines, Betsy and Avery are forced to face their complicated feelings about him—and about each other. With delicacy and empathy, Nicholas Montemarano brings these sisters together in a parallel of grief and grace.The Senator’s Children brilliantly distills the American family under pressure.

Every Day Is a Gift

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Publisher : Twelve
ISBN 13 : 1538718499
Total Pages : 292 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (387 download)

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Book Synopsis Every Day Is a Gift by : Tammy Duckworth

Download or read book Every Day Is a Gift written by Tammy Duckworth and published by Twelve. This book was released on 2021-03-30 with total page 292 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: AN INSTANT NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER! Learn the incredible story of Illinois senator and Iraq War veteran Tammy Duckworth and see what inspired her to follow the path that made her who she is today. In Every Day Is a Gift, Tammy Duckworth takes readers through the amazing—and amazingly true—stories from her incomparable life. In November of 2004, an Iraqi RPG blew through the cockpit of Tammy Duckworth's U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopter. The explosion, which destroyed her legs and mangled her right arm, was a turning point in her life. But as Duckworth shows in Every Day Is a Gift, that moment was just one in a lifetime of extraordinary turns. The biracial daughter of an American father and a Thai-Chinese mother, Duckworth faced discrimination, poverty, and the horrors of war—all before the age of 16. As a child, she dodged bullets as her family fled war-torn Phnom Penh. As a teenager, she sold roses by the side of the road to save her family from hunger and homelessness in Hawaii. Through these experiences, she developed a fierce resilience that would prove invaluable in the years to come. Duckworth joined the Army, becoming one of a handful of female helicopter pilots at the start of Operation Iraqi Freedom. She served eight months in Iraq before an insurgent's RPG shot down her helicopter, an attack that took her legs—and nearly took her life. She then spent thirteen months recovering at Walter Reed, learning to walk again on prosthetic legs and planning her return to the cockpit. But Duckworth found a new mission after meeting her state's senators, Barack Obama and Dick Durbin. After winning two terms as a U.S. Representative, she won election to the U.S. Senate in 2016. And she and her husband Bryan fulfilled another dream when she gave birth to two daughters, becoming the first sitting senator to give birth. From childhood to motherhood and beyond, Every Day Is a Gift is the remarkable story of one of America's most dedicated public servants.

Master of the Senate

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Publisher : Knopf
ISBN 13 : 0394528360
Total Pages : 1233 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (945 download)

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Book Synopsis Master of the Senate by : Robert A. Caro

Download or read book Master of the Senate written by Robert A. Caro and published by Knopf. This book was released on 2002-04-23 with total page 1233 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Master of the Senate, Book Three of The Years of Lyndon Johnson, carries Johnson’s story through one of its most remarkable periods: his twelve years, from 1949 to 1960, in the United States Senate. At the heart of the book is its unprecedented revelation of how legislative power works in America, how the Senate works, and how Johnson, in his ascent to the presidency, mastered the Senate as no political leader before him had ever done. It was during these years that all Johnson’s experience—from his Texas Hill Country boyhood to his passionate representation in Congress of his hardscrabble constituents to his tireless construction of a political machine—came to fruition. Caro introduces the story with a dramatic account of the Senate itself: how Daniel Webster, Henry Clay, and John C. Calhoun had made it the center of governmental energy, the forum in which the great issues of the country were thrashed out. And how, by the time Johnson arrived, it had dwindled into a body that merely responded to executive initiatives, all but impervious to the forces of change. Caro anatomizes the genius for political strategy and tactics by which, in an institution that had made the seniority system all-powerful for a century and more, Johnson became Majority Leader after only a single term-the youngest and greatest Senate Leader in our history; how he manipulated the Senate’s hallowed rules and customs and the weaknesses and strengths of his colleagues to change the “unchangeable” Senate from a loose confederation of sovereign senators to a whirring legislative machine under his own iron-fisted control. Caro demonstrates how Johnson’s political genius enabled him to reconcile the unreconcilable: to retain the support of the southerners who controlled the Senate while earning the trust—or at least the cooperation—of the liberals, led by Paul Douglas and Hubert Humphrey, without whom he could not achieve his goal of winning the presidency. He shows the dark side of Johnson’s ambition: how he proved his loyalty to the great oil barons who had financed his rise to power by ruthlessly destroying the career of the New Dealer who was in charge of regulating them, Federal Power Commission Chairman Leland Olds. And we watch him achieve the impossible: convincing southerners that although he was firmly in their camp as the anointed successor to their leader, Richard Russell, it was essential that they allow him to make some progress toward civil rights. In a breathtaking tour de force, Caro details Johnson’s amazing triumph in maneuvering to passage the first civil rights legislation since 1875. Master of the Senate, told with an abundance of rich detail that could only have come from Caro’s peerless research, is both a galvanizing portrait of the man himself—the titan of Capital Hill, volcanic, mesmerizing—and a definitive and revelatory study of the workings and personal and legislative power.

Shooting from the Lip

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Publisher : University of Oklahoma Press
ISBN 13 : 0806182784
Total Pages : 474 pages
Book Rating : 4.8/5 (61 download)

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Book Synopsis Shooting from the Lip by : Donald Loren Hardy

Download or read book Shooting from the Lip written by Donald Loren Hardy and published by University of Oklahoma Press. This book was released on 2012-09-13 with total page 474 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Shortly before Wyoming’s Alan K. Simpson was elected majority whip of the United States Senate, he decided to keep a journal. “I am going to make notes when I get home in the evening, as to what happened during each day.” Now the senator’s longtime chief of staff, Donald Loren Hardy, has drawn extensively on Simpson’s personal papers and nineteen-volume diary to write this unvarnished account of a storied life and political career. Simpson gave full authorial control to Hardy, telling him, “Don, just tell the truth, the whole truth, as you always have. Leave teeth, hair, and eyeballs on the floor, if that results from telling the truth.” Taking Simpson at his word, Hardy shows readers a thrill-seeking teenager in Cody and a tireless politician who has thoroughly enjoyed his work. Full of entertaining tales and moments of historical significance, Shooting from the Lip offers a privileged and revealing backstage view of late-twentieth century American politics. Hardy’s richly anecdotal account reveals the roles Simpson played during such critical events as the Iran-Contra scandal and Clarence Thomas’s confirmation hearings. It divulges the senator’s candid views of seven American presidents and scores of other national and world luminaries. Simpson is a politician unfettered by partisanship. Among President George H. W. Bush’s closest compatriots, he was also a close friend and admirer of Senator Ted Kennedy and was never afraid to publicly challenge the positions or tactics of fellow lawmakers, Democratic and Republican alike. Simpson’s ability to use truth and humor as both “sword and shield,” combined with his years of experience and issue mastery, has led to an impressive post-Senate career. In 2010, for example, he co-chaired President Barack Obama’s Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform. Shooting from the Lip portrays a statesman punching sacred cows, challenging the media, and grappling with some of the nation’s most difficult challenges.

The Senator's Wife

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Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307268721
Total Pages : 322 pages
Book Rating : 4.3/5 (72 download)

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Book Synopsis The Senator's Wife by : Sue Miller

Download or read book The Senator's Wife written by Sue Miller and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2008-01-08 with total page 322 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: NATIONAL BESTELLER • The New York Times bestselling author of Monogomy brings us a "tasteful, elegant, sensuous" (The Boston Globe) novel about marriage and forgiveness. Meri is newly married, pregnant, and standing on the cusp of her life as a wife and mother, recognizing with some terror the gap between reality and expectation. Delia—wife of the two-term liberal senator Tom Naughton—is Meri's new neighbor in the adjacent New England town house. Tom's chronic infidelity has been an open secret in Washington circles, but despite the complexity of their relationship, the bond between them remains strong. Soon Delia and Meri find themselves leading strangely parallel lives, as they both reckon with the contours and mysteries of marriage: one refined and abraded by years of complicated intimacy, the other barely begun. With precision and a rich vitality, Sue Miller—beloved and bestselling author of While I Was Gone—brings us a highly charged, superlative novel.

The Last Great Senate

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Publisher : Public Affairs
ISBN 13 : 1586489364
Total Pages : 513 pages
Book Rating : 4.5/5 (864 download)

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Book Synopsis The Last Great Senate by : Ira Shapiro

Download or read book The Last Great Senate written by Ira Shapiro and published by Public Affairs. This book was released on 2012-02-14 with total page 513 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Describes the statesmen who participated in the last glory days of the Senate, describing their leadership through the crisis years of the 1970s before the 1980 election signaled the start of a period of diminished effectiveness.

Birch Bayh

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Publisher : Indiana University Press
ISBN 13 : 0253039185
Total Pages : 484 pages
Book Rating : 4.2/5 (53 download)

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Book Synopsis Birch Bayh by : Robert Blaemire

Download or read book Birch Bayh written by Robert Blaemire and published by Indiana University Press. This book was released on 2019-05-01 with total page 484 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A remarkable history of one of the most legendary US senators of our time, Birch Bayh: Making a Difference reveals a life and career dedicated to the important issues facing Indiana and the nation, including civil rights and equal rights for women. Born in Terre Haute, Indiana, right before the Great Depression, Birch Bayh served more than 25 years in the Indiana General Assembly (1954–1962) and the United States Senate (1963–1981). His influence was seen in landmark legislation over his tenure, including Title IX, the 25th Amendment, the 26th Amendment, Civil Rights of the Institutionalized, Juvenile Justice & Delinquency Prevention Act, and the Bayh-Dole Act. Bayh was also the author, chief Senate sponsor, and floor leader of the Equal Rights Amendment and successfully led the opposition to two Nixon nominees to the Supreme Court. Robert Blaemire profiles not only the prolific career of this remarkable senator but also an era when compromise and bipartisanship were common in Congress.

Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy

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Publisher : Liveright Publishing
ISBN 13 : 1631497782
Total Pages : 301 pages
Book Rating : 4.6/5 (314 download)

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Book Synopsis Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy by : Adam Jentleson

Download or read book Kill Switch: The Rise of the Modern Senate and the Crippling of American Democracy written by Adam Jentleson and published by Liveright Publishing. This book was released on 2021-01-12 with total page 301 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: With a new epilogue on filibuster battles under the Biden administration THE CASE FOR ENDING THE FILIBUSTER "A truly excellent book… blistering and persuasive.” —Ezra Klein, New York Times An insider’s account of how politicians representing a radical white minority of Americans have used “the world’s greatest deliberative body” to hijack our democracy. Our democracy is under assault from homegrown authoritarians, with most observers blaming Donald Trump and the Republican Party that submitted to him. Yet as Adam Jentleson shows, the problem not only goes back to the nineteenth century, but is less about the presidency than it is about our nation’s most venerated institution: the United States Senate. A revelatory history of minority rule in America as expressed through the Senate filibuster, Kill Switch shows that white conservatives have long relied on the filibuster—which is not featured in the Constitution, and which, as Jentleson demonstrates, the Framers would have opposed—to shut down attempts to create a multiracial democracy. Featuring a new epilogue on filibuster battles under the Biden administration, Kill Switch will remain an essential warning about the costs of empowering this nation’s right-wing minority. • “Jentleson understands the inner workings of the institution, down to the most granular details, showing precisely how arcane procedural rules can be leveraged to dramatic effect.” —Jennifer Szalai, New York Times • “Careful and thorough and exacting.” —Michael Tomasky, New York Review of Books • “[An] excellent, surprising new book.” —Benjamin Wallace-Wells, The New Yorker

The Senator's Son

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Author :
Publisher : Anna Albo
ISBN 13 : 1999102509
Total Pages : 309 pages
Book Rating : 4.9/5 (991 download)

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Book Synopsis The Senator's Son by : Anna Albo

Download or read book The Senator's Son written by Anna Albo and published by Anna Albo. This book was released on 2019-12-30 with total page 309 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: A tale as old as time. A story of two unlikely characters: Emma, a quiet, lonely outcast, and Zach, a self-confident rich kid with a heart. Emma is off to college chasing after her best friend and secret crush, Jake, but once there, her life comes crumbling down. Jake betrays her, sending her life into turmoil. It's then that Zach, the senator's son, comes in. Jake's girlfriend, Bianca, hates Emma and is threatened by Emma rooming with Jake. After Bianca's constant bullying, Emma cracks and retaliates - and Jake throws Emma out of the apartment. Thinking herself friendless and without any future at college, Emma gets ready to return to her small hometown and tell her father everything. Then she receives a surprising offer of a place to stay from Zach. Living with Zach doesn't solve all of Emma's problems. Bianca is bent on revenge and starts a campaign to humiliate Emma. Zach, aware of Bianca's intentions, does all he can to protect Emma because he likes her, even if she's a bit oblivious to his feelings As they grow closer and Emma realizes she cares about Zach, too, Bianca exacts her revenge. Jake finally sees Bianca for who she truly is and tries to choose Emma instead, but it's too late. Emma has found love with the most unlikely person: The Senator's Son.

Shocking the Senator

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Publisher : Harlequin
ISBN 13 : 1426857462
Total Pages : 187 pages
Book Rating : 4.4/5 (268 download)

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Book Synopsis Shocking the Senator by : Leanne Banks

Download or read book Shocking the Senator written by Leanne Banks and published by Harlequin. This book was released on 2010-03-01 with total page 187 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Dynasties: The Danforths. A family of prominence...tested by scandal, sustained by passion! Nicola Granville was an independent woman. But it was as Abe Danforth's campaign manager that she achieved ultimate success--and ultimate pleasure. For months her affair with the aspiring senator was conducted in secret, their professional courtesy by day giving way to intimate embraces by night. Until she took a home pregnancy test... Abe Danforth always got what he wanted--and he wanted Nicola. Except he couldn't understand why she was pushing him away. Abe was ready to go public with his feelings, but Nicola's sudden mood swings were mystifying. Was it another man? Or was it something that only nine months and a proposal would solve?

200 Notable Days

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Author :
Publisher : Government Printing Office
ISBN 13 : 9780160763311
Total Pages : 240 pages
Book Rating : 4.7/5 (633 download)

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Book Synopsis 200 Notable Days by : Richard A. Baker

Download or read book 200 Notable Days written by Richard A. Baker and published by Government Printing Office. This book was released on 2006 with total page 240 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Comprised of 200 readable and informative historic vignettes reflecting all areas of Senate activities, from the well known and notorious to the unusual and whimsical. Prepared by Richard A. Baker, the Senates Historian, these brief sketches, each with an accompanying illustration and references for further reading, provide striking insights into the colorful and momentous history of The World's Greatest Deliberative Body. Review from Goodreads: "Jason" rated this book with 3 stars and had this to say "This coffee table book on Senate History comes from none other than the U.S. Senate Historian, Richard Baker. The House of Representatives recently acquired noted historian of the Jacksonian era, Robert Remini as the official House Historian. He recently wrote a pretty impressive tomb on the House of Representatives. The Senate already has a 4 volume history written by US Senator, Robert C. Byrd of West Virginia, so the Senate could not reply in that manner. So, I think the coffee table book was the best that we could muster. I think this is the first time I have actually read a coffee table book from cover to cover. It is a chatty little story book filled with useful cocktail-party-history of the US Senate. That's useful knowledge to me, as I never know what to say at Washington cocktail parties. Perhaps anecdotes about Thomas Hart Benton will help break the ice. The most striking thing to me about the book was the number of attacks on the Capitol. I had heard about all the incidents individually, but it is more jolting to see them sequentially. 3 bombings, 2 gun attacks and then the attempt on September 11th. In a way, its remarkable that the Capitol complex remained so open for so long. Note, I use the past tense here. As any of you who have visited the capitol recently will have noted, it is increasingly difficult to get in. And once the Capitol Visitor Center is completed, I expect it will be very much a controlled experience like the White House. In any case, Baker's prose is breezy and he is dutifully reverent to the institution without missing the absurdities of Senate life. You also get a sense of the breakdown in lawfulness that preceded the Civil War. Its not just the canning of Charles Sumner, its also the Mississippi Senator pulling a gun on Missouri Senator Thomas Hart Benton in the Senate chamber. Then there is the case of California Senator David Broderick (an anti-slavery Democrat) being killed in a duel by the pro-slavery Chief Justice of the California Supreme Court. Apparently, back in those days, California was a lot more like modern Texas. In any case, the slide toward anarchy can definitely be found long before Fort Sumter. Another interesting aside that I really never knew concerns the order of succession. All of us learn in school that it is the President, then the Vice President, then the Speaker of the House and then President Pro Tempore of the Senate. After that, you get the members of the Cabinet, and I was aware that as new departments were created, they have been shuffled up a bit. What I did not know, is that Congress was not always in the order of succession at all. For a long time, it devolved from the President to the VP and then directly to the Secretary of State. Furthermore, when they first inserted Congress, it was the President Pro Tempore of the Senate who was third in line over the Speaker of the House. The structure we all know and love was only finalized in 1947 after some hard thinking in light of FDR's demise and the Constitutional Amendments on succession that followed. Anyway, this is a book for government geeks. If you are one, its a nice read and about as pleasant a way to introduce yourself to Senate history as I have found. If not, there are prettier coffee table books to be had."