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Selected Speeches and Writings: Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln
Vintage, 1992
Literary Lincoln without Sidekick Speechwriters or Dumbdowns
This book chronicles not only texts of key speeches showing the evolution of Lincoln's view of slavery, but also insightful letters revealing some private thoughts of this shrewd railroad lawyer whose ambition propelled him to heights that made him the best President ...
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The Journals of Lewis and Clark (Lewis & Clark Expedition)
Meriwether Lewis, William Clark
Mariner Books, 1997
Fascinating Story, Can't Stop Talking, Use Google Earth!
I read books in a wide variety of topics. I decided to read about Lewis and Clark because I felt I just did not know enough about it and I felt that I should. When I received the book, I opened it and was fearful that I made a mistake because it was made up of journal ...
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Ladies of Liberty: The Women Who Shaped Our Nation
Cokie Roberts
William Morrow, 2008
Ladies of Liberty
This is an excellent review of history from women's viewpoints. The recearch was very well done and events factual. I felt as if I were reliving those times with the women who shaped them. Luisa Adams especially showed her mettle in very dificult situations as, of ...
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Hamilton's Curse: How Jefferson's Arch Enemy Betrayed the American Revolution--and What It Means for ...
Thomas Dilorenzo
Crown Forum, 2008
Political Economy at Its Best
DiLorenzo has made a difficult subject readable. It is an American political economic history covering a period from the Ratification Debates to the present. It is told from the contrasting viewpoints of Jefferson and Hamilton, as to the political system which the ...
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Lincoln President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter 1860-1861
Harold Holzer
Simon & Schuster, 2008
Holzer's best effort
Harold Holzer is one of America's finest historians -- a man celebrated for both his vast knowledge of Civil War-era events, as well as his fluid and readable writing style. His latest effort, Lincoln, President-Elect: Abraham Lincoln and the Great Secession Winter ...
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Waking Giant: America in the Age of Jackson (American History)
David S. Reynolds
Harper, 2008
A Cultural History Of The Age Of Jackson
There have been made fine books on the era between the War of 1812 and the Civil War that was dominated by Andrew Jackson. From the Pulitzer Prize winning "The Age of Jackson" by Arthur Schlesinger, Jr. (1945) to Robert Remini's three volume biography of Jackson (1977, ...
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Polk: The Man Who Transformed the Presidency and America
Walter R. Borneman
Random House, 2008
Polk: The Man Who Transformed Presidency and America
This book was well-written and easy to read. The subject was engrossing, so it was hard to put down. He did this all without demonstrating political prejudice, too. I will read it again.
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What Hath God Wrought: The Transformation of America, 1815-1848 (Oxford History of the United States)
Daniel Walker Howe
Oxford University Press, USA, 2007
Excellent entry in the Oxford series
There seems to be a general consensus that "The Oxford History of the United States" has done much better by the early years of the American Republic than the post-World War II era. Howe maintains the tradition with this outstanding survey of American life between ...
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American Creation: Triumphs and Tragedies in the Founding of the Republic (Vintage)
Joseph J. Ellis
Vintage, 2008
The Founding Fathers, Neither Jeckels nor Hydes
This is a great addition to the history books covering the founding of our nation. Ellis covers the facts and corrects the fictions have become lore, and does so in a manner that is interesting and revealing. The Founding Fathers were neither geniuses who walked on ...
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Andrew Jackson: His Life and Times
H.W. Brands
Anchor, 2006
Andrew Jackson
Complete and truthful. Jackson was a onery old coot and a great president and military hero. Brands does a very good job of covering his life and times. A good read.
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The Sun and the Moon: The Remarkable True Account of Hoaxers, Showmen, Dueling Journalists, and Lunar ...
Matthew Goodman
Basic Books, 2008
The flying lunar man-bats who fooled New York
The Sun and the Moon tells the fascinating and true story of Richard Adams Locke and the New York Sun 'life on the moon' hoax of the 1830's.
Goodman weaves a compelling narrative thread that traces the growth of penny newspapers amidst the turmoil of abolitionism ...
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The Pirate Coast: Thomas Jefferson, the First Marines, and the Secret Mission of 1805
Richard Zacks
Hyperion, 2006
It Will Hold You Captive
I have been a fan of Zacks since reading his Pirate Hunter, and this book has reinforced my patronage. I am a firm believer in the fact that you really need to read history from several sources and viewpoints to get a reasonable picture of the reality. Zacks has ...
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Throes of Democracy: The American Civil War Era 1829-1877
Walter A. Mcdougall
Harper, 2008
A Tale of Human Nature Set Free
Professor Walter McDougall of the University of Pennsylvania develops his understanding of American history as a "tale of human nature set free" throughout his lengthy study "Throes of Democracy: The American Civil War Era 1829 -- 1876" (2008). This book is the second ...
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Lincoln: Speeches and Writings: Volume 2: 1859-1865 (Library of America)
Abraham Lincoln
Library of America, 1989
Leadership and Eloquence
This is the second volume of the Library of America Project devoted to the works of Abraham Lincoln. It covers the period after the Lincoln-Douglas Debates and includes many of the records of the Lincoln Presidency and the Civil War. The standard Lincoln materials ...
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A Magnificent Catastrophe: The Tumultuous Election of 1800, America's First Presidential Campaign
Edward J. Larson
Free Press, 2008
Nothing new under the sun: partisan politics, religious beliefs, fearmongering in 1800
It's amazing to me how commonly people today point to the "founding fathers" to support their own beliefs. Or how often people decry the methods and madness of modern elections. To them I say ... read this book.
The political "results" of the grand experiment of ...
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