Showing titles in Presidents & Heads of State

One of the Founding Fathers, Benjamin Franklin was also a genius who managed to excel in an astounding variety of domains. These 100 quotes have been carefully selected to introduce you to his vision of life, sometimes humorous, always wise; they will provide you with solid advice and sharp witticism, in a convenient and efficient format.

Ariel Goldstein indaga en este libro, no solo en la actualidad del gigante tropical, sino también en su historia para comprender cómo un ex militar llegó al poder a través de las urnas y tras los masivos gobiernos del Partido de los Trabajadores. Y cómo su liderazgo puede afectar a toda la región.

A riveting narrative of Wall Street buccaneering, political intrigue and two of American history’s most colossal characters, struggling for mastery in an era of social upheaval and rampant inequality. Today, as the country again asks whether saving democracy means taming capital, the lessons of Roosevelt and Morgan’s time are more urgent than ever.

이 책의 서두에서 메리 트럼프는 이렇게 밝히고 있다. '천재'와 '괴짜' 사이에서 아슬아슬하게 줄타기를 하고 있는 제45대 미국 대통령 도널드 트럼프의 '진짜 민낯'을 파헤치기 위해서다. 그 진짜 민낯은 다음과 같다. "역사, 헌법 원칙, 지정학, 외교에 대한 이해가 전무할 뿐 아니라, 그와 관련된 지식을 보여줘야 한다는 압박을 단 한 번도 받은 적이 없었던 삼촌은 자신의 아버지에게 배운 그대로 '돈의 프리즘'을 통해서만 미국의 모든 동맹국과 사회 정책을 평가하고 있다." 요컨대 트럼프 대통령의 기행을 곧이곧대로 받아들이기 전에, 그 근본적인 배경을 가족사와 심리분석을 통해 정리해야 한다는 것이다. 이 책에 담긴 내용은 지구상에서 가장 강력한 '살아 있는 권력'에 관한 이야기이며, 동시에 그를 성장시킨 '세상에서 가장 불행한 가문'의 이야기다. 그리고 우리는 이를 통해 괴팍한 아버지로부터 인정받기 위해 몸부림치며 거짓말과 과장을 생존방식으로 습득한 인간 '도널드 트럼프'를 이해할 수 있다.

Franklin Roosevelt awoke on September 1, 1939 to the news that Germany invaded Poland, signaling the start of World War II. The president warned for years that Hitler's fascist regime posed an existential threat to democracy, but the American public remained stubbornly isolationist as fascist sympathizing groups, egged on by right wing media stars promoting anti-Semitic conspiracy theories, plotted to overthrow the president. The situation was dire, and Roosevelt found himself facing an unexpected adversary: Charles Lindbergh.

Das Besondere an dieser Biografie Benjamin Franklins ist, dass er diese selber geschrieben hat. Dieser Umstand mag den einen oder anderen vorschnellen Kritiker dazu verleiten, den vorliegenden Text als geschönt oder nicht literarisch einzustufen, allerdings ist erstaunlicherweise genau das Gegenteil der Fall. Eine wunderbare Persönlichkeit und Sachlichkeit ist in Franklins Schreibstil gepaart mit einer weit überdurchschnittlichen Eleganz in Wortwahl und Ausdruck. Kein Wunder, denn der Verfasser kam bereits im zartesten Knabenalter mit ansprechender Literatur in Kontakt.

In 1855, with the United States at odds over slavery, the lawyer Abraham Lincoln wrote a note to his best friend, the son of a Kentucky slaveowner. Lincoln rebuked his friend for failing to oppose slavery. But he added: “If for this you and I must differ, differ we must,” and said they would be friends forever. Throughout his life and political career, Lincoln often agreed to disagree. Democracy demanded it, since even an adversary had a vote.

The John F. Kennedy presidency has an indelible hold on our imaginations. Even more than half a century later, we remain captivated by the charismatic young leader who promised us the moon, who remained steadfast in the face of nuclear catastrophe, who told us to “ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country”—and whose life was cut short by shocking assassination.

In April 2017, Daniel W. Drezner began curating every example he could find of a Trump ally describing the president like a toddler. So far, he's collected more than one thousand tweets - a rate of more than one a day. In The Toddler-in-Chief, Drezner draws on these examples to take listeners through the different dimensions of Trump's infantile behavior, from temper tantrums to poor impulse control to the possibility that the President has had too much screen time. How much damage can really be done by a giant man-baby?

Whenever the subject of Lincoln is brought up, it usually produces a mixed response ranging from adoration to excoriation. Back in 1931 when Lincoln the Man appeared, there were few willing to publicly judge Lincoln on the basis of anything less than hagiographic platitudes. That all changed when the famous poet and writer Edgar Lee Masters published Lincoln the Man. This book is less a biography and more of an analysis of Lincoln’s thinking process and political evolution from backwoods lawyer to president of the United States.

Deputy President Cyril Ramaphosa is credited with driving through the deal between the apartheid government and the African National Congress that was at the heart of South Africa’s democratic constitution. He was the ANC’s lead negotiator and the man who persuaded one of the most recalcitrant racist governments in the world to buy into a settlement based on one of its most enlightened bills of rights. But once the ink had dried on the constitution, Ramaphosa found himself politically sidelined.

Stalin’s Scribe is the first biography of a man who was once one of the Soviet Union’s most prominent political figures. Thanks to the opening of Russia’s archives, Brian Boeck discovers that Sholokhov’s official Soviet biography is actually a tangled web of legends, half-truths, and contradictions. Boeck examines the complex connection between an author and a dictator, revealing how a Stalinist courtier became an ideological acrobat and consummate politician in order to stay in favor and remain relevant after the dictator’s death.

From his time as a lifeguard in Illinois to a sports announcer to a rising actor to a labor union leader, then finally governor of California in the tumultuous 1960s and ultimately President, Reagan's life is told as it has never been before.

In this revealing and beautifully written memoir, Mark Obama Ndesandjo recounts his complex relationship with his older half brother, President Barack Obama, including their first meeting in Kenya over 20 years ago. The book also offers the author's inspiring personal story about identity and multiculturalism.

Best-selling author Winston Groom tells the complex story of how Franklin Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and Joseph Stalin - the three iconic and vastly different Allied leaders - aligned to win World War II and created a new world order.

More than five years in the making, based on hundreds of interviews and access to previously unavailable documents, and infused with irresistible storytelling charm, Bob Spitz's Reagan stands fair to be the first truly post-partisan biography of our 40th president, and thus a balm for our own bitterly divided times. Absorbing and richly detailed, it is a revelatory chronicle of the full arc of Ronald Reagan's epic life - giving full weight to the Hollywood years, his transition to politics and successful run as California governor, and ultimately, his iconic presidency.

Frank Sinatra desperately wanted to be part of John F. Kennedy, Jr.'s gang. He had his own famed "Rat Pack", made up of hard drinking, womanizing individuals like himself - guys like Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and Peter Lawford - but the guy "Ol' Blue Eyes" really wanted to hang with was Lawford's brother-in-law, the real chairman of the board, John F. Kennedy. In Sinatra and the Jack Pack, Michael Sheridan delves deep into the acclaimed singer's relationship with the former president.

Among his many feats, Lincoln is widely remembered for having paved the way for the abolition of slavery, before his assassination in 1865. These 100 quotes have been selected to introduce you to one of the greatest political minds that lived, in an efficient and convenient format.

Clement Attlee was the Labour prime minister who presided over Britain's radical postwar government, delivering the end of the empire in India, the foundation of the NHS and Britain's place in NATO. Called 'a sheep in sheep's clothing', his reputation has long been that of an unassuming character in the shadow of Churchill. But as John Bew's revelatory biography shows, Attlee was not only a hero of his age but an emblem of it, and his life tells the story of how Britain changed over the 20th century.

He was the unlikeliest of presidential candidates - dismissed by opponents as a movie actor, a right-winger trying to undo the work of liberals stretching back to Franklin Roosevelt. Yet Ronald Reagan made it to the White House, taking office in a time of economic turmoil, waning prestige abroad, and a general dampening of the American spirit. Reagan's patriotism, wit, and optimism lifted the nation and brought it through several crises.