Catalog Search Results

"I grew convinc'd that truth, sincerity, and integrity in dealings between man and man were of the utmost importance to the felicity of life." In this fascinating account of the life of one of America's greatest statesmen, The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin describes this Founding Father's rise from his humble beginnings in Philadelphia to his role at the centre of international politics. A famous polymath and inventor, Franklin was a major...

John Kerry tells the story of his remarkable American life -- from son of a diplomat to decorated Vietnam veteran, five-term United States senator, 2004 Democratic presidential nominee and secretary of state. A Yale graduate, Kerry enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1966 and served in Vietnam. He returned home highly decorated but disillusioned, and testified powerfully before Congress as a young veteran opposed to the war. Kerry served as a prosecutor...

This biography of the Revolutionary-era "villain" overturns every myth and image we have of him. The narrative of America's founding is filled with godlike geniuses--and then there was Aaron Burr. Generations have been told Burr was a betrayer--of Hamilton, of his country, of those with nobler ideas. All untrue: the politically aggressive Hamilton was preoccupied with Burr and subverted Burr's career at every turn for more than a decade. Historian...

"This majestic new biography of James Madison explores the astonishing story of a man of vaunted modesty who audaciously changed the world. Among the Founding Fathers, Madison was a true genius of the early republic. Outwardly reserved, Madison was the intellectual driving force behind the Constitution and crucial to its ratification. His visionary political philosophy and rationale for the union of states -- so eloquently presented in The Federalist...

Benjamin Franklin's celebrated autobiography, published after his death, is one of the greatest autobiographies of all time-but it was incomplete. Franklin ended his life's story in 1757, when he was only fifty-one. He lived another thirty-three full, eventful, and dramatic years, some of the most dramatic years in American history-years in which Franklin was America's advocate in London, represented Pennsylvania in the Continental Congress, and was...

A deeply personal and candid remembrance of the late Senator John McCain from one of his closest and most trusted confidants, friends, and political advisors.

"The remarkable story of Benjamin Rush, medical pioneer and one of our nation's most provocative and unsung Founding Fathers ... One of the youngest signatories [of the Declaration of Independence] ... he was also, among stiff competition, one of the most visionary. A brilliant physician and writer, Rush was known as the "American Hippocrates" for pioneering national healthcare and revolutionizing treatment of mental illness and addiction. Yet medicine...

"The prizewinning author of Founding Brothers and American Sphinx now gives us the unexpected story--brilliantly told--of why the thirteen colonies, having just fought off the imposition of a distant centralized governing power, would decide to subordinate themselves anew. The triumph of the American Revolution was neither an ideological nor political guarantee that the colonies would relinquish their independence and accept the creation of a federal...

The documentary captures the amazing life and times of our nation's forgotten founding father: Alexander Hamilton. Exploring the iconic American political and financial institutions he helped to create, from the U.S. Mint and Wall Street to the two-party political system.