History

Donald focuses on six figures who were undoubtedly close to Lincoln and who have left full, intimate records of their associations: Joshua F. Speed, William H. Herndon, Orville H. Browning, William H. Seward, John Hay, and John G. Nicolay. Each saw a different side of Lincoln, but, taken together, their accounts tell much about Lincoln's difficulty in making and holding intimate friendships. The evidence is overwhelming that few if any of these and other friends were on intimate terms with Lincoln. Those who knew him best came to realize that behind the mask of affability, behind the facade of his endless humorous anecdotes, Lincoln maintained an inviolable reserve. Herndon found him "incommunicative-silent, reticent-secretive, the most shut-mouthed man" who ever lived. This book is divided into these six portraits-six friendships that Lincoln had through his life-starting with his stepbrother, Dennis Hanks; but his childhood was isolated and lonely and he described himself as "friendless and uneducated" after his mother died and the family moved. As a young man, he became friends with Joshua Speed when he arrived in Springfield. They remained friends and political allies until Speed went back home to Kentucky. Lincoln tried to persuade Speed to accompany him to Washington, but in fact he arrived as president-elect without any staff and without a single intimate friend. Next was William Herndon, his law partner, who wrote about him but did not claim an intimacy he had not enjoyed. Orville Browning, appointed to fill out Stephen Douglas' term, became Lincoln's confidant, but the closeness ended when Lincoln twice passed over Browning for the Supreme Court and when Browning disagreed with his politics and his conduct of the war. William Seward was his best friend in the extremely rambunctious cabinet, but very definitely the junior man. Lincoln did not have a true peer. His much younger secretaries, John Nicolay and John Hay, were the t more...

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Stephen B. Oates discerns the historical truth from the mythical legend that surrounds Lincoln in this original and fascinating portrait of America's 16th president. more...

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They came together in the summer of 1942. It was as good a rifle company as any in the world. Here is the story of E Company - men who went hungry, froze, and died for each other - from the rigorous training in Georgia in 1942 to their disbanding in 1945. Advancing through Europe, the men of Easy Company found the closest brotherhood they'd ever know. more...

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Predicting greater future conflicts between Western and non-Western cultures, a political study argues for greater understanding of non- Western civilizations. more...

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A dramatic and damning narrative account of how America has fought the "War on Terror" In the days immediately following September 11th, the most powerful people in the country were panic-stricken. The radical decisions about how to combat terrorists and strengthen national security were made in a state of utter chaos and fear, but the key players, Vice President Dick Cheney and his powerful, secretive adviser David Addington, used the crisis to further a long held agenda to enhance Presidential powers to a degree never known in U. more...

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