Biography & Autobiography : Political

In this stirring book, Martin Gilbert tells the intensely human story of Winston Churchill's profound connection to America, a relationship that resulted in an Anglo-American alliance that has stood at the center of international relations for more than a century. more...

Price: $11.99

Timely and explosive, City Of Secrets is the story of a still-unsolved crime on holy territory- the infamous Swiss Guard murders on 5/4/98-and of a systematic attempt to hide the fatal failings of a security force charged with protecting the Pope. City Of Secrets contains some of the most dramatic and sensational revelations ever published about the internal affairs of the Vatican. Powerful and suspenseful, it is the product of a three-year investigation, and a chilling portrait of actions unworthy of the Catholic Church in the twilight of John Paul II's papacy. This is not only the story of a gruesome crime on holy territory. It is also the story of shameful efforts by men of the cloth, including a would-be successor to John Paul II and one of his most trusted servants, to obstruct the course of justice, vilify the character of Tornay who had fallen victim to barrack mobbing, stifle a potential scandal over homosexual affairs within the Guard, and hide fatal failings that make the force unfit to protect the pope. more...

Price: $10.95

For the first time, the inspiring true story of Lucian Truscott, the greatest combat commander of World War II. General Lucian K. Truscott was an American military giant: tough, resourceful, and devoted to the men under his command. Unlike the more flamboyant, high-ranking European field commanders of the time, he was neither arrogant nor in pursuit of personal glory—but rather a loyal, humble man who led his troops from the front and fought every enemy with a tenacity that made him one of the most respected and revered commanders in the U.S. Army. In Command of Honor, author H. Paul Jeffers chronicles the life of this American hero, from his ramshackle childhood in Texas and Oklahoma, to the defeat of Nazi Germany. But this is above all a story of service and sacrifice by a man who lived for duty, honor, and courage—a man who would become a legend in the annals of World War II. more...

Price: $24.95

In August 2004, Governor James E. McGreevey of New Jersey made history when he stepped before microphones, declared "My truth is that I am a gay American," and announced his resignation. The story made international headlines—but what led to that moment was a human and political drama more complex and fascinating than anyone knew. Now, in this extraordinarily candid memoir, McGreevey shares his story of a life of ambition, moral compromise, and redemption. From childhood, McGreevey lived a kind of idealized American life. The son of working-class Irish Catholic parents, named for an uncle who died at Iwo Jima, he strove to exceed expectations in everything he did, meeting each new challenge as though his "future rode on every move." As a young man he was tempted by the priesthood, yet it was another calling—politics—that he found irresistible. Plunging early into the dangerous waters of New Jersey politics, he won three elections by the age of thirty-six, and soon thereafter nearly toppled the state's popular governor, Christie Todd Whitman, in a photo-finish election. Four years later, he won the governorship by a landslide. Throughout his adult life, however, Jim McGreevey had been forced to suppress a fundamental truth about himself: that he was gay. He knew at once that the only clear path to his dreams was to live a straight life, and so he split in two, accepting the traditional role of family man while denying his deepest emotions. And he discovered, to his surprise, that becoming a political player demanded ethical shortcuts that became as corrosive as living in the closet. In the cutthroat culture of political bosses, backroom deals, and the insidious practice known as "pay-to-play," he writes, "political compromises came easy to me because I'd learned how to keep a part of myself innocent of them." His policy triumphs as governor were tempered by scandal, as the transgressions of his staff came back to haunt him. Yet only when a fo more...

Price: $12.95

In this gripping memoir, John F. Kennedy's closest advisor recounts in full for the first time his experience counseling Kennedy through the most dramatic moments in American history. Sorensen returns to January 1953, when he and the freshman senator from Massachusetts began their extraordinary professional and personal relationship. Rising from legislative assistant to speechwriter and advisor, the young lawyer from Nebraska worked closely with JFK on his most important speeches, as well as his book Profiles in Courage . Sorensen encouraged the junior senator's political ambitions—from a failed bid for the vice presidential nomination in 1956 to the successful presidential campaign in 1960, after which he was named Special Counsel to the President. Sorensen describes in thrilling detail his experience advising JFK during some of the most crucial days of his presidency, from the decision to go to the moon to the Cuban Missile Crisis, when JFK requested that the thirty-four-year-old Sorensen draft the key letter to Khrushchev at the most critical point of the world's first nuclear confrontation. After Kennedy was assassinated, Sorensen stayed with President Johnson for a few months before leaving to write a biography of JFK. In 1968 he returned to Washington to help run Robert Kennedy's presidential campaign. Through it all, Sorensen never lost sight of the ideals that brought him to Washington and to the White House, working tirelessly to promote and defend free, peaceful societies. Illuminating, revelatory, and utterly compelling, Counselor is the brilliant, long-awaited memoir from the remarkable man who shaped the presidency and the legacy of one of the greatest leaders America has ever known. more...

Price: $19.95