History > American

The second novel in the chronology of Vidal's epic CHRONICLES OF EMPIRE, embodying the passage of American history.

Describes a murder trial in the insular Bukharan-Jewish community of Forest Hills, Queens, that captured national attention.

For two months this fall, Zuccotti Park, squeezed deep in a canyon between bankers' skyscrapers in lower Manhattan, was the site of an extraordinary political action. Home to the hundreds of anti-capitalist protestors who camped there overnight, and the thousands who visited to join the protest, the park became a magical place: a communion of sharing and consensus in the heart of a citadel defined by greed and oligarchy. In the early hours of Tuesday November the 15th the occupiers' camp was destroyed when police swept suddenly int... read more

A publishing event: the fourth volume in Robert Caro's monumental biography, The Years of Lyndon Johnson, which began with the best-selling and prize-winning "The Path to Power, Means of Ascent, "and "Master of the Senate." "The Passage of Power" follows Johnson through both the most frustrating and the most triumphant periods of his career. It tells the story of his volatile relationship with John Kennedy and Robert Kennedy during the fight they waged for the 1960 Democratic nomination for president and through Johnson's unhappy v... read more

America is a grotesquely polarized society and becoming more so all the time. In this razor-sharp, funny and terrifying collection of pieces, Barbara Ehrenreich shows how the widening gap between rich and poor over the past eight years has left the country increasingly divided between the gated communities on the one hand, and the trailer parks and tenements on the other. She describes a country where the super-rich travel by private jet, while low-paid workers make multiple bus trips to get to their jobs; where a wealthy minority ... read more

First published in 1971, "Cuba: The Pursuit of Freedom" is still the most important and authoritative book on this complex and often geopolitically significant country, marrying Hugh Thomas' unique skills as arguably the world's leading historian of Spanish-speaking peoples with an intricate and absorbing subject. This book explores the whole sweep of Cuban history, from the British capture of Havana in 1762 through the years of Spanish and American domination up to the twentieth century and the extraordinary revolution of Fidel Ca... read more

This is the runaway number one bestseller. This is the book that set Washington ablaze. This is the new non-fiction classic. Forget everything you think you know about the making of the most powerful man on the planet. Obama's triumph was not inevitable: it was the end product of a brilliant, crazy, unique political campaign. "Race of a Lifetime" is the gripping inside story of those thrilling months, from the collapsing House of Clinton to the erratic John McCain and the bewildering Sarah Palin. Brimming with exclusive revelations... read more

The definitive biography of the world's most important body of water - the Atlantic.
One hundred and ninety million years ago, the shifting of two of the world's tectonic plates led to the creation of an immense chasm. This giant gash in the flanks of the planet slowly opened up and eventually evolved into the most important and most travelled ocean in our world. In this utterly original biography, Simon Winchester explores the life of the Atlantic; its birth, its relationship with mankind, and what lies in store for... read more

America has a huge problem. It faces four major challenges, on which its future depends, and it is failing to meet them. In What's Wrong with America?, Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum analyze those challenges - globalization, the revolution in information technology, the nation's chronic deficits and its pattern of energy consumption - and spell out what needs to be done now to rediscover America's power and prowess. They explain how the end of the cold war blinded the nation to the need to address these issues seriously.... read more

'If the 1960s were a wild weekend and the 1980s a hectic day at the office, the 1970s were a long Sunday evening in winter, with cold leftovers for supper and a power cut expected at any moment.' A jaw-droppingly brilliant account of how the seventies was defined by mass paranoia told with Francis Wheen's wonderfully acute sense of the absurd. The nostalgic whiff of the seventies evokes memories of loons and disco, Abba and Fawlty Towers. However, beneath the long hair it was really a theme park of mass paranoia. 'Strange Days In... read more

A group biography of the twelve caesars of our time: American Presidents from Roosevelt to George W. Bush. The twentieth century has been called 'the American Century'. Not since the days of the Roman emperors has there been such a succession of rulers holding the fate of the world in their hands. Now, award-winning biographer Nigel Hamilton gives us the lives of the twelve men, from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush, who presided over America's imperial fortunes - the good, the bad and the truly awful. How did these A... read more

THE WHITE HOUSE: THE PRESIDENT'S HOME IN PHOTOGRAPHS AND HISTORY covers every aspect of White House Life over the past 200 years. Witness multiple refurbishments to the house, media coverage and popular photography of the White House, and photos of its illustrious inhabitants, visitors, and even pets and illustrations. Accompanying the photographs is an incisive, informative text by renowned critic Vicki Goldberg. A rich visual history and a beautiful gift book, THE WHITE HOUSE is a must for photography and history buffs alike.

Plotted in secret, launched in the dark, John Brown's raid on Harpers Ferry was a pivotal moment in US history. But few Americans know the true story of the men and women who launched a desperate strike at the slaveholding South. This title portrays Brown's uprising in vivid colour, revealing a country on the brink of explosive conflict.

Is America the new world empire? Presidents from Lincoln to Bush may have denied it but, as Niall Ferguson's brilliant and provocative book shows, the US is the greatest military and economic colossus of all time. What's more, it always has been an empire, with its founding fathers battling westwards for territory and their successors spreading freedom across the world - at gunpoint if necessary. Yet is the US really equipped to play Atlas, bearing the weight of the world on its shoulders? America, Ferguson reveals, is now an empir... read more

In the wake of Hurricane Katrina, longtime New Orleans residents Abdulrahman and Kathy Zeitoun are cast into an unthinkable struggle with forces beyond wind and water. In this startling and deeply humane work of non-fiction, readers will witness the US's worst natural disaster through new eyes, encountering all the hope and contradiction of a unique moment in American history.

The United States is a country founded on the ideals of democracy and freedom, yet throughout the last century it has used secret and lawless methods to destroy its enemies. The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is the most powerful of these forces. This title presents the history of the FBI as a secret intelligence service.

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Infuriated by government corruption, incensed by "banksters" shaking down taxpayers, and despairing of the healthcare system, the dependency on foreign oil, and the failing educational system, Dylan Ratigan sees an America that is botched almost beyond repair. In this book, his first, he rips the lid off of the deeply crooked system-and offers a way out. The American public knows that the game is rigged. The stats back it up: Unemployment has exploded to near 25-year highs, now approaching 10%, even as the Great Recession has suppo... read more

Bread, cash, dosh, dough, and loot. Call it what you like, it matters now more than ever. In "The Ascent of Money", Niall Ferguson shows that finance is the foundation of all human progress and the lifeblood of history. From the cash injection that funded the Italian Renaissance to the stock market bubble that sparked the French Revolution, from the bonds that fuelled Britain's war effort to the Wall Street Crash and today's meltdown, this is the story of boom and bust as it's never been told before. Whether you're scraping by or r... read more

America has a huge problem. It faces four major challenges, on which its future depends, and it is failing to meet them. In What's Wrong with America?, Thomas L. Friedman and Michael Mandelbaum analyze those challenges - globalization, the revolution in information technology, the nation's chronic deficits, and its pattern of energy consumption - and spell out what needs to be done now to rediscover America's power and prowess. They explain how the end of the cold war blinded the nation to the need to address these issues seriously... read more