A burglar in the bedroom of a mansion has his work interrupted by the arrival of the mistress of the house with the president of the U.S. The couple have a fight and she is killed. The burglar flees, taking along a blood-stained letter opener as evidence, but is spotted by presidential bodyguards. The White House chief-of-staff, an ambitious woman, has him tracked and killed, but not before the burglar has told his story to a lawyer. The lawyer realizes...

Drawing on historical documents and interviews with the long-silent 'illegitimate' branch of the family, celebrity biographer William J. Mann paints a group portrait of this legendary family. Mann argues that the Roosevelts' rise to power and prestige was driven by a series of intense personal contests that at times devolved into blood sport. Eleanor Roosevelt experienced this brutality firsthand, witnessing her uncle Theodore cruelly destroy her...

Newly discovered and declassified documents make for a surprising and revealing portrait of the president we thought we knew. Belittled by his critics as the babysitter-in-chief, Eisenhower ground down Joseph McCarthy, stimulated the economy to lift it from recession, and turned an $8 billion deficit in 1953 into a $500 million surplus in 1960. The President Eisenhower of popular imagination is a benign figure, armed with a putter, a winning smile,...

Andersen Brower shares a special inside look into the most famous home in America--and the lives of hardworking staff members and first ladies who've maintained it. Have you ever wondered what exactly goes on inside 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue, where the President and his family live? Brower shines a spotlight on the families that have lived in the White House, as well as the roles of the staff members,. She explains what goes on behind the scenes at...

Heroes are often defined as ordinary characters who are thrust into extraordinary circumstances, and through courage and a dash of luck, cement their place in history. Chosen as FDR's fourth-term vice president for his well-praised work ethic, good judgment, and lack of enemies, Harry S. Truman--a midwesterner who had no college degree and had never had the money to buy his own home--was the prototypical ordinary man. Until, that is, he found himself...

"Newly ensconced in his Santa Fe abode with a lovely female companion, Stone Barrington receives a call from an old friend requesting a delicate favor. A situation has arisen that could escalate into an explosive quagmire, and only someone with Stone's stealth and subtlety can contain the damage. At the center of these events is an impressive gentleman whose star is on the rise, and who'd like to get Stone in his corner. He's charming and ambitious...

"This special edition was produced to accompany C-SPAN's First Ladies: Influence and Image, an original series exploring America's first ladies, their lives, the times in which they lived, and their effect on the country. The book not only provides a special perspective on national life, but also offers a considered insight into the lives of notable women. The first ladies are brought to life with portraits drawn from the White House collection, as...

"From master storyteller and New York Times bestselling biographer H. W. Brands, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, comes the first full life of Ronald Reagan since his death. Ronald Reagan today is a conservative icon, celebrated for transforming the American domestic agenda and playing a crucial part in ending communism in the Soviet Union. In his masterful new biography, H. W. Brands argues that Reagan, along with FDR, was the most consequential...

"Ulysses S. Grant's life has typically been misunderstood. All too often he is caricatured as a chronic loser and inept businessman, or as the triumphant but brutal Union general of the Civil War. But these stereotypes don't come close to capturing him, as Ron Chernow shows in his masterful biography, the first to provide a complete understanding of the general and president whose fortunes rose and fell with dizzying speed and frequency."--Book jacket....