Showing titles in Presidents & Heads of State

Perfect for fans of The Crown, legendary New York Times bestselling biographer Andrew Morton provides the definitive story of Queen Elizabeth II's life and legacy. Painfully shy, Elizabeth Windsor’s personality was well suited to her youthful ambition of living quietly in the country, raising...

Jan Smuts: Unafraid of Greatness is a re-examination of the life and thoughts of Jan Smuts. It is intended to remind a contemporary listenership of the remarkable achievements of this impressive soldier-statesman. The author, a former editor of The Star, argues that Smut's role in the creation of modern South Africa should never be forgotten, not least because of his lifetime of devoted service to this country. The book draws a parallel between Smuts and President Thabo Mbeki, both architects of a new South Africa, much lionised abroad yet often distrusted at home.

When Winston Churchill was a boy of 16, he already had a vision for his purpose in life. "This country will be subjected somehow to a tremendous invasion...I shall be in command of the defenses of London...it will fall to me to save the Capital, to save the Empire." It was a most unlikely prediction. Perceived as a failure for much of his life, Churchill was the last person anyone would have expected to rise to national prominence as prime minister and influence the fate of the world during World War II.

He fought for Washington, served with Lincoln, witnessed Bunker Hill, and sounded the clarion against slavery on the eve of the Civil War. He negotiated an end to the War of 1812, engineered the annexation of Florida, and won the Supreme Court decision that freed the African captives of La Amistad. He served his nation as minister to six countries, secretary of state, senator, congressman, and president. John Quincy Adams was all of these things and more. In this masterful biography, award-winning author Harlow Giles Unger reveals Adams as a towering figure in the nation’s formative years.

The Great Successor is an irreverent yet insightful quest to understand the life of Kim Jong Un, one of the world's most secretive dictators. Kim's life is swathed in myth and propaganda, from the plainly silly - he supposedly ate so much Swiss cheese that his ankles gave way - to the grimly bloody stories of the ways his enemies and rival family members have perished at his command. 

In Mandela, former foreign correspondent Bob Crew demystifies the icon and his legacy. After over a decade of travels in South Africa, Crew seeks truth in the unexpected details of the lives of Mandela and current South African president Jacob Zuma, comparing them to other world icons in order to bring a new understanding of their legacies to Western listeners.

Love history? Know your stuff with History in an Hour. John Fitzgerald Kennedy, America’s youngest President. But, barely one thousand days into his Presidency, he was assassinated. JFK in an Hour provides a compelling and comprehensive overview of this man credited with introducing an...

A novelist once wrote, “There are stories one must tell, and years when one must tell them.” Jill Biden’s time to discuss her four years in the White House is now. Jill Biden became First Lady at a complicated moment in US history, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic and in the shadow...

In his memoir, Grant recounts his early life, including his military education at West Point and his service in the Mexican-American War. However, the heart of the book focuses on his leadership during the American Civil War. Grant provides detailed insights into his strategic decisions, battles, and interactions with other prominent military figures such as Abraham Lincoln and Robert E. Lee.

This new biography of Van Buren—the first full-scale portrait in four decades—charts his ascent from a tavern in the Hudson Valley to the presidency, concluding with his late-career involvement in an antislavery movement. Offering vivid profiles of the day's leading figures (Andrew Jackson, Henry Clay, John C. Calhoun, John Quincy Adams, DeWitt Clinton, James K. Polk), James Bradley's book depicts the struggle for power in the tumultuous decades leading up to the Civil War.

From the admiralty to the miner's strike, from the Battle of Britain to the Nobel Prize, Churchill oversaw some of the most important events the World has ever seen. Roy Jenkins faithfully presents these events, while also managing to convey the contradictions and quirks in Churchill's character...

John Barletta was a Vietnam veteran and Secret Service agent who spent over a decade with the Reagans, poised to give his own life at any moment to save the fortieth president of the United States. His superior riding skills made Barletta the perfect choice to protect Reagan during his frequent visits to the ranch. Over time, he got to know Reagan as few others did.

"A great public service--critical for our time." --Bandy X. Lee, M.D., M.Div., Yale psychiatrist, expert on violence, and editor of The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump The New York Times-bestselling author of Bush on the Couch shows that Donald Trump is mentally and emotionally unfit to execute...

François Mitterrand, figure emblématique de la Ve République, a marqué la France de son empreinte durable. Cette biographie, présentée par les historiens Judith Bonnin et Pierre-Emmanuel Guigo, explore les multiples facettes de cet homme complexe : son ascension politique, ses choix controversés, ses passions et ses contradictions, pour révéler l'homme derrière le président, dans une biographie riche et nuancée.

One of the most influential books of the past fifty years, Team of Rivals is Pulitzer Prize–winning author and esteemed presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin’s modern classic about the political genius of Abraham Lincoln, his unlikely presidency, and his cabinet of former political...

In historical surveys, Andrew Johnson has been consistently ranked as one of the worst presidents for well over 150 years. But despite his bad reputation, there is much more to the life of Andrew Johnson than these rankings suggest. Andrew Johnson was a man who had long walked a political tightrope. He was a Southern Democrat who opposed the Democrat-dominated Southern states when they seceded from the Union—in fact, he was the only Southern senator to remain loyal to the United States.

In this New York Times bestseller, investigative journalist Lee Smith uses his unprecedented access to expose the deep state operation against President Donald J. Trump -- and the American people. The Plot Against the President tells the story of how Congressman Devin Nunes, while leading the...

When Annette Gordon-Reed's groundbreaking study was first published, rumors of Thomas Jefferson's sexual involvement with his slave Sally Hemings had circulated for two centuries. Among all aspects of Jefferson's renowned life, it was perhaps the most hotly contested topic. Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings intensified this debate by identifying glaring inconsistencies in many noted scholars' evaluations of the existing evidence. In this study, Gordon-Reed assembles a fascinating and convincing argument that the evidence for the affair has been denied a fair hearing.

From one of the country’s most brilliant political commentators, the bestselling author of Then Everything Changed, an extraordinary, thought-provoking look at Kennedy’s presidency—after November 22, 1963. November 22, 1963: JFK does not die. What would happen to his life, his presidency...

In the Arena is the most personal, profound, and revealing memoir ever written by a major political figure. It is Richard Nixon's frankest, most outspoken book—which includes the inside story of his resignation from the Presidency and its aftermath. President Nixon's previous books have...