Showing results for "The Star" in Presidents & Heads of State

They might be the type of people who conduct interviews in the shadows of a hotel somewhere. Voices electronically altered. What they know could have changed the course of American history. Though their lives were touched by the tragedy of November 22, 1963, a great many factors, fear among them, kept them silent. Until now.

Barack Obama's keynote speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention instantly catapulted the little-known state senator from Illinois into the national spotlight. Three months later Obama would win election to the US Senate; four years later he would make history as America's first black president. Now, at the end of his second presidential term, David J. Garrow delivers the most compelling and comprehensive Obama biography - as epic in vision and rigorous in detail as Robert Caro's The Power Broker.

In this comprehensive biography, Jean Edward Smith reconciles conflicting assessments of Grant's life, arguing that Grant is greatly underrated as a president. Following the turmoil of Andrew Johnson's administration, Grant guided the nation through the post-Civil War era, overseeing Reconstruction of the South and enforcing the freedoms of new African-American citizens. His presidential accomplishments were as considerable as his military victories, for the same strength of character that made him successful on the battlefield also characterized his years in the White House.

Picking America's best presidents is easy. George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Franklin D. Roosevelt usually lead the list. But choosing the nation's worst presidents requires more thought. In Star-Spangled Men, respected presidential biographer Nathan Miller puts on display those leaders who were abject failures as chief executive. With pointed humor and a deft hand, he presents a rogues' gallery of the men who dropped the presidential ball, and sometimes their pants as well.

When I was in school, history was one of my favorite subjects; I always got "A"s in history. However, I did not consider myself to be a “history buff”. I never read history books other than what was required for school. That changed in 1988. I remember watching a TV special called "The Trial of Lee Harvey Oswald”. There was a real prosecutor and a real criminal defense attorney.