Biography & Autobiography : Presidents & Heads of State

A new and highly revealing look at one of the most celebrated political figures of our times. Drawing upon a range of original sources, Tom Lodge explores the making of a modern-day political hero, from Mandela's childhood years through to his role as a statesman in the construction of the new South Africa. - ;Nelson Mandela, the first African politician to acquire a world following, remains in the 21st century an iconic figure. But what are the sources of his almost mythic appeal? And to what extent did Mandela self-consciously create the status of political hero that he now enjoys?. This new and highly revealing biography examines these questions in detail for the first time. Drawing on a range of original sources, it presents a host of fresh insights about the shaping of Mandela's personality and public persona, from his childhood days and early activism, through his long years of imprisonment, to his presidency of the new South Africa. Throughout, Lodge emphasizes the crucial interplay between Mandela's public career and his personal or private world, showing how his. heroic status was a product both of his leading position within the anti-apartheid movement and his own deliberate efforts to supply a form of quasi-messianic leadership for that movement. And as Lodge shows, Mandela's huge international appeal is a compelling and unusual cocktail. Of the sacred and the secular. Of traditional African values and global media savvy. And of human vulnerablilty interwoven with the grand narrrative of liberation throughout the story of this exceptional life. - ;Mr Lodge's elegant biography will be essential reading for anyone wishing to look behind the myth. He has a strong feel for South Africa's history. His anecdotes are well chosen and insightful, and serve to remind the reader that Mr Mandela, although an exceptional figure, still remains all too human. s - ;In this illuminating bio....Lodge makes an important contribution with his argument more...

Price: $12.95

Fifty years after President Dwight D. Eisenhower ordered troops to Little Rock, Arkansas, to enforce a federal court order desegregating the city's Central High School, a leading authority on Eisenhower presents an original and engrossing narrative that places Ike and his civil rights policies in dramatically new light. more...

Price: $16.00

According to this hagiography penned by his daughter, the 41st president is brave, loyal, generous, fun-loving (he put "fake dog poop" in the guest room of the vice presidential mansion) and considerate (he cleaned real dog vomit out of his limo himself instead of making the Secret Service do it). He's also graciousness personified, as attested by the many kind notes to acquaintances the author reprints alongside boilerplate testimonials from friends, relatives and dignitaries like Mikhail Gorbachev and Bill Clinton. Koch includes campaign war stories and briefly salutes Bush's budget deal and policy initiatives like the Americans with Disabilities Act, but her father's politics seem mainly an extension of his personal character and charm, as he works with world leaders to finesse the fall of communism and unite against Saddam Hussein. more...

Price: $9.99

The agony and excitement of the 2004 Presidential campaign between Bush and Kerry echoed the mad frenzy of earlier, “low-tech” campaigns. In important ways, little has really changed in the fundamental nature of presidential campaigns, presidential politi more...

Price: $27.95

Introduction: The Adventurous Journey of Nixon in the World, Fredrik Logevall and Andrew Preston. Parameters. 1. An Elusive Grand Design, Jussi M. Hanhimaki (Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva). 2. Nixon as Statesman: The Failed Campaign, David Greenberg (Rutgers University). 3. Henry Kissinger and American Grand Strategy in the 1970s, Jeremi Suri (University of Wisconsin). 4. Salesmanship and Substance: The Influence of Domestic Policy and Watergate, Dominic Sandbrook (Oxford University). Openings. 5. Nixon, Kissinger, and the Opening to China, Margaret MacMillan (St. Antony's College, Oxford University). 6. Nuclear Nixon: Ironies, Puzzles, and the Triumph of Realpolitik, Francis J. Gavin (University of Texas at Austin). 7. The Frailties of Grand Strategies: A Comparison of Detente and Ostpolitik, Mary Elise Sarotte (University of Southern California). 8. The United States and the Making of the Helsinki Final Act, Michael Cotey Morgan (Yale University). Closings. 9. Waging War on All Fronts: Nixon, Kissinger, and the Vietnam War, 1969-1972, Lien-Hang T. Nguyen (University of Kentucky). 10. The End of the Vietnam War, 1973-1976, Robert D. Schulzinger (University of Colorado, Boulder). Flashpoints, Hotspots, and Allies. 11. The Weight of Conquest: Henry Kissinger and the Arab-Israeli Conflict, Salim Yaqub (University of California, Santa Barbara). 12. The Danger of Geopolitical Fantasies: Nixon, Kissinger, and the South Asia Crisis of 1971, Robert J. McMahon (Ohio State University). 13. History from Below: The United States and Latin America in the Nixon Years, Mark Atwood Lawrence (University of Texas at Austin). 14. Nixon Shocks Japan, Inc, Thomas W. Zeiler (University of Colorado, Boulder). 15. Thanks for the Fish: Nixon, Kissinger, and Canada, Robert Bothwell (University of Toronto) more...

Price: $21.95