Doris Kearns Goodwin is a preeminent historian whose work delves into the complex dynamics of leadership and the personal relationships that shape pivotal historical moments. Her writing is characterized by profound psychological insight into key figures and a meticulous rendering of historical context. Goodwin masterfully blends narrative artistry with scholarly research to bring past eras to life, offering readers compelling and illuminating accounts. Her ability to reveal the human dimension behind monumental events makes her an indispensable storyteller of American history.
The Pulitzer Prize-winning historian reflects on her 42-year marriage with Dick Goodwin, one of the shining stars of John F. Kennedy's New Frontier and the journey of going through the letters, diaries, documents and memorabilia he saved over the years.
Are leaders born or made? Where does ambition come from? How does adversity affect the growth of leadership? Does the leader make the times or do the times make the leader? Historian Doris Kearns Goodwin draws upon the four presidents she has studied most closely -- Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson (in civil rights) -- to show how they recognized leadership qualities within themselves and were recognized as leaders by others. By looking back to their first entries into public life, we encounter them at a time when their paths were filled with confusion, fear, and hope. They all collided with dramatic reversals that disrupted their lives and threatened to shatter forever their ambitions. Nonetheless, they all emerged fitted to confront the contours and dilemmas of their times. No common pattern describes the trajectory of leadership. Although set apart in background, abilities, and temperament, these men shared a fierce ambition and a deep-seated resilience that enabled them to surmount uncommon hardships. At their best, all four were guided by a sense of moral purpose. At moments of great challenge, they were able to summon their talents to enlarge the opportunities and lives of others
One of the Best Books of the Year as chosen by major publications, this gripping tale questions the need for fiction when real life is filled with drama and intrigue. The narrative explores the first decade of the Progressive era, a tumultuous time of national upheaval and reform, through the intense friendship of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft. Their close relationship strengthens both men until it ruptures in 1912 during a brutal presidential nomination fight, dividing their families and friends, crippling the Republican Party's progressive wing, and paving the way for Democrat Woodrow Wilson's election, altering the course of history. Additionally, the story highlights the muckraking press that fueled the reform spirit, prompting Roosevelt to challenge the laissez-faire approach toward corrupt politicians and corporate exploiters. The muckrakers, including notable journalists like Ida Tarbell and Lincoln Steffens, are depicted under the visionary leadership of publisher S.S. McClure. Goodwin's narrative is enriched by a wealth of primary materials, including over four hundred letters between Roosevelt and Taft, diaries from their wives, and correspondence among muckrakers. This major historical work showcases Goodwin's ability to blend scholarly rigor with accessibility, examining leadership during a pivotal moment of activism and reform that drew the nation closer to its founding ideals.
An ambitious and wide-ranging new collection from Annie Leibovitz, one of the most famous photographers of our time, choosing her subjects simply because they mean something to her.
An analysis of Abraham Lincoln's political talents identifies the character strengths and abilities that enabled his successful election, in an account that also describes how he used the same abilities to rally former opponents in winning the Civil War.
From Joe and Rose's private wedding in the Archbishop of Boston's personal chapel, full circle to John and Carolyn's secret nuptials in a former slave chapel on a secluded island, Kennedy Weddings takes you to each event, with photographs, anecdotes, memories and souvenirs.For three generations the Kennedy family has been in the public eye, and for three generations their marriages have been the equivalent of "Royal Matches." This book covers the senior generation wedding of Joe and Rose, the second generation weddings--most notably of Jack and Jackie, Bobby and Ethel--and all of the third generation John Jr. and Carolyn Bessette, Caroline and Ed Schlossberg, Maria Shriver and Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kerry and Andrew Cuomo, Kathleen and Peter Townsend, Courtney and Paul Hill, Michael and Victoria Gifford.The accompanying images, acquired from members of the Kennedy family, private collections of friends, and the JFK Library and National Archives, are as rare as they are unusual--many have never been published, or were published only at the time of the wedding. Kennedy Weddings is the result of years of extensive research and has benefited from the unprecedented cooperation of many members of the Kennedy family, most especially of Senator Edward Kennedy's office.
ONE HUNDRED YEARS OF EXTRAORDINARY SPEECHES, ONE TIMELESS COLLECTION. This record showcases the most impassioned, inspirational, and infuriating orations delivered by Americans over the past century. It features a diverse array of voices, including poets, politicians, artists, astronauts, scoundrels, sports heroes, Native Americans, and Nobel laureates. This comprehensive anthology includes over 150 speeches, sermons, eulogies, radio broadcasts, courtroom pleas, fireside chats, public tributes, and commencement addresses. Spanning from the eve of the twentieth century through significant historical events like the Progressive Era, the Depression, two World Wars, the civil rights movement, McCarthyism, Vietnam, feminism, and the Reagan years, it brings us to the threshold of the new millennium. The words of these individuals, both renowned and obscure, challenged the nation's conscience, summoned it to action, honored fallen heroes, and gave voice to the marginalized, energizing America's spirit during desperate times. This collection features well-known and lesser-known speeches from figures such as the Roosevelts, the Kennedys, Mark Twain, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and many more. These voices tell the story of their age from various platforms, capturing the dramatic oratory of a century like no other collection.
By the award-winning author of Team of Rivals and The Bully Pulpit, Wait Till Next Year is Doris Kearns Goodwin’s touching memoir of growing up in love with her family and baseball. Set in the suburbs of New York in the 1950s, Wait Till Next Year re-creates the postwar era, when the corner store was a place to share stories and neighborhoods were equally divided between Dodger, Giant, and Yankee fans. We meet the people who most influenced Goodwin’s early life: her mother, who taught her the joy of books but whose debilitating illness left her housebound: and her father, who taught her the joy of baseball and to root for the Dodgers of Jackie Robinson, Roy Campanella, Pee Wee Reese, Duke Snider, and Gil Hodges. Most important, Goodwin describes with eloquence how the Dodgers’ leaving Brooklyn in 1957, and the death of her mother soon after, marked both the end of an era and, for her, the end of childhood.
Franklin and Eleanor Roosevelt: The Home Front in World War II
Winner of the Pulitzer for History, No Ordinary Time is a chronicle of one of the most vibrant & revolutionary periods in US history. With an extraordinary collection of details, Goodwin weaves together a number of story lines—the Roosevelt’s marriage & partnership, Eleanor’s life as First Lady, & FDR’s White House & its impact on America as well as on a world at war. Goodwin melds these into an intimate portrait of Eleanor & Franklin Roosevelt & of the time during which a new, modern America was born.
The noted biographer of Lyndon B. Johnson has written the story of three generations of the Fitzgeralds and the Kennedys, using records and letters never before made public to present a volume filled with new insights and information about two of America's most powerful families. Black-and-white photographs.
Doris Kearns' classic life of Lyndon Johnson, who presided over the Great Society, the Vietnam War, and other defining moments the tumultuous 1960s, is a monument in political biography. From the moment the author, then a young woman from Harvard, first encountered President Johnson at a White House dance in the spring of 1967, she became fascinated by the man--his character, his enormous energy and drive, and his manner of wielding these gifts in an endless pursuit of power. As a member of his White House staff, she soon became his personal confidante, and in the years before his death he revealed himself to her as he did to no other. Widely praised and enormously popular, Lyndon Johnson and the American Dream is a work of biography like few others. With uncanny insight and a richly engrossing style, the author renders LBJ in all his vibrant, conflicted humanity.
