From 1775 through 1777, George Washington and Benedict Arnold were America’s two most celebrated warriors. Their earlier lives had surprisingly... parallel paths. They were strong leaders in combat, they admired and respected each other, and they even shared common enemies. Yet one became our greatest hero and the other our most notorious traitor. Why?In the new paperback edition of George Washington and Benedict Arnold: A Tale of Two Patriots, author and military historian Dave Palmer reveals the answer: character. In this fascinating and unique dual biography, Palmer also shows:How Arnold’s treason actually helped the Patriot causeWhy Arnold and Washington’s amazingly similar backgrounds, family influences, youthful experiences, and “self–made” status led to strikingly different results in their livesHow in four well–defined steps Arnold went from hero to traitorPresenting the panorama of the Revolutionary War through the lives of two of its most colorful and important figures, George Washington and Benedict Arnold reveals important lessons for today through a story that few Americans know, but that every American should.

In George Washington and the American Military Tradition, Don Higginbotham investigates the interplay of militiaman and professional soldier, of soldier... and legislator, that shaped George Washington’s military career and ultimately fostered the victory that brought independence to our nation. Higginbotham then explores the legacy of Washington’s success, revealing that the crucial blending of civil and military concerns characteristic of the Revolution has been variously regarded and only seldom repeated by later generations of American soldiers.Washington’s training, between 1753 and 1755, included frontier command in the Virginia militia, adjunct service to the British regulars during the French and Indian War, and increasing civil service in the Virginia House of Burgesses and Continental Congress. The result of this combination of pursuits was Washington’s concern for the citizen behind the soldier, his appreciation of both frontier tactics and professional discipline, and his sensitivity to political conflict and consensus in thirteen colonies in forming a new, united nation. When, in 1775, Washington accepted command of the Continental Army from the Continental Congress, he possessed political and military experience that enabled him, by 1783, to translate the Declaration of Independence into victory over the British.Yet, Higginbotham notes, the legacy of Washington’s success has sometimes been overlooked by generals concerned with professional training and a permanent military establishment, and therefore apt to revere foreign heros such as Jomini, Napoleon, and Bismarck more than Washington. Other leaders, most notably the World War II chief of staff, George Marshall, have recognized and implemented Washington’s unique understanding of civil and military coordination. In times almost wholly dominated by a military agenda, Washington’s and Marshall’s steady subordination of soldier to citizen, of strategy to legislation, recalls the careful consensus of thirteen colonies in 1776.

A black man praised by white America-George Washington Carver (1864-1943) was an anomaly in his own time.  Now available in paperback, this choice... selection of Carver's writings reveals the human side of the famous black scientist, as well as the forces that shaped his creative genius.

George Washington comes alive in this fascinating activity book that introduces the leader to whom citizens turned again and again—to lead them through... eight long years of war, to guide them as they wrote a new Constitution, and to act as the new nation’s first executive leader. Children will learn how, shortly after his death in 1799, people began transforming George Washington from a man into a myth. But Washington was a complex individual who, like everyone, had hopes and fears, successes and failures. In his early 20s, for instance,Washington’s actions helped plunge Great Britain and France into war. He later fought for liberty and independence, yet owned slaves himself (eventually freeing them in his will). This book weaves a rich tapestry of Washington’s life, allowing kids to connect with his story in 21 hands-on projects based on his experiences and the times in which he lived. Children will learn how to tie a cravat, write with a quill pen, follow animal tracks, sew a lady’s cap, plant a garden, roll a beeswax candle, play a game of Quoits, and make a replica of Washington’s commander-in-chief flag. The text includes a time line, glossary, websites, travel resources, and a reading list for further study.

This first novel written in the 1930s by the dean of Mexican-American folklore charts the coming of age of a young Mexican American on the Texas-Mexico... border against the background of guerrilla warfare, banditry, land grabs, abuses by the Texas Rangers and the overpowering pressures to disappear into the American melting pot.

In 1799, at the end of George Washington’s long life and illustrious career, the politician Henry Lee eulogized him as: “First in war, first in... peace, and first in the hearts of his countrymen.” Esteemed historian Richard Brookhiser now adds to this list, “First in leadership,” examining the lessons to be learned from our first president, first commander-in-chief, and founding CEO.With wit and skill, Brookhiser expertly anatomizes true leadership with lessons from Washington’s three spectacularly successful careers as an executive: general, president, and tycoon. In every area of endeavor, Washington maximized his strengths and overcame his flaws. Brookhiser shows how one man’s struggles and successes two centuries ago can serve as a model—and an inspiration—for leaders today.

In George Washington's Expense Account -- the best-selling expense account in history -- Kitman shows how Washington brilliantly turned his noble... gesture of refusing payment for his services as commander in chief of the Continental Army into an opportunity to indulge his insatiable lust for fine food and drink, extravagant clothing, and lavish accommodations. In a close analysis of the document that financed our Revolution, Kitman uncovers more scandals than you can shake a Nixon Cabinet member at -- and serves each up with verve and wit.

A premier leadership scholar and an eighteenth-century expert define the special contributions and qualifications of our first president Revolutionary... hero, founding president, and first citizen of the young republic, George Washington was the most illustrious public man of his time, a man whose image today is the result of the careful grooming of his public persona to include the themes of character, self-sacrifice, and destiny. As Washington sought to interpret the Constitution’s assignment of powers to the executive branch and to establish precedent for future leaders, he relied on his key advisers and looked to form consensus as the guiding principle of government. His is a legacy of a successful experiment in collective leadership, great initiatives in establishing a strong executive branch, and the formulation of innovative and lasting economic and foreign policies. James MacGregor Burns and Susan Dunn also trace the arc of Washington’s increasing dissatisfaction with public life and the seeds of dissent and political parties that, ironically, grew from his insistence on consensus. In this compelling and balanced biography, Burns and Dunn give us a rich portrait of the man behind the carefully crafted mythology.

George W. Bush remains a highly controversial figure, a man for whom millions of Americans have very strong feelings. Dan McAdams' book offers an astute... psychological portrait of Bush, one of the first biographies to appear since he left office as well as the first to draw systematically from personality science to analyze his life. McAdams, an international leader in personality psychology and the narrative study of lives, focuses on several key events in Bush's life, such as the death of his sister at age 7, his commitment to sobriety on his 40th birthday, and his reaction to the terrorist attacks of September 11, and his decision to invade Iraq. He sheds light on Bush's life goals, the story he constructed to make sense of his life, and the psychological dynamics that account for his behavior. Although there are many popular biographies of George W. Bush, McAdams' is the first true psychological analysis based on established theories and the latest research. Short and focused, written in an engaging style, this book offers a truly penetrating look at our forty-third president.

Here, for the first time is a brief, balanced, and up-to-date history of Georgia from the early Native Americans to the twenty-first century. Based on... the most recent research, Georgia: A Brief History surveys the people and events that shaped our state's history in a style that reads easily and flows effortlessly.Beginning with the earliest Native American settlements, the story tells of first contacts between area natives and Spanish from Florida, British from Carolina, and James Oglethorpe leading the effort to found a colony called Georgia. That colony passed out of the British Empire during the American Revolution, a conflict that was as much a civil war as a war for independence. In the following decades, the Creek and Cherokee were driven out as Georgia was transformed into a cotton kingdom dominated by a minority of slaveholders, who finally sought to make slavery perpetual in a war that often pitted Georgians against each other.In the aftermath of the Civil War, the state struggled with the consequences of the conflict, political, social, and economic. The postwar years were highlighted by economic stagnation, questions over the meaning of freedom, and one-party politics. Race relations pervaded the state's history after the Civil War until well into the twentieth century and those struggles are traced from Reconstruction to Jim Crow to the Civil Rights Era.In the latter half of the twentieth century, and carrying into the twenty-first, Georgia drifted away from the provincialism that characterized its history and moved toward modernity.

Georgia's past has diverged from the nation's and given the state and its people a distinctive culture and character. Some of the best, and the worst,... aspects of American and Southern history can be found in the story of what is arguably the most important state in the South. Yet just as clearly Georgia has not always followed the road traveled by the rest of the nation and the region. Explaining the common and divergent paths that make us who we are is one reason the Georgia Historical Society has collaborated with Buddy Sullivan and Arcadia Publishing to produce Georgia: A State History, the first full-length history of the state produced in nearly a generation. Sullivan's lively account draws upon the vast archival and photographic collections of the Georgia Historical Society to trace the development of Georgia's politics, economy, and society and relates the stories of the people, both great and small, who shaped our destiny. This book opens a window on our rich and sometimes tragic past and reveals to all of us the fascinating complexity of what it means to be a Georgian.

Since it was first published in 1955, Georgia History in Outline has been the standard concise history of the state. The third edition includes a major... revision of the chapter on the twentieth century, reflecting in part new information and interpretation on modern Georgia from A History of Georgia and in part the author's personal knowledge of events since the 1920s.

The winner of Britain's prestigious Whitbread Prize and a bestseller there for months, this wonderfully readable biography offers a rich, rollicking... picture of late-eighteenth-century British aristocracy and the intimate story of a woman who for a time was its undisputed leader.Lady Georgiana Spencer was the great-great-great-great-aunt of Diana, Princess of Wales, and was nearly as famous in her day. In 1774, at the age of seventeen, Georgiana achieved immediate celebrity by marrying one of England's richest and most influential aristocrats, the Duke of Devonshire. Launched into a world of wealth and power, she quickly became the queen of fashionable society, adored by the Prince of Wales, a dear friend of Marie-Antoinette, and leader of the most important salon of her time. Not content with the role of society hostess, she used her connections to enter politics, eventually becoming more influential than most of the men who held office. Her good works and social exploits made her loved by the multitudes, but Georgiana's public success, like Diana's, concealed a personal life that was fraught with suffering. The Duke of Devonshire was unimpressed by his wife's legendary charms, preferring instead those of her closest friend, a woman with whom Georgiana herself was rumored to be on intimate terms. For over twenty years, the three lived together in a jealous and uneasy ménage à trois, during which time both women bore the Duke's children—as well as those of other men.Foreman's descriptions of Georgiana's uncontrollable gambling, all- night drinking, drug taking, and love affairs with the leading politicians of the day give us fascinating insight into the lives of the British aristocracy in the era of the madness of King George III, the American and French revolutions, and the defeat of Napoleon. A gifted young historian whom critics are already likening to Antonia Fraser, Amanda Foreman draws on a wealth of fresh research and writes colorfully and penetratingly about the fascinating Georgiana, whose struggle against her own weaknesses, whose great beauty and flamboyance, and whose determination to play a part in the affairs of the world make her a vibrant, astonishingly contemporary figure.