Benjamin Franklin is a man who needs little introduction. He wore many hats over the course of his fascinating life, from that of a printer, to an inventor, to a scientist, to a politician, a founding father and statesman, and even a postmaster-general. He was famous for all of these things in his day, but he was also famed for his keen insight into people and human nature, and his sparkling talent as a conversationalist.

Despite his

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Draws on a wide range of primary sources in a complex portrait of the internationally respected Israeli diplomat to discuss his early life, unpopularity in his home country and considerable contributions to peace efforts in the Middle East. As a skilled debater, a master of language, and a passionate defender of Israel, Abba Eban's diplomatic presence was in many ways a contradiction unlike any the world has seen since. While he was celebrated internationally...

"My purpose," Mahatma Gandhi writes of this book, "is to describe experiments in the science of Satyagraha, not to say how good I am." Satyagraha, Gandhi's nonviolent protest movement (satya = true, agraha = firmness), came to stand, like its creator, as a moral principle and a rallying cry; the principle was truth and the cry freedom. The life of Gandhi has given fire and fiber to freedom fighters and to the untouchables of the world: hagiographers...

James Madison helped to ratify America s constitution and later served as president. But there are many things readers may not know about this Founding Father. Madison, for example, was a prolific writer helping Alexander Hamilton and John Jay in writing the Federalist Papers. From Madison s short stature to his early days in the White House, there are plenty of fun facts and stories about America s fourth president that readers will love. They ll...

The dramatic arc of Saigo Takamori's life, from his humble origins as a lowly samurai, to national leadership, to his death as a rebel leader, has captivated generations of Japanese readers and now Americans as well - his life is the inspiration for a major Hollywood film, The Last Samurai, starring Tom Cruise and Ken Watanabe. In this vibrant new biography, Mark Ravina, professor of history and Director of East Asian Studies at Emory University,...

A simple biography about Benjamin Franklin.

In this thoughtful, balanced biography, former Los Angeles Times foreign and diplomatic correspondent Stanley Meisler traces Kofi Annan's unconventional rise from optimistic student to striving personnel and budget specialist in the United Nations bureaucracy to full-time manager of the world's crises. The book presents a unique portrait of this widely admired leader, with Annan's own view of events tempered and augmented by those of his allies and...

A deeply personal and candid remembrance of the late Senator John McCain from one of his closest and most trusted confidants, friends, and political advisors.

As the U.S. Army's Chief of staff through World War II, George Catlett Marshall (1880-1959) organized the military mobilization of unprecedented number of Americans and shaped the Allied strategy that defeated first Nazi Germany, then Imperial Japan. As President Truman's Secretary of State, and later as his Secretary of Defence during the Korean War, Marshall the statesman created the European Recovery Act (known as the Marshall Plan) and made possible...