Washoe County Library System

"A revelatory, timely, and masterful biography of President Andrew Jackson that offers a new perspective on this charismatic figure in the context of American populism--identifying the reasons for his unprecedented appeal as it shows us the man and politician in his full complexity. A self-defined champion of "farmers, mechanics, and laborers," Jackson railed against the established ruling order, fostering a brand of democracy that struck a chord...

Patton and Rommel served their countries through two World Wars. Their temperaments, both on and off the battlefield, were overwhelmingly contrary--but their approach to modern warfare was remarkably similar. Written by a prominent military historian, this book takes a look at both figures, intertwining the stories of the paths they took and the decisions they made during the course of the Second World War--and compares the lives and careers of two...

Historian Max Boot demonstrates how Edward Lansdale pioneered a “hearts and mind” diplomacy, first in the Philippines, then in Vietnam. It was a visionary policy that, as Boot reveals, was ultimately crushed by Americas giant military bureaucracy, steered by elitist generals and blueblood diplomats who favored troop build-ups and napalm bombs over winning the trust of the people. Boot recasts this American story, tracing the bold rise and the...

"...draws on a rich trove of both little-known and newly uncovered letters and diaries to create a marvelously vivid and moving account of the American experience in World War I..." (From book jacket).

A biography of Revolutionary War general and first President of the United States, George Washington, focusing on his use of spies to gather intelligence that helped the colonies win the war.

Washington is the most important figure in the history of the United States. Against all military odds, he liberated the colonies from the superior forces of the British and presided over the process to produce a Constitution. In two terms as president, he set that Constitution to work. Despite his importance, Washington remains today a distant figure to many Americans. Previous books about him are immensely long and complicated. Paul Johnson has...

Even compared to his fellow founders, George Washington stands tall. Our first president has long been considered a stoic hero, holding himself above the rough-and-tumble politics of his day. Now historian John Ferling peers behind that image, carefully burnished by Washington himself, to show us a leader who was not only not above politics, but a canny infighter--a master of persuasion, manipulation, and deniability. In the War of Independence, Washington...

He was acclaimed by his contemporaries as an outstanding Civil War military leader, and his troops possibly saved the nation's capital from capture. Often confused with another Reno, who was part of the Little Big Horn expedition, Major General Jesse Lee Reno was, in fact, a true hero of two of America's wars. After his death, the cities of Reno, Nevada and El Reno, Oklahoma were named in his honor. He led two future presidents in battle and threatened...

Colin Powell is the embodiment of the American dream. He was born in Harlem to immigrant parents from Jamaica. He knew the rough life of the streets. He overcame a barely average start at school. Then he joined the Army. The rest is history--Vietnam, the Pentagon, Panama, Desert Storm--but a history that until now has been known only on the surface. Here, for the first time, Colin Powell himself tells us how it happened, in a memoir distinguished...