Washoe County Library System

"West Point graduate, secretary of war under President Pierce, U.S. senator from Mississippi - how was it that this statesman and patriot came to be president of the Confederacy, leading the struggle to destroy the United States? This is the question at the center of William Cooper's biography of Jefferson Davis. Basing his account on the massive archival record left by Davis and his family and associates, Cooper delves not only into the events of...

Follows the life of the American renaissance man who achieved notable success as printer, statesman, inventor, author, and reformer.

Presents an introduction to the life and achievements of Alexander Hamilton, including his early years as an orphan in the West Indies, his role in the Revolutionary War and his contributions as America's first secretary of the treasury.

"The America that Alexander Hamilton knew was largely agricultural and built on slave labor. He envisioned something else: a multi-racial, urbanized, capitalistic America with a strong central government. He believed that such an America would be a land of opportunity for the poor and the newcomers. But Hamilton's vision put him at odds with his archrivals who envisioned a pastoral America of small towns, where governments were local, states would...