Showing results for "The American Scene" in Politics & Social Sciences

The remarkable story of hope, determination, and resilience at a celebrated school in Newark, New Jersey, the students who thrive there, and a community that refused to let its children’s education become a casualty of a growing racial divide. In 1967, as the city of Newark, New Jersey, was...

2025 ECPA Award Winner - Biography & Memoir Read by the author. A riveting look inside a life of poverty, success, and the inner circles of political influence--from the foothills of Appalachia all the way to the White House. New York Times bestselling ghostwriter Nancy French is coming out of...

From the author of Away with Words, a deeply hilarious and unexpectedly insightful deep-dive into a cultural and culinary phenomenon: cheese. “Who knew it was possible to enjoy reading about cheese as much as eating it? Remarkably entertaining, deeply insightful, and downright hilarious...

Behind the Scenes, or Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House is the life story of Elizabeth Keckley, a shrewd entrepreneur who, while enslaved, raised enough money to purchase freedom for herself and her son. Working as a seamstress and dressmaker for the wives of influential politicians, Keckley helped organize an auction of dresses that belonged to Mary Todd Lincoln, the former first lady. The auction elicited strong criticism from the Washington elite.

The framers of the Constitution were in uncharted territory when they created the office of the presidency. No one at that time had a clear vision of what the president of a national republic would do, and only the vaguest notion existed when George Washington took the oath in 1789. For nearly 250 years, our elected Presidents have played a role in shaping what the office has become. Thomas Jefferson described the presidency as a “splendid misery,” John Quincy Adams felt it was “harassing,” and Warren Harding said simply, “It’s hell!"

Rolling Stone Best Music Books of the Year "Definitive...Not just for Talking Heads fans—it’s a masterful dive into downtown New York in the 70s, and the changing face of rock music.”—Town & Country "Riveting"—New York Post "A masterful achievement." —Booklist (starred review) On the...