by Fredrik Lindstrom (2008)
"Empire and Identity takes a novel approach to the critical last decades of the Habsburg Empire. The study uses biography to examine questions of identity and self-understanding in six lives and careers from the Austrian intellectual and political elite. The focus in the six biographies is on the problem of the Austrian state in an age of nationalist strife and constitutional conflict, on the different perceptions of this problem, and on the solutions proposed through the political engagement of these individuals."--Jacket.
Robert Service
Trotsky is perhaps the most intriguing and, given his prominence, the most understudied of the Soviet revolutionaries. Using new archival sources including family letters, party and military correspondence, confidential speeches, and medical records, Service offers new insights into Trotsky.
Arlen Specter with Charles Robbins
A former senator describes the independent spirit that estranged him from both the Republican and Democratic parties while describing how he helped to establish the Tea Party movement.
Josiah Bunting III
Ulysses S. Grant is commonly remembered as a general of fierce determination and strategic vision -- the military leader who turned the tide of the Civil War and led the Union armies to victory, and who showed magnanimity and vision at Appomattox. His presidency is another matter. Here, the most common word used to characterize it is "scandal." Grant is routinely portrayed as a man out of his depth in the world of politics, whose eight years in office were without useful achievement and whose trusting nature and hands-off management style opened the federal coffers to plunder. But this assessment, Josiah Bunting III argues, is both caricature and cliche. Grant came to Washington in March 1869 to lead a country still bitterly divided by the legacy of the Civil War. Andrew Johnson, his predecessor, had been impeached and almost driven from office, and radical Republicans in Congress had imposed harsh conditions on the states of the former Confederacy. Grant committed himself to reunite and reforge the Union, and to resurrect and strengthen Abraham Lincoln's greatest legacy: full citizenship for the former slaves and their posterity. In these missions he succeeded. - Jacket.
Thomas M. Menino, former five-term mayor of Boston
"A revealing memoir by Boston's beloved five-term mayor, explaining the power behind Boston's success and lessons for Washington power brokers After twenty years of service, Mayor Thomas Menino is stepping down from his office as one of the longest-serving major-city mayors in United States history--and one of the most popular politicians in modern memory. His political career has stretched from the busing crisis of the 1970s to the city's extraordinary response to the Boston Marathon bombings in 2013. Menino tells exclusive behind-the-scenes stories of urban politics and provides inspiration for Washington with his proven, people-focused method: "Do the small stuff so you can win the credibility to do the big stuff." He's not known as a fancy talker, but he gets things done. Under his wing, the city has enjoyed unprecedented economic growth while fostering a new attitude of acceptance. Menino shows how a very old city shook off its Puritan roots and racial tensions to become a truly twenty-first-century city"--