White House witness, 1942-1945

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Herbert S. Parmet

This is the most comprehensive biography of John F. Kennedy ever undertaken. It centers on the his relationship to his awesome and powerful family- dominated by the one man in the United States both determined to place a son in the White House and capable of doing it. Combining vivid personal glimpses with insights into the political currents of the times, the author renders in fascinating and fully human terms Jack Kennedy's lifelong struggle to live up to his father's unbending expectations. There is much to this book that is new: It tells for the first time the full story of the grave illness that plagued Kennedy all his life, and of his desperate fight to overcome and then to conceal it. It brings to light the more shadowy of his celebrated affairs: the love for the suspected "Nazi agent" that resulted in his hurried transfer to the South Pacific during World War II, from which he returned a hero. It reveals the truth about his controversial friendship with Senator Joe McCarthy and it explores his peculiar relationship with Richard Nixon, whom he regarded as a rival but never an enemy. It also reconstructs the political machinations that led to Kennedy's election to the House and then to the Senate, and illuminates his complex relationship with the woman who was to become more famous as his widow than she was as his wife. -- Publisher description.

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Mushirul Hasan

This book is about the 'destiny of India's Muslims', more than 110 million of them. It covers, in the early chapters, the origins of Muslim separatism under the British, the making of the partition of India and its meaning for a host of Muslim communities, families and individuals. Chapter 5 examines the establishment of the 'Nehruvian consensus' in the 1940s and 1950s with its secular vision for India's future, and Chapter 6 attempts to delineate secular identities and the Muslim organisations that ran counter to this process. Chapter 7 illustrates the role of Aligarh Muslim University and Jamia Millia Islamia as the bearers of the 'beacon lights' of modern and secular understandings of the Muslim future in India. The following chapter examines the breakup of the Nehruvian consensus from the 1960s through to the 1990s, looking in particular at the reasons for the growth of communal activity and the retreat of both Muslims and Hindus into communal political camps. The final section of the book surveys the state of India's Muslims in the period after 6 December 1992, when the Babri Masjid was demolished. The argument is that Muslim religious and political leaders have failed. There still exists a secular platform, if somewhat narrowed; secular Indian Muslim intellectuals must stand up and be counted on that platform, and take a lead. The author speaks with a moderate and secular voice, and his distinctive contribution needs to be widely heard both inside and outside India.

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Jeff Shesol

In the years before World War II, Franklin Roosevelt's fiercest, most unyielding opponent was neither a foreign power nor "fear itself." It was the U.S. Supreme Court. Beginning in 1935, in a series of devastating decisions, the Supreme Court's conservative majority left much of FDR's agenda in ruins. The pillars of the New Deal fell in short succession. It was not just the New Deal, but democracy itself, that stood on trial. In February 1937, Roosevelt struck back with an audacious plan to expand the Court to fifteen justices -- and to "pack" the new seats with liberals who shared his belief in a "living" Constitution. The ensuing fight was a firestorm that engulfed the White House, the Court, Congress, and the nation. The final verdict was a shock. It dealt FDR the biggest setback of his political life, split the Democratic party, and set the stage for a future era of Republican dominance. Yet the battle also transformed America's political and constitutional landscape, hastening the nation's march into the modern world. - Jacket flap.

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Justin Trudeau

"Justin Trudeau's candid memoir will reveal to its readers the experiences that have shaped him over the course of his life and show how his passion for Canada and its people took root. Covering the years from his childhood at 24 Sussex to his McGill days during the tumultuous time of the Charlottetown Accord to his first campaign in Papineau to his role as Liberal leader today, the book will capture the foundational moments that have formed the man we have come to know and informed his vision for the future of Canada. Filled with anecdotes, personal reflections, and never-before-seen photographs from his own collection, Mr. Trudeau's memoir will show how the events of his life have led him to this moment and prepared him for the future."--pub. desc.