His Excellency: George Washington, by Joseph J. Ellis. Alfred A. Knopf, 352 pages, $26.95.
For someone who specialized in graceful, perfectly choreographed exits, George Washington has a way of returning over and over again. Children may know less and less about the distant past (a recent survey found many believe Gandalf to be the Read More
Rise of the Vulcans: The History of Bush’s War Cabinet , by James Mann. Viking, 426 pages, $25.95.
Kafka’s Amerika begins with the Statue of Liberty holding a giant sword instead of a light to the world. How fitting that James Mann’s profile of the Bush foreign-policy team begins with a nearly identical Read More
The Right Man: The Surprise Presidency of George W. Bush . by David Frum. Random House, 384 pages, $25.95.
A year ago, in one of the first mini-scandals of the Bush administration, a speechwriter was publicly defenestrated for having the audacity to claim that he had written a phrase for the 43rd President. It Read More
Scotty: James B. Reston and the Rise and Fall of American Journalism , by John F. Stacks. Little, Brown, 384 pages, $29.95.
There was a time, not too long ago, when no one would have dared to write a book about Scotty Reston-and then, once it was written, everyone would have run out and bought Read More
Benjamin Franklin , by Edmund S. Morgan. Yale University Press, 339 pages, $24.95.
Have the Founding Fathers ever had so much attention? In the mid- to late 90′s, you could hardly open a newspaper without reading a lurid story about Thomas Jefferson, the Great Miscegenator.Acouple years ago, Alexander Hamilton enjoyed a brief vogue. Then, in Read More
The modern Democratic Party, like New York itself, came into its
own around the time of the Erie Canal. Since then, a total of four men have
been elected to consecutive Presidential terms from what is truly the grand old
party: Andrew Jackson, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Delano Roosevelt and William
Jefferson Clinton. It’s time to Read More
Theodore Rex , by Edmund Morris. Random House, 864 pages, $35.
Almost exactly one century before Sept. 11, an act of terror rocked the state of New York and struck at the heart of American government. On Sept. 5, 1901, as President William McKinley was speaking on world trade at the Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, Read More
Five Points: The 19th-Century New York City Neighborhood That Invented Tap Dance, Stole Elections, and Became the World’s Most Notorious Slum , by Tyler Anbinder. Free Press, 532 pages, $30.
In the 19th century, New York bustled and swelled, new buildings sprouted like weeds, de-rusticated bumpkins made fortunes trying their luck in the city and Read More
Pop Presidential Biographer Shakes Up American Pantheon John Adams , by David McCullough. Simon & Schuster, 751 pages, $35.
Last November, in the waning months of the Clinton administration, an unfamiliar man approached the White House claiming to be the President of the United States. He was wearing a powdered wig and insisted that it Read More
A Pitcher’s Story: Innings with David Cone , by Roger Angell. Warner Books, 290 pages, $24.95.
Roger Angell’s profile of David Cone started out along one trajectory–a close study of the inner game of pitching–and then veered off along another–the blow-by-blow account of Mr. Cone’s excruciating 2000 season. As such, Mr. Angell has thrown a Read More
