Alan Brinkley – författare

"No president since the founders has done more to shape the character of American government," notes Alan Brinkley in this magnificent biography of America's thirty-second president. "And no president since Lincoln has served through darker or more difficult times. Roosevelt thrived in crisis. It brought out his greatness, and his guile. It triggered his almost uncanny ability to communicate effectively with people of all kinds. And at times, it helped him excoriate his enemies, and to revel in doing so."This brilliant, compact biography chronicles Franklin Delano Roosevelt's rise from a childhood of privilege to a presidency that forever changed the face of international diplomacy, the American party system, and the government's role in global and domestic policy. Brinkley, the National Book Award-winning New Deal historian, provides a clear, concise introduction to Roosevelt's sphinx-like character and remarkable achievements. In a vivid narrative packed with telling anecdotes, the book moves swiftly from Roosevelt's youth in upstate New York--characterized by an aristocratic lifestyle of trips to Europe and private tutoring--to his schooling at Harvard, his brief law career, and his initial entry into politics. From there, Brinkley chronicles Roosevelt's rise to the presidency, a position in which FDR remained until death, through an unparalleled three-plus terms in office. Throughout the book, Brinkley elegantly blends FDR's personal life with his professional one, providing a lens into the President's struggles with polio and his somewhat distant relationship with the first lady. Franklin Delano Roosevelt led the United States through the worst economic crisis in the nation's history and through the greatest and most terrible war ever recorded. His extraordinary legacy remains alive in our own troubled new century as a reminder of what bravery and strong leadership can accomplish.

Those who teach college students have extensive training in their disciplines, but unlike their counterparts at the high school or elementary school level, they often have surprisingly little instruction in the craft of teaching itself. "The Chicago Handbook for Teachers" is an extraordinarily helpful guide for anyone facing the daunting challenge of putting together a course and delivering it successfully. The authors offer practical advice for almost any situation a new teacher might face, from preparing a syllabus to managing classroom dynamics. Beginning with a nuts and bolts plan for designing a course, this handbook also explains how to lead a discussion, evaluate your own teaching, give an effective lecture, supervise students' writing and research, create and grade exams, and more. This new edition is thoroughly revised for contemporary concerns, with updated coverage of the use of electronic resources and on the challenge of creating and sustaining an inclusive classroom. Its broad scope and wealth of specific tips will make "The Chicago Handbook for Teachers" useful both as a comprehensive guide for beginning educators and a reference manual for experienced instructors.

Those who teach college students have extensive training in their disciplines, but unlike their counterparts at the high school or elementary school level, they often have surprisingly little instruction in the craft of teaching itself. "The Chicago Handbook for Teachers" is an extraordinarily helpful guide for anyone facing the daunting challenge of putting together a course and delivering it successfully. The authors offer practical advice for almost any situation a new teacher might face, from preparing a syllabus to managing classroom dynamics. Beginning with a nuts and bolts plan for designing a course, the handbook also explains how to lead a discussion, evaluate your own teaching, give an effective lecture, supervise students' writing and research, create and grade exams, and more. This new edition is thoroughly revised for contemporary concerns, with updated coverage of the use of electronic resources and on the challenge of creating and sustaining an inclusive classroom. Its broad scope and wealth of specific tips will make "The Chicago Handbook for Teachers" useful both as a comprehensive guide for beginning educators and a reference manual for experienced instructors.

In the aftermath of the Constitutional Convention of 1787, three of its most gifted participants--Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay--wrote a series of eighty-five essays, published in newspapers throughout the nation, defending the proposed new government against its opponents. Those essays, known today as the Federalist Papers, explain the philosophical basis of the Constitution and defend the idea of republican government against charges that it would lead to tyranny.Today's political controversies call into question some of the principles that have shaped government through most of this century. New Federalist Papers, written by three constitutional experts, defends the representative democracy put in place by the framers of the Constitution. Like Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, the authors of New Federalist Papers see danger in the effort to diminish and relocate federal power. They recognize that it is the task of public discourse to bring about reasoned consideration of such issues as gun control, term limits, flag burning, the balanced budget amendment, and campaign finance reform.

The most up-to-date, incisive, and accessible reference on the American presidency, with essays by the nation's leading historians.An indispensable resource for the curious reader and the serious historian alike, The American Presidency showcases some of the most provocative interpretive history being written today.This rich narrative history sheds light on the hubris, struggles, and brilliance of our nation's leaders.Coupling vivid writing with unparalleled scholarship, these insightful essays from well-known historians cover every presidency from the first through the forty-third.

How did liberalism, the great political tradition that from the New Deal to the 1960s seemed to dominate American politics, fall from favor so far and so fast? In this history of liberalism since the 1930s, a distinguished historian offers an eloquent account of postwar liberalism, where it came from, where it has gone, and why. The book supplies a crucial chapter in the history of twentieth-century American politics as well as a valuable and clear perspective on the state of our nation's politics today.Liberalism and Its Discontents moves from a penetrating interpretation of Franklin D. Roosevelt and the New Deal to an analysis of the profound and frequently corrosive economic, social, and cultural changes that have undermined the liberal tradition. The book moves beyond an examination of the internal weaknesses of liberalism and the broad social and economic forces it faced to consider the role of alternative political traditions in liberalism's downfall. What emerges is a picture of a dominant political tradition far less uniform and stable--and far more complex and contested--than has been argued. The author offers as well a masterly assessment of how some of the leading historians of the postwar era explained (or failed to explain) liberalism and other political ideologies in the last half-century. He also makes clear how historical interpretation was itself a reflection of liberal assumptions that began to collapse more quickly and completely than almost any scholar could have imagined a generation ago. As both political history and a critique of that history, Liberalism and Its Discontents, based on extraordinary essays written over the last decade, leads to a new understanding of the shaping of modern America.

John Fitzgerald Kennedy was a new kind of president. He redefined how Americans came to see the nation's chief executive. He was forty-three when he was inaugurated in 1961 - the youngest man ever elected to the office - and he personified what he called the "New Frontier" as the United States entered the 1960s. But as Alan Brinkley shows in this incisive and lively assessment, the reality of Kennedy's achievements was much more complex than the legend. His brief presidency encountered significant failures - among them the Bay of Pigs fiasco, which cast its shadow on nearly every national-security decision that followed. But Kennedy also had successes, among them the Cuban Missile Crisis and his belated but powerful stand against segregation. Kennedy seemed to live on a knife's edge, moving from one crisis to another - Cuba, Laos, Berlin, Vietnam, Mississippi, Georgia, and Alabama. His controversial public life mirrored his hidden private life. He took risks that would seem reckless and even foolhardy when they emerged from secrecy years later. Kennedy's life, and his violent and sudden death, reshaped our view of the presidency.Brinkley gives us a full picture of the man, his times, and his enduring legacy.