David McKean - Böcker

Fostering a transatlantic renaissance to salvage the Western allianceIs the Western alliance, which brought together the United States and Europe after World War II, in an inevitable state of decline, and if so, can anything be done to repair it? There seems little doubt that fragmentation of the Western alliance was under way even before Donald Trump's unorthodox policy making broadened the schism. Opinions differ as to the next step, however, with some taking the current divisions as a given and advocating the creation of a new group of like-minded democracies that would exclude the United States, while others seek to exploit the rift in hopes of furthering their own nationalistic ambitions for a post liberal world.The authors outline a “transatlantic renaissance,” in which U.S. and European leaders would work together to craft a new Atlantic Charter that would restore the liberal objectives that animated the Western alliance for more than seven decades. Modernizing institutional relationships across the Atlantic should help both the United States and Europe address common challenges jointly and improve burden sharing. The world needs a vibrant and energetic West to protect fundamental values from illiberal forces, both internal and external.

A clear-eyed yet hopeful history of the United States, revisiting the state of the union every fifty years since America's birthAmerica is the rare country that was founded on an idea, and it was a truly radical idea for its time: the belief that the people of a country could govern themselves.The Flag Was Still There offers a unique new narrative of the American Experiment. By focusing on five remarkable years-1776, 1826, 1876, 1926, and 1976-and with an eye to America's 250th birthday, David McKean and M. Todd Bennett explore how the United States has sustained its founding idea. Each of these moments found the United States at an inflection point between progress and backlash. The centennial saw a country still struggling to confront the Civil War's legacy, culminating in the betrayal of Reconstruction and the birth of the Jim Crow era. In 1926, virulent nativism was at a peak, and a reascendant Ku Klux Klan marched on Washington. The bicentennial was marked by economic turmoil, post-Watergate political malaise, and the still-fresh wounds of the Vietnam War. America has yet to fully realize its founding principles. But as The Flag Was Still There reminds us, Americans have always striven to defend, renew, and extend the nation's promise-an idealism that continues to this day.

Following the bitterly contested election between Adams and Jefferson in 1800, the United States teetered on the brink of a second revolution. When Adams sought to prolong his policies in defiance of the electorate by packing the courts, it became evident that the new Constitution was limited in its powers. Change was in order and John Marshall stepped up to the challenge. The Great Decision tells the riveting story of Marshall and of the landmark court case, Marbury v. Madison , through which he empowered the Supreme Court and transformed the idea of the separation of powers into a working blueprint for our modern state. Rich in atmospheric detail, political intrigue, and fascinating characters, The Great Decision is an illuminating tale of America's formative years and the evolution of our democracy.

The last signatory to the Declaration of Independence was one of the earliest to sign up for the Revolution: Thomas McKean lived a radical, boisterous, politically intriguing life and was one of the most influential and enduring of America's Founding Fathers.Present at almost all of the signature moments on the road to American nationhood, from the first Continental Congress onward, Thomas McKean was a colonel in the Continental Army president of the Continental Congress governor of Pennsylvania and, perhaps most importantly, chief justice of the new country's most influential state, Pennsylvania, a foundational influence on American law. His life uniquely intersected with the many centres of power in the still-formative country during its most vulnerable years, and shows the degree of uncertainty that characterized newly independent America, unsure of its future or its identity.Thomas McKean knew intimately not only the heroic figures of the Revolutionary era,George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin,but also the fascinating characters who fought over the political identity of the new country, such as Caesar Rodney, Francis Hopkinson, and Alexander Dallas. His life reminds us that America's creation was fraught with dangers and strife, backstabbing and bar-brawling, courage and stubbornness. McKean's was an epic ride during utterly momentous times.