An absorbing, multifaceted portrait of America's most accomplished man of his time provides a perceptive look at Franklin's diverse roles as a journalist, author, scientist, inventor, stateman, and diplomat, from his youth in Boston until his death at the age of eighty-four, set against the backdrop of the birth of America. Reprint.

More than six hundred period paintings and illustrations highlight a dramatic, richly detailed portrayal of the people, events, ideas, and culture of the American War for Independence, from Lexington and Concord to Yorktown.

Product Description: From The Louisiana PurchaseLike many other major events in world history, the Louisiana Purchase is a fascinating mix of destiny and individual energy and creativity. . . . Thomas Jefferson would have been less than human had he not claimed a major share of the credit...read more

Product Description: Book by Fleming, Thomas (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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Product Description: Selections from Chronicles: A Magazine of American Culture, 1985-1995.

The effort to understand human nature in a political context is a daunting challenge that has been undertaken in a variety of ways and by a myriad of disciplines through the ages. From Plato to Hobbes and Burke, to Wallas and Oakeschott in our era, efforts have been made to provide some organic framework for the political study of mankind. What has added greatly to the complexity of the task is the increasing denial, even rejection, in the positivist and behaviorist traditions, of the very notion of a human nature. The work can be described as a series of interlocking propositions: the proverbial view of human nature can be explained by evolutionary theory. Biological differences between men and women are responsible for family, community and group life. Social evolution goes through stages which are recapitulated in the moral life of individuals. A well-defined federal system mirrors human development. And finally, for Fleming, most problems in social and political life stem from violations of this federalist system. Fleming's volume takes up a variety of issues: sex and gender differences, democracy and dictatorship, individual and familial patterns of association. He does so in the context of showing how forms of legitimate authority such as families, communities and nations establish such authority by appeals to human nature, and that these appeals, while presumably resting on empirical evidence, also confirm the existence of normative structures. Fleming's work is an effort of synthesis that is sure to arouse discussion and debate. It represents a serious addition to a literature retrieved from the historical dustbins to which it has been repeatedly consigned.

A general-turned-powerbroker, his southern-born wife and revolutionist son, an ardent feminist, and assorted elitists, politicians, and newsmen cope with the passions, griefs, and realities of post-Civil War America