Books like Me & Lee by Judyth Vary Baker

Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography chronicles his rise from a self‑taught youth to a celebrated printer, inventor, diplomat, and statesman, offering insight into his life and the early United States.

James W. Douglass argues that President John F. Kennedy’s shift toward peace and disarmament prompted a conspiracy to eliminate him, revealing a hidden threat to global stability.

No other narrative account of Abraham Lincolns life has inspired such widespread acclaim as Lord Charnwoods Abraham Lincoln: A Complete Biography. Lord Charnwood has given us the most complete interpretation of Lincoln as yet produced, and he has presented it in such artistic form that it may well become a classic. Many contemporary historians consider this thorough and superbly crafted work the quintessential biography of one of Americas greatest presidents. Charnwoods study of Lincoln's statesmanship introduced generations of Americans to the life and politics of Lincoln, and the authors observations are so comprehensive and well supported that any serious study of Lincoln must respond to his conclusions. Lord Charnwood, a British by birth, was a man of many affairs and much learning. He had training in historical research and his work exhibits evidences of industrious and careful investigation. He made close examination of American newspapers of the period covered, and has had access to original manuscript archives in the State and Navy departments at Washington. This is essential reading for anyone interested in Abraham Lincoln, the Civil War, or American political history.

352 p., [16] leaves of plates : 24 cm

At a time when the Manhattan Project was synonymous with large-scale science, physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer (1904–67) represented the new sociocultural power of the American intellectual. Catapulted to fame as director of the Los Alamos atomic weapons laboratory, Oppenheimer occupied a key position in the compact between science and the state that developed out of World War II. By tracing the making—and unmaking—of Oppenheimer’s wartime and postwar scientific identity, Charles Thorpe illustrates the struggles over the role of the scientist in relation to nuclear weapons, the state, and culture.A stylish intellectual biography, Oppenheimer maps out changes in the roles of scientists and intellectuals in twentieth-century America, ultimately revealing transformations in Oppenheimer’s persona that coincided with changing attitudes toward science in society."This is an outstandingly well-researched book, a pleasure to read and distinguished by the high quality of its observations and judgments. It will be of special interest to scholars of modern history, but non-specialist readers will enjoy the clarity that Thorpe brings to common misunderstandings about his subject."—Graham Farmelo, Times Higher Education Supplement"A fascinating new perspective....Thorpe’s book provides the best perspective yet for understanding Oppenheimer’s Los Alamos years, which were critical, after all, not only to his life but, for better or worse, the history of mankind."—Catherine Westfall, Nature