• Is America still the “hope of Earth”? : origins and underpinnings of American exceptionalism / Paul E. Peterson
• Legal origins of American exceptionalism / Michael McConnell
• American exceptionalism : due principally to secure private property rights / Gary Libecap
• Intellectual property as a pillar of American exceptionalism / Stephen Haber
• The exceptional economy / Edward P. Lazear
• Law and the regulatory state / John Cochrane
• Whither American exceptionalism? / Niall Ferguson
• What makes America great? : entrepreneurship / Lee Ohanian
• American dominance of the international order / Kori Schake
• The foundations of America’s exceptional role in the world / Victor Davis Hanson
• Herbert Hoover and American exceptionalism / George H. Nash
• Ronald Reagan and American exceptionalism / Annelise Anderson
• The American dream is alive in the minds of young Americans / William Damon.

• "A pretty stiff time"
• "A whole jug full of experience"
• "I am the Devil"
• The adventures of Hu-hua and Hoo Loo
• "The late jar rather smashed my nerves"
• What lies beyond wealth
• "Hard to state without becoming hysterical"
• A pirate state organized for benevolence
• Make way for the Almoner of starving Belgium
• A hero in the house of truth
• Inconsolable in the hall of mirrors
• An engineer at the opera
• Meddling with God's economy
• Hoover versus a botched civilization
• Scandal, embarrassment, and the little feller
• Sleepless in good times
• "The wonder boy"
• "Giving genius its chance"
• "He didn't know where the votes came from"
• Nothing to fear but fear itself
• Just when we thought it was over
• "It seemed like the end of the world"
• The president in his fighting clothes
• "A human creature desperately hurt and pained"
• Through the abyss in a Buick
• Father of the new conservatism
• Reborn in a darker world
• Epilogue : "I admire a lot in Hoover's career."

"The definitive biography of Herbert Hoover, one of the most remarkable and least understood Americans of the twentieth century--a wholly original account that will forever change the way Americans understand the man, his presidency, and his battle against the Great Depression. An impoverished orphan who built a fortune. A great humanitarian. A president elected in a landslide and then resoundingly defeated four years later. Arguably the father of both New Deal liberalism and modern conservatism, Herbert Hoover lived one of the most extraordinary American lives of the twentieth century. Yet however astonishing, his accomplishments are often eclipsed by the perception that Hoover was inept and heartless in the face of the Great Depression. Now, Kenneth Whyte vividly re-creates Hoover's rich and dramatic life in all its complex glory. He follows Hoover through his Iowa boyhood, his cutthroat business career, his brilliant rescue of millions of lives during World War I and the 1927 Mississippi floods, his misconstrued presidency, his defeat at the hands of Franklin Roosevelt, his devastating years in the political wilderness, his return to grace as Truman's emissary to help European refugees after World War II, and his final vindication in the days of Kennedy's "New Frontier." Ultimately, Whyte brings to light Hoover's complexities and contradictions--his modesty and ambition, his ruthlessness and extreme generosity--as well as his profound political legacy. [This] is the epic, poignant story of the deprived boy who, through force of will, made himself the most accomplished figure in the land, and who experienced a range of achievements and failures unmatched by many Americans of his, or perhaps any, era. Here, for the first time, is the definitive biography that fully captures the colossal scale of Hoover's momentous life and volatile times." -- dust jacket.

• The domestic landscape / Michael J. Boskin
• In brief : spending / George P. Shultz
• Entitlements and the budget / John F. Cogan
• A blueprint for tax reform / Michael J. Boskin
• Transformational health care reform / Scott W. Atlas
• Reforming regulation / Michael J. Boskin
• National and international monetary reform / John B. Taylor
• A blueprint for effective financial reform / John H. Cochrane
• In brief : national human resources / George P. Shultz
• Education and the nation's future / Eric A. Hanushek
• Trade and immigration / John H. Cochrane
• In brief : a world awash in change / George P. Shultz
• Restoring our national security / James O. Ellis Jr., James N. Mattis, and Kori Schake
• Redefining energy security / James O. Ellis Jr
• Diplomacy in a time of transition / James E. Goodby
• Closing note : the art and practice of governance / George P. Shultz.

• Durable lessons
• Laboring in the fields
• In the arena : the Nixon cabinet
• Schooled in business at Bechtel
• Back in the arena : the Reagan years
• Transitions.

• Introduction: The Paradox of the Black Republican
• Running with Hares and Hunting with Hounds
• A Thorn in the Flesh of the GOP
• The Challenge of Change
• Richard Nixon's Black Cabinet
• Exorcising the Ghost of Richard Nixon
• More Shadow Than Substance
• The Time of the Black Elephant
• Conclusion: No Room at the Inn.

"Covering more than four decades of American social and political history, The Loneliness of the Black Republican examines the ideas and actions of Black Republican activists, officials, and politicians, from the era of the New Deal to Ronald Reagan's presidential ascent in 1980. Their unique stories reveal African Americans fighting for an alternative economic and civil rights movement--even as the Republican Party appeared increasingly hostile to that very idea. Black party members attempted to influence the direction of conservatism--not to destroy it, but rather to expand the ideology to include Black needs and interests. As racial minorities in their political party and as political minorities within their community, Black Republicans occupied an irreconcilable position--they were shunned by African American communities and subordinated by the GOP. In response, black Republicans vocally, and at times viciously, critiqued members of their race and party, in an effort to shape the attitudes and public images of black citizens and the GOP. And yet, there was also a measure of irony to Black Republicans' 'loneliness': at various points, factions of the Republican Party, such as the Nixon administration, instituted some of the policies and programs offered by black party members. What's more, black Republican initiatives, such as the fair housing legislation of senator Edward Brooke, sometimes garnered support from outside the Republican Party, especially among the black press, Democratic officials, and constituents of all races. Moving beyond traditional liberalism and conservatism, Black Republicans sought to address African American racial experiences in a distinctly Republican way. The Loneliness of the Black Republican provides a new understanding of the interaction between African Americans and the Republican Party, and the seemingly incongruous intersection of civil rights and American conservatism"-- Provided by publisher.

Ronald Reagan's Cold War strategy was well established in his first year in office and did not change throughout his presidency. It was to make absolutely sure in the minds of the Soviets that they too would be destroyed in a nuclear war--even as Reagan sought an alternative through strategic defense to make nuclear missiles obsolete and thus eliminate the possibility of an all-out nuclear war. This book offers new perspectives on Ronald Reagan's primary accomplishment as president--persuading the Soviets to reduce their nuclear arsenals and end the Cold War. It details how he achieved this success and in the process explains why Americans consider Reagan one of our greatest presidents. The authors examine the decisions Reagan made during his presidency that made his success possible and review Reagan's critical negotiations with Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev--ending with the 1988 Moscow Summit that effectively ended the Cold War. They present Gorbachev's thoughts on Reagan as a great man and a great president 20 years after he left office. But ultimately, they reveal the depth of Reagan's vision of a world safe from nuclear weapons, painting a clear portrait of a Cold Warrior who saw the possibility of moving beyond that war.
(source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780817918354 20160618

• (from table of contents) Introduction. Untold stories: the March on Washington - new perspectives and transatlantic legacies / Marcia Chatelain and Britta Waldschmidt-Nelson
• Prologue. Martin's Dream: The Global legacy of Martin Luther King Jr. / Clayborne Carson
• Music and the March. Sounds and silences: music and the March on Washington / Brian Ward
• Transatlantic legacies. Martin Luther King Jr.'s reception as a theologian and political activist in Germany - East and West / Michael Haspel
• The March on Washington and the American civil rights movement as an inspiration for social protest movements in West and East Germany / Heinrich Grosse
• The March on London: British-American connections during the civil rights movement / Stephen Tuck
• Different views and voices. Joachim Prinz, the South, and the analogy of Nazism / Stephen J. Whitfield
• In defense of law and order: the March on Washington and its black conservative critics / Angela Dillard
• Visual histories and cultural memories. Hollywood activism, daytime verité, and the March on Washington / Allison Graham
• After the dream died: national memories of the King assassination and how they played out in subsequent legislation / David L. Chappell.

• Part 1. The Sixth Annual Ernest May Memorial Lecture : Putanism, the backstory / Strobe Talbott
• Part 2.
• Chapter 1. The world according to Putin / Lilia Shevtsova
• Chapter 2. Putin's world / Angela Stent
• Chapter 3. The Ukraine crisis and beyond : a European perspective / Wolfgang Ischinger
• Part 3.
• Chapter 4. Sino-Russian relations / Kevin Rudd
• Chapter 5. The unconventional energy boom : bad timing for a revanchist Russia / Meghan L. O'Sullivan
• Part 4.
• Chapter 6. Advice for the Obama administration on Putin, Russia, and Ukraine / John Beyrle
• Chapter 7. Russia and the United States' national interest (or Reset Version 2.0) / Stephen Biegun
• Chapter 8. Russia, the Ukraine crisis, and American national interests / Graham Allison
• Chapter 9. Concluding observations : what we heard / Stephen Hadley.

The Aspen Strategy Group's Policy Books is an annual series of pieces on the United States most pressing foreign policy and national security issues written by contemporary thought leaders. This edition is a collection of papers commissioned for the 2014 Aspen Strategy Group Summer Workshop. On the occasion of the 30th year anniversary of the Aspen Strategy Group (founded in 1984), the Summer Workshop in Aspen, CO convened a nonpartisan group of preeminent U.S.-Russia policy experts, academics, journalists, and business leaders. The Group's policy discussions were guided by the papers found in this volume, whose scope ranges from exploring the history of the U.S.-Russia relationship, current developments in the Sino-Russian relationship, the NATO and European responses to Russian aggression in Eastern Europe, energy considerations, areas of potential U.S.-Russia cooperation, and finally, the broader question of U.S. national security and interests in the European region.
(source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780898436136 20160618

• September 8,
• 1865
• William H. Herndon's first letter to his wife Anna
• Ten yarns as the story of Abraham Lincoln & the Civil War
• My angel mother
• Hasty pudding
• Live as I have taught you
• More than common
• Rob Africa of her children
• Good thing they did
• More painful than pleasant
• He desires to ride into office
• Here the old lady stopped
• Abe know'd my voice
• William H. Herndon's second letter to his wife Anna
• Their humble but worthy home
• Which mother? --Photographs
• Primary sources
• House lights
• William H. Herndon's notes-September 8,
• 1865
• Acknowledgements.

On Sept. 8, 1865, Abraham Lincoln's longtime friend and law partner, William H. Herndon, visited the martyred President's aged stepmother, Mrs. Sarah Bush Johnston Lincoln. Herndon's notes are integrated into a fictional recreation of their afternoon together. The selected events in the life of Abraham Lincoln are real. The accounts are preferably first person. License was taken to convert these moments in the life of Lincoln into ten stories told from a rocking chair.

Looking beneath the surface of strategy, policy, and daily operations, this book uses the analogy of weaving to review the United States' historical responsibility for maintaining international peace and security.Author Charles Hill shows why the United States must marshal all possible elements in the Middle East, and supporters from without, to defeat the enemies of order in the region-and why the U.S. must weave an actively engaged, omnidirectional involvement to support and interact with whatever faction, regime, sect, leader, or state that seeks to gain legitimacy as a good citizen in the established international system.
(source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780817917654 20180530

Covering an eventful period in Herbert Hoover's career--and, more specifically, his life as a political pugilist from 1933 to 1955--The Crusade Years is a previously unknown memoir that Hoover composed and revised during the 1940s and 1950s--and then, surprisingly, set aside. A parallel volume to Hoover's Freedom Betrayed , this work recounts Hoover's family life after March 4, 1933, his myriad philanthropic interests, and, most of all, his unrelenting "crusade against collectivism" in American life. Aside from its often feisty account of Hoover's political activities during the Roosevelt/Truman era, and its window on Hoover's private life and campaigns for good causes, The Crusade Years invites us to reflect on the factors that made possible his extraordinarily fruitful post-presidential years. As least as much as Theodore Roosevelt, he came to personify the activist former president; some historians have even argued that he invented it. In this realm of exertion, as in so many others, Herbert Hoover was no ordinary man. Of all the individuals who have served as president of the United States, none has ever written a set of memoirs as prodigious as his. Rescued from obscurity, this nearly forgotten manuscript is published here--and its contents made available to scholars--for the first time.
(source: Nielsen Book Data) 9780817916749 20160612