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The Kennedy Brothers: The Rise and Fall of Jack and Bobby by Richard D. Mahoney (Arcade Publishing) is $1.99

Book Description:

A thoroughly readable and historically important look at the relationship between JFK and RFK.

Books about the Kennedys are legion. Yet missing until now has been the exploration of the bond between Jack and Bobby, and the part that it played in their rise and fall. Eight years apart in age, they were wildly different in temperament and sensibility. Jack was the born leader—charismatic, ironic, capable of extraordinary growth and reach, yet also pathologically reckless. Bobby was the fearless, hardworking Boy Scout—unafraid of dirty work and ruthless about protecting his brother and destroying their enemies. Jack, it was said, was the first Irish Brahman, Bobby the last Irish Puritan.

As Mahoney demonstrates with brilliant clarity in this impeccably documented, magisterial book, the Kennedys lived their days of power in dangerous, trackless territory. The revolution in Cuba had created a poisonous cauldron of pro- and anti-Castro forces, the CIA, J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI, and the Mafia.

Mahoney gives us Jack and Bobby in all their hubris and humanity, youthfulness and fatalism. Here is American history as it unfolds. The Kennedy Brothers is a fresh and masterful account of the men whose legacy continues to hold the American imagination.

The Wilderness Warrior: Theodore Roosevelt and the Crusade for America by Douglas Brinkley (HarperCollins) is $1.99

Book Description:

In this groundbreaking epic biography, Douglas Brinkley draws on never-before-published materials to examine the life and achievements of our “naturalist president.”

God in the White House: A History by Randall Balmer (HarperCollins) is $1.99

Book Description:

How did we go from John F. Kennedy declaring that religion should play no role in the elections to Bush saying, “I believe that God wants me to be president”?

God in the White House explores the paradox of Americans’ expectation that presidents should simultaneously trumpet their religious views and relationship to God while supporting the separation of church and state. Balmer tells the story of the politicization of religion in the last half of the twentieth century, as well as the “religionization” of our politics. He reflects on the implications of this shift, which have reverberated in both our religious and political worlds, and offers a new lens through which to see not only these extraordinary individuals, but also our current political situation.

The Reagan Diaries by Ronald Reagan (HarperCollins) is $1.99

Book Description:

During his two terms as the fortieth president of the United States, Ronald Reagan kept a daily diary in which he recorded, by hand, his innermost thoughts and observations on the extraordinary, the historic, and the routine day-to-day occurrences of his presidency.

Brought together in one volume and edited by historian Douglas Brinkley, The Reagan Diaries provides a striking insight into one of this nation’s most important presidencies and sheds new light on the character of a true American leader.

Ronald Reagan: 100 Years: Official Centennial Edition from the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation (HarperCollins) is $1.99

Book Description:

February 6, 2011, marks the one hundredth anniversary of Ronald Reagan’s birth. Known as “the Great Communicator,” Ronald Reagan combined the best of small-town values and remarkable virtues with the eloquence and charm that came from a life spent in the public eye. From his early days, Reagan was a leader, whether saving lives as a lifeguard or demonstrating for students’ rights as a college undergraduate. His career as a sports broadcaster and later as a leading man in Hollywood paved the way for a career in politics. As governor of California, Reagan earned the respect of world leaders and the American public. But it was as president of the United States that his strength of character, leadership, and love of country were best displayed. His eight years in the Oval Office ushered in remarkable change domestically and brought international peace, prosperity, and freedom.

A visual celebration of all that is Ronald Reagan, Ronald Reagan: 100 Years is the official centennial publication for the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation. Inspiring and uplifting, it is a fitting homage to one of America’s greatest legends. A foreword by former Senator Howard H. Baker, Jr., distinguished politician and personal friend of the Reagans, completes this handsome volume, making it a must-have nostalgic tribute to the life and times of the man who led our nation and inspired the world.

With Malice Toward None: The Life of Abraham Lincoln by Stephen B. Oates (HarperCollins) is $1.99

Book Description:

The definitive life of Abraham Lincoln, With Malice Toward None is historian Stephen B. Oates’s acclaimed and enthralling portrait of America’s greatest leader.

Oates masterfully charts, with the pacing of a novel, Lincoln’s rise from bitter poverty in America’s midwestern frontier to become a self-made success in business, law, and regional politics. The second half of the book examines his legendary leadership on the national stage as president during one of the country’s most tumultuous and bloody periods, the Civil War years, which concluded tragically with Lincoln’s assassination.

In this award-winning biography, Lincoln steps forward out of the shadow of myth as a recognizable, fully drawn American whose remarkable life continues to inspire and inform us today.

Thomas Jefferson: Author of America by Christopher Hitchens (HarperCollins) is $1.99

Book Description:

In this unique biography of Thomas Jefferson, leading journalist and social critic Christopher Hitchens offers a startlingly new and provocative interpretation of our Founding Father. Situating Jefferson within the context of America’s evolution and tracing his legacy over the past two hundred years, Hitchens brings the character of Jefferson to life as a man of his time and also as a symbolic figure beyond it.

General and Mrs. Washington: The Untold Story of a Marriage and a Revolution by Bruce Chadwick (HarperCollins) is $2.51

Book Description:

Here is the story of the fateful marriage of the richest woman in Virginia and the man who could have been king. In telling their story, Chadwick explains not only their remarkable devotion to each other, but why the wealthiest couple in Virginia became revolutionaries who risked the loss of their vast estates and their very lives.

“Chadwick puts a more human face on Washington by creating a very detailed portrait of how he and the outgoing Martha lived: their food, their slaves and servants, their health, their furniture, their daily life together.”-USA Today

1858: Abraham Lincoln, Jefferson Davis, Robert E. Lee, Ulysses S. Grant and the War They Failed to See by Bruce Chadwick (HarperCollins) is $2.51

Book Description:

As 1858 dawned, the men who would become the iconic figures of the Civil War had no idea it was about to occur: Jefferson Davis was dying, Robert E. Lee was on the verge of resigning from the military, and William Tecumseh Sherman had been reduced to running a roadside food stand. By the end of 1858, the lives of these men would be forever changed, and the North and South were set on a collision course that would end with the deaths of 630,000 young men.

This is the story of seven men on the brink of a war that would transform them into American legends, and the events of the year that set our union on fire.

Abigail and John: Portrait of a Marriage by Edith Gelles Small (HarperCollins) is $1.99

Book Description:

The story of Abigail and John Adams is as much a romance as it is a lively chapter in the early history of this country. The marriage of the second president and first lady is one of the most extraordinary examples of passion and endurance that this country has ever witnessed. And it is a drama peopled with a pantheon of eighteenth-century stars: George and Martha Washington, Thomas Jefferson, his daughter Patsy, Ben Franklin, and Mercy Otis Warren.