H.W. Brands Livres

The book explores the evolution of wealth in America, tracing the journey from early fur trading to the modern tech empires of Silicon Valley. It highlights the impact of visionary leaders like John Jacob Astor and Cornelius Vanderbilt, alongside Gilded Age tycoons such as Rockefeller and Carnegie. The narrative continues through influential figures in mass culture and the Information Age, including Oprah Winfrey and Bill Gates, illustrating how each generation has produced remarkable fortunes driven by singular focus and innovation.

A gripping narrative that captivates readers with its compelling characters and intricate plot. The story delves into themes of resilience, identity, and the human experience, weaving together personal struggles with broader societal issues. With rich, evocative prose, it explores the complexities of relationships and the journey towards self-discovery. This bestselling work has resonated with audiences, offering both emotional depth and thought-provoking insights that linger long after the last page is turned.

"Bestselling historian and Pulitzer Prize finalist H. W. Brands follows the lives of General William Tecumseh Sherman and Apache war leader Geronimo to tell the story of the Indian Wars and the final fight for control of the American continent. William Tecumseh Sherman and Geronimo were keen strategists and bold soldiers, ruthless with their enemies. Over the course of the 1870s and 1880s these two war chiefs would confront each other in the final battle for what the American West would be- a sparsely settled, wild home where Indian tribes could thrive, or a more densely populated extension of the America to the east of the Mississippi. Sherman was a well-connected son of Ohio who attended West Point and rose to prominence through his scorched-earth campaigns in the Civil War. Geronimo grew up among the Apache people, hunting wild game for sustenance and roaming freely on the land. After the brutal killing of his wife, children and mother by Mexican soldiers, he became a relentless avenger, raiding Mexican settlements across the American border. When Sherman rose to commanding general of the Army, he was tasked with bringing Geronimo and his followers onto a reservation where they would live as farmers and ranchers and roam no more. But Geronimo preferred to fight. The Last Campaign is a powerful retelling of a turning point in the making of our nation and a searing elegy for a way of life that is gone"--

"What do moral people do when democracy countenances evil? The question, implicit in the idea that people can govern themselves, came to a head in America at the middle of the nineteenth century, in the struggle over slavery. John Brown's answer was violence--violence of a sort some in later generations would call terrorism. Brown was a deeply religious man who heard the God of the Old Testament speaking to him, telling him to do whatever was necessary to destroy slavery. When Congress opened Kansas territory to slavery, the eerily charismatic Brown raised a band of followers to wage war against the evil institution. One dark night his men tore several proslavery settlers from their homes and hacked them to death with broadswords, as a bloody warning to others. Three years later Brown and his men assaulted the federal arsenal at Harpers Ferry, Virginia, with the goal of furnishing slaves with weapons to murder their masters in a race war that would cleanse the nation of slavery once and for all. Abraham Lincoln's answer was politics. Lincoln was an ambitious lawyer and former office-holder who read the Bible not for moral guidance but as a writer's primer. He disliked slavery yet didn't consider it worth shedding blood over. He distanced himself from John Brown and joined the moderate wing of the new, antislavery Republican party. He spoke cautiously and dreamed big, plotting his path to Washington and perhaps the White House. Yet Lincoln's caution couldn't preserve him from the vortex of violence Brown set in motion. Arrested and sentenced to death, Brown comported himself with such conviction and dignity on the way to the gallows that he was canonized in the North as a martyr to liberty. Southerners responded in anger and horror that a terrorist was made into a saint. Lincoln shrewdly threaded the needle of the fracturing country and won election as president, still preaching moderation. But the time for moderation had passed. Slaveholders lumped Lincoln with Brown as an enemy of the Southern way of life; seven Southern states left the Union. Lincoln resisted secession, and the Civil War followed. At first a war for the Union, it became the war against slavery Brown had attempted to start. Before it was over, slavery had been destroyed, but so had Lincoln's faith that democracy can resolve its moral crises peacefully"-- Provided by publisher

The biography presents Ulysses Grant as a brilliant military leader and a determined president during a tumultuous period in American history. It highlights his commitment to justice, including his efforts to protect the rights of freedmen and his respect for Native Americans' autonomy amid the challenges of Manifest Destiny. H.W. Brands offers a comprehensive narrative that reexamines Grant's legacy, portraying him as a heroic figure who played a crucial role in preserving the Union and navigating the complexities of leadership.

A two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist and New York Times-bestselling author sets a new standard for histories of the American West

Pottawatomie -- Springfield -- Harpers Ferry -- The telegraph office.

"From ... bestselling historian H.W. Brands comes the riveting story of how, in nineteenth-century America, a new set of political giants battled to complete the unfinished work of the Founding Fathers and to decide the future of our democracy. In the early 1800s, three young men strode onto the national stage, elected to Congress at a moment when the Founding Fathers were beginning to retire to their farms. Daniel Webster of Massachusetts, a champion orator known for his eloquence, spoke for the North and its business class. Henry Clay of Kentucky; as dashing as he was ambitious, embodied the hopes of the rising West. South Carolina's John Calhoun, with piercing eyes and an even more piercing intellect, defended the South and slavery. Together these heirs of Washington, Jefferson and Adams took the country to war, battled one another for the presidency and set themselves the task of finishing the work the Founders had left undone. Their rise was marked by dramatic duels, fierce debates, scandal and political betrayal. Yet each in his own way sought to remedy the two glaring flaws in the Constitution: its refusal to specify where authority ultimately rested, with the states or the nation, and its unwillingness to address the essential incompatibility of republicanism and slavery. They wrestled with these issues for four decades, arguing bitterly and hammering out political compromises that held the Union together, but only just. Then, in 1850, when California moved to join the Union as a free state, "the immortal trio" had one last chance to save the country from the real risk of civil war. But, by that point, they had never been further apart. Thrillingly and authoritatively, H.W Brands narrates an epic American rivalry and the little-known drama of the dangerous early years of our democracy."-- Dust jacket

The first major biography of Benjamin Franklin in more than sixty years, The First American is history on a grand scale -- a work of meticulous scholarship and a thoroughly engaging portrait of the foremost American of his day. Diplomat, scientist, philosopher, businessman, inventor, wit, and bon vivant, Benjamin Franklin was in every respect America's first Renaissance man. The eighteenth-century genius comes to life in this masterwork by acclaimed historian H.W. Brands, whose access to previously unpublished letters and a host of other sources makes this the definitive biography. A much-needed reminder of Franklin's greatness and humanity, The First American provides a magnificent tour of a legendary historical figure, the countless arenas in which the protean Franklin left his legacy, and a pivotal era in American life

The two-time Pulitzer Prize nominee and author of Traitor to His Class explores the 40th president's indelible role in preserving democracy and shaping present-day America, detailing his early life, improbable rise and presidential achievements.