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"Historian David O. Stewart restores James Madison, sometimes overshadowed by his fellow Founders, to his proper place as the most significant framer of the new nation. Short, plain, balding, neither soldier nor orator, low on charisma and high on intelligence, Madison cared more about achieving results than taking the credit. To reach his lifelong goal of a self-governing constitutional republic, he blended his talents with those of key partners. It was Madison who led the drive for the Constitutional Convention and pressed for an effective new government as his patron George Washington lent the effort legitimacy; Madison who wrote the Federalist Papers with Alexander Hamilton to secure the Constitution's ratification; Madison who corrected the greatest blunder of the Constitution by drafting and securing passage of the Bill of Rights with Washington's support; Madison who joined Thomas Jefferson to found the nation's first political party and move the nation toward broad democratic principles; Madison, with James Monroe, who guided the new nation through its first war in 1812, really its Second War of Independence; and it was Madison who handed the reins of government to the last of the Founders, his old friend and sometime rival Monroe. These were the main characters in his life. But it was his final partnership that allowed Madison to escape his natural shyness and reach the greatest heights. Dolley was the woman he married in middle age and who presided over both him and an enlivened White House. This partnership was a love story, a unique one that sustained Madison through his political rise, his presidency, and a fruitful retirement"--.

Portrays the intelligence agents known as George Washington's secret six, who were recruited by George Washington to gather information secretly and thus contributed significantly to the general's successes in the Revolutionary War.

Hollywood chronicler William J. Mann draws on a rich host of sources, including recently released FBI files, to unpack the story of the enigmatic William Desmond Taylor, the popular president of the Motion Picture Directors Association, and the diverse cast that surrounded him before he was murdered in 1922-- including three beautiful, ambitious actresses, the ruthless founder of Paramount locked in a struggle for control of the film industry, a grasping stage mother, a devoted valet, and a gang of two-bit thugs, any of whom might have fired the fatal bullet.

Examines the life of Eva Braun, the misstress and eventually wife of Adolf Hitler.

With photography and illustrations, At Home with Jane Austen explores Austen's world, her physical surroundings, and the journeys the popular author took during her lifetime.

A personal and political memoir in which the author, principal English interpreter for Mikhail Gorbachev and his foreign minister ?duard Shevardnadze, reveals his experiences as an eyewitness to the U.S.-Soviet summit talks that led to the end of the Cold War.

A collection of writings in which artist, critics, and writers discuss how the artist Paul Cezanne has influenced their lives and work.

Reconstructs the life of African-American photographer Robert Gilbert through an examination of over two thousand antique glass plate negatives found in an old Massachusetts estate, believed to have been taken by Gilbert when he worked as an assistant to famed nineteenth-century ornithologist William Brewster.

Former White House press secretary Ari Fleischer recounts the experiences he had working under President George W. Bush and offers an insider's opinion of some of the more controversial issues the president faced.