Vroege RecensentenJon Meacham

In this magnificent biography, Jon Meacham, the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of the bestsellers American Lion and Franklin and Winston, gives us an intimate portrait of Thomas Jefferson, the human being, the president, the politician, enabling us to understand Jefferson as never before. “A true triumph. In addition to being a brilliant biography, Thomas Jefferson is a guide to the art of power . . . a fascinating look at how Jefferson wielded his driving desire for power and control.” (Walter Isaacson) The father of the ideal of individual liberty, of the Louisiana Purchase, of the Lewis and Clark expedition, and of the settling of the West, Jefferson recognized that the genius of humanity—and the genius of the new nation—lay in the possibility of progress, of discovering the undiscovered and seeking the unknown. Flawed, contradictory, elusive, Jefferson was at heart a man engaged in the wars of his times. “Jon Meacham understands Thomas Jefferson. . . . It is no small task to capture so capacious a life in one volume. Meacham has succeeded, giving us a rich presentation of our third president’s life and times. This is an extraordinary work.” (Annette Gordon-Reed) Jefferson’s story resonates today, not least because he embodies an eternal drama: the struggle of a leadership of a nation to achieve greatness in a difficult and confounding world. “This is possibly the best single-volume biography of Jefferson ever written.” (Gordon S. Wood)

A philosophical musing on sports and play, this wholly inspiring and utterly charming reissue of Bart Giamatti’s long-out-of-print final book, Take Time for Paradise, puts baseball in the context of American life and leisure. Giamatti begins with the conviction that our use of free time tells us something about who we are. He explores the concepts of leisure, American-style. And in baseball, the quintessential American game, he finds its ultimate expression. “Sports and leisure are our reiteration of the hunger for paradise— for freedom untrammeled.” Filled with pithy truths about such resonant subjects as ritual, self-betterment, faith, home, and community, Take Time for Paradise gives us much more than just baseball. These final, eloquent thoughts of “the philosopher king of baseball” (Seattle Weekly) are a joyful, reverent celebration of the sport Giamatti loved and the country that created it.

An ode to leisure time and America’s favorite pastime by the former commissioner of Major League Baseball. A philosophical musing on sports and play, this wholly inspiring and utterly charming reissue of Bart Giamatti’s long-out-of-print final book, Take Time for Paradise, puts baseball in the context of American life and leisure. Giamatti begins with the conviction that our use of free time tells us something about who we are. He explores the concepts of leisure, American-style. And in baseball, the quintessential American game, he finds its ultimate expression. “Sports and leisure are our reiteration of the hunger for paradise— for freedom untrammeled.” Filled with pithy truths about such resonant subjects as ritual, self-betterment, faith, home, and community, Take Time for Paradise gives us much more than just baseball. These final, eloquent thoughts of “the philosopher king of baseball” (Seattle Weekly) are a joyful, reverent celebration of the sport Giamatti loved and the country that created it.

2009 Pulitzer Prizewinner for Biography! Andrew Jackson, his intimate circle of friends, and his tumultuous times are at the heart of this remarkable book about the man who rose from nothing to create the modern presidency. Beloved and hated, venerated and reviled, Andrew Jackson was an orphan who fought his way to the pinnacle of power, bending the nation to his will in the cause of democracy. Jackson’s election in 1828 ushered in a new and lasting era in which the people, not distant elites, were the guiding force in American politics. Democracy made its stand in the Jackson years, and he gave voice to the hopes and the fears of a restless, changing nation facing challenging times at home and threats abroad. To tell the saga of Jackson’s presidency, acclaimed author Jon Meacham goes inside the Jackson White House. Drawing on newly discovered family letters and papers, he details the human drama–the family, the women, and the inner circle of advisers–that shaped Jackson’s private world through years of storm and victory.