JUVENILE · BIOGRAPHY
Charles E. Mercer
Charles E. Mercer (born in Stouffville, Ontario on July 12, 1917 - died December 28, 1988, in Edison, New Jersey) was a Canadian-American author, editor and journalist.
[Plutarch 2] That Alexander, on his father's side, was a descendant of Heracles by Caranus, and on his mother's a descendant of Aeacus by Neoptolemus, has never been called into question.
— from Alexander the Great
Most acclaimed
Jimmy Carter
How does a peanut farmer become Governor of Georgia and President of the United States? Only in America could such a story be true. Not satisfied with the climate of injustice he witnessed in his daily life, Carter sought a political career and was elected state senator in 1962 and again in 1964. He successfully won the 1970 campaign for Governor of Georgia. In 1975, Carter announced he would run for President. An army of loyal supporters, friends, neighbors, and elected officials, known as the Peanut Brigade, joined the campaign. They traveled across the country, joining Jimmy and Rosalynn, knocking on doors, standing at factory gates, walking streets, asking voters to vote for Jimmy Carter for President. While the basics of his story are well known, they have never been told from the perspective of a "soldier" in the Peanut Brigade. Dorothy Padgett, with an earthy, honest, and Southern voice, tells the story as if new to all of us. Humor and insight abound in this direct telling of how a peanut farmer from Georgia became President and leader of the United States. The secret is in his character, his morality, and in his being truly human.
Alexander the Great
"What can we learn from the stunning rise and mysterious death of the ancient world's greatest conqueror? An acclaimed biographer reconstructs the life of Alexander the Great in this magisterial portrait. More than two millennia have passed, but Alexander the Great is still a household name. His life was an adventure story and took him to every corner of the ancient world. His memory and glamour persist, and his early death at thirty-three has kept him evergreen in our imaginations with a legacy that meant something different to every age: in the Middle Ages he became an exemplar of knightly chivalry, he was a star of Renaissance paintings, and by the early twentieth century he even came to resemble an English gentleman. But who was he in his own time? In Alexander the Great, Anthony Everitt judges Alexander's life against the criteria of his own age and considers all his contradictions. We meet the Macedonian prince who was naturally inquisitive and fascinated by science and exploration, who enjoyed the arts and used the poet Homer's great epic, the Iliad, as a bible. As his empire grew, stretching from Greece and Macedonia to Ancient Egypt and Persia and all the way to India, Alexander exhibited respect for the traditions of his new subjects and careful judgment in administering rule over a vast territory. But his career also had a dark side. An inveterate conqueror, who in his short life built the largest empire to that point in history, Alexander glorified war and was known to commit acts of great cruelty. As debates continue about the meaning of his life, Alexander's death remains an unsolved mystery. Did he die of natural causes, felled by a fever, or did his marshals, angered by his tyrannical behavior, kill him? An explanation of his death can lie only in what we know of his life, and Everitt ventures to solve that puzzle, offering an ending to Alexander's story that has eluded so many for so long"-- The life of Alexander the Great took him to every corner of the ancient world. His memory and glamour persist, and his early death at thirty-three has kept him evergreen in our imaginations. But who was he in his own time? Naturally inquisitive, fascinated by science and exploration, Alexander exhibited respect for traditions as his empire grew-- yet glorified war and was known to commit acts of great cruelty. Did Alexander die of natural causes, or did his marshals, angered by his tyrannical behavior, kill him? Everitt judges Alexander's life against the criteria of his own age and considers all his contradictions. -- adapted from jacket