David O. Stewart

Traces the career of the third U.S. vice president and would-be secession leader, discussing his acrimonious relationship with Thomas Jefferson; his ambitious vision of expansion; and his historical, self-defended trial for treason.

This account of the attempt to remove Andrew Johnson from the presidency demolishes the myth that Johnson's impeachment was unjustified.

"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"--

The successful creation of the Consititution is a suspense story. The Summery of 1787 takes us into the sweltering room in which delegates struggled for four months to produce the flawed but enduring document that would define the nation--then and now. The room was croweded with colorful and passionate characters, some known-alexander Hamiton, Gouverneur Morris, Edmund Randolph--and others largely forgotten. In a country continually arguing over the document's original intent, it is fascinating to watch these powerful characters struggle toward consensus--often reluctantly--to write a document that coul evolve with the nation.

"In March 1900, as former Congressman John Bingham of Ohio lies dying, he begins to tell a strange tale to his physician, Dr. Jamie Fraser. Bingham famously prosecuted eight members of John Wilkes Booth's plot to kill Lincoln. But during the 1865 trial, conspirator Mary Surratt divulged a secret so explosive it could shatter the republic. Though Bingham takes the secret to his grave, Fraser cannot let go of the mystery. Bored with small-town medical practice, he begins to investigate, securing an unlikely ally in Speed Cook, a black, college-educated professional ballplayer and would-be newspaper publisher. Cook is fascinated by Fraser's inquiry and, like Fraser, thinks the accepted version of Lincoln's assassination rings false. Was Booth truly the mastermind or were other, more powerful forces pulling the strings?"-- From publisher's description.

After four years of horror The Great War has ended, and President Woodrow Wilson's arrival in Paris in December 1918 unites the city in ecstatic celebration. Major Jamie Fraser, an army physician who has spent ten months tending American soldiers, is among the crowd that throngs the Place de la Concorde for Wilson's visit. As an expert on the Spanish influenza, Fraser is also called in to advise the president's own doctor on how best to avoid the deadly disease. Despite his robust appearance, Wilson is more frail than the public realizes. And at this pivotal moment in history, with the Allied victors gathering to forge a peace treaty, the president's health could decide the fate of nations. While Fraser tries to determine the truth about Wilson's maladies, he encounters a man he has not seen for twenty years. Speed Cook, ex-professional ball player and advocate for Negro rights, is desperate to save his son Joshua, an army sergeant wrongly accused of desertion. Pledging to help Cook, Fraser approaches Allen Dulles, a charming American spy who is also Wilson's close aide. Soon Cook and Fraser's personal quest will dovetail with the dramatic events unfolding throughout Paris, as French premier Georges Clemenceau narrowly survives an assassination attempt and peace negotiations begin to unravel. Rivalries and hidden agendas abound. At stake is not only Joshua Cook's freedom, but the fragile treaty that may be the only way to stop Europe from plunging into another brutal war. With a cast of vividly drawn characters that includes T.E. Lawrence, David Lloyd George, and Winston Churchill.