A hugely entertaining celebration of one of America’s greatest politicians—a source of inspiration for our equally challenging times... Fiorello LaGuardia was one of the twentieth century’s most colorful politicians—on the New York and national stage. He was also quintessentially American: the son of Italian immigrants, who rose in society through sheer will and chutzpah. Almost one hundred years later, America is once again grappling with issues that would have been familiar to the Little Flower, as he was affectionately known. It’s time to bring back LaGuardia, argues historian and journalist Terry Golway, to remind us all what an effective municipal officer (as he preferred to call himself) can achieve... Golway examines LaGuardia’s extraordinary career through four essential qualities: As a patriot, a dissenter, a leader, and a statesman. He needed them all when he stood against the nativism, religious and racial bigotry, and reactionary economic policies of the 1920s, and again when he faced the realities of Depression-era New York and the rise of fascism at home and abroad in the 1930s. Just before World War II, the Roosevelt administration formally apologized to the Nazis when LaGuardia referred to Hitler as a “brown-shirted fanatic.” There was nobody quite like Fiorello LaGuardia. In this immensely readable book, as entertaining as the man himself, Terry Golway captures the enduring appeal of one of America’s greatest leaders.
In the first history of the New York Fire Department--FDNY--in over sixty years, journalist Terry Golway weaves together stories of heroic firefighters and extraordinary fires to create a moving and original account of New York as seen through the eyes and actions of the city's firefighters. From the eighteenth century's most ambitious public-works project--the building of aqueducts from upstate to help control fires--to firefighter-turned-politician Boss Tweed's backroom politics, fire and firefighters have played an integral part in the life of New York. So Others Might Live also offers a new view of the building of modern urban America and the social turbulence of New York from the 1700s to the present day.
Ireland's struggle for freedom reaches back much further into the annals of history than most of us can imagine. Since the eleventh century, when legendary king Brian Boru united the chieftains of Ireland to resist Viking invasion, countless individual leaders have fought to preserve and protect Ireland's political and cul-tural autonomy. In a chronicle of unprecedented breadth and authority, For the Cause of Liberty tells the stories of these heroes -- including both men and women, Catholics and Protestants -- who enabled the Irish to free themselves from the yoke of colonial oppression. Journalist Terry Golway reconstructs the entire thousand-year history of Irish nationalism, covering each benchmark event in Ireland's political evolution and presenting a vivid, epic tale of both the famous and unsung patriots who changed the course of Ireland's history. Among these are Wolfe Tone, a leader of the 1798 rebellion who cut his own throat rather than submit to a hangman; Kevin Barry, executed at age eighteen rather than turn informer on the eve of independence in 1921; and Bobby Sands, an IRA militant who died on a hunger strike in 1981, calling international attention to the conflict in Northern Ireland. The engaging and admirable story of how the Irish have saved themselves, For the Cause of Liberty is a peerless work of scholarship, and it offers a fresh context for the ongoing discussion of Ireland's political future.
This is history told the old-fashioned way. The book is only as long as it needs to be, the adroit narrative full of heroes (Smith, Roosevelt, big-city Democratic bosses) and villains (William Randolph Hearst, William Jennings Bryan, the Ku Klux Klan). The scenes are vivid and the anecdotes plentiful." —The Wall Street Journal "Frank & Al is the latest of Mr. Golway’s several captivating books on New York politics. He delivers once again, with a timely narrative on the centennial of Smith’s first election as governor." —The New York Times "The tangled, tragic story of Al Smith and Franklin Roosevelt is one of the great tales of American politics, and Terry Golway has told it beautifully. This is a joyous book... an especially important book now." —Joe Klein "I highly recommend this fascinating and enlightening book." —Franklin D. Roosevelt, III "Beautifully written...The book is must reading for anyone interested in the history of American politics and the rise of the country’s welfare state." —Robert Dallek, author of An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy, 1917-1963 “A marvelous portrait... Highly recommend!” —Douglas Brinkley, author of Rightful Heritage: Franklin D. Roosevelt and the Land of America The inspiring story of an unlikely political partnership—between a to-the-manor-born Protestant and a Lower East Side Catholic—that transformed the Democratic Party and led to the New Deal In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, the Democratic Party was bitterly split between its urban machines—representing Catholics and Jews, ironworkers and seamstresses, from the tenements of the northeast and Midwest—and its populists and patricians, rooted in the soil and the Scriptures, enforcers of cultural, political, and religious norms. The chasm between the two factions seemed unbridgeable. But just before the Roaring Twenties, Al Smith, a proud son of the Tammany Hall political machine, and Franklin Roosevelt, a country squire, formed an unlikely alliance that transformed the Democratic Party. Smith and FDR dominated politics in the most-powerful state in the union for a quarter-century, and in 1932 they ran against each other for the Democratic presidential nomination, setting off one of the great feuds in American history. The relationship between Smith and Roosevelt, portrayed in Terry Golway's Frank and Al, is one of the most dramatic untold stories of early 20th Century American politics. It was Roosevelt who said once that everything he sought to do in the New Deal had been done in New York under Al Smith when he was governor in the 1920s. It was Smith who persuaded a reluctant Roosevelt to run for governor in 1928, setting the stage for FDR’s dramatic comeback after contracting polio in 1921. They took their party, and American politics, out of the 19th Century and created a place in civic life for the New America of the 20th Century.
The overlooked Quaker from Rhode Island who won the American Revolution's crucial southern campaign and helped to set up the final victory of American independence at Yorktown Nathanael Greene is a revolutionary hero who has been lost to history. Although places named in his honor dot city and country, few people know his quintessentially American story as a self-made, self-educated military genius who renounced his Quaker upbringing-horrifying his large family-to take up arms against the British. Untrained in military matters when he joined the Rhode Island militia in 1774, he quickly rose to become Washington's right-hand man and heir apparent. After many daring exploits during the war's first four years (and brilliant service as the army's quartermaster), he was chosen in 1780 by Washington to replace the routed Horatio Gates in South Carolina. Greene's southern campaign, which combined the forces of regular troops with bands of irregulars, broke all the rules of eighteenth-century warfare and foreshadowed the guerrilla wars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His opponent in the south, Lord Cornwallis, wrote, "Greene is as dangerous as Washington. I never feel secure when I am encamped in his neighborhood. He is vigilant, enterprising, and full of resources." Greene's ingenious tactics sapped the British of their strength and resolve even as they "won" nearly every battle. Terry Golway argues that Greene's appointment as commander of the American Southern Army was the war's decisive moment, and this bold new book returns Greene to his proper place in the Revolutionary era's pantheon. "Washington said if he went down in battle, Greene was his choice to succeed him. Read this book and you will understand why." -- Joseph J. Ellis, author of His Excellency: George Washington
Described by Padraig Pearse as the “greatest of the Fenians”, John Devoy was born before the Famine and lived to see the Irish tricolour flying from Dublin Castle. The descendent of a rebel family, he was an avowed Fenian who went into exile in New York in 1871. Over the next half-century he was the most-prominent leader of the Irish-American nationalist movement. Every Irish leader from Parnell to Pearse sought his counsel. He organised a dramatic rescue of Fenian prisoners from Australia, rallied Irish America behind the Land War, served as a middle man between the Easter rebels and the German government, and helped move Irish-American opinion in favour of the Treaty. When he died in 1928, Devoy was accorded a state funeral and a hero’s burial in Ireland. This new revised edition of the acclaimed biography of this overlooked architect of the Irish independence movement is also the story of Ireland, and of Irish-America, from the Famine to Freedom, examining the extraordinary cloak-and-dagger planning of the Easter Rising and the critical role of America in its outcome. “The Devoy story, in Terry Golway’s hands, combines wide scholarship and adventure: it reads like a novel. Get a comfortable chair when you read this book: you won’t be able to put it down.” – Frank McCourt “Terry Golway tells the story of this exceptional man with affection and deft narrative sense…this book will charm and enlighten readers.” – Thomas Keneally
The death in May 2000 of John Cardinal O'Connor, archbishop of New York, was a vital loss to countless millions. A shining, openhearted crusader for traditional values in an increasingly bewildering culture, O'Connor was a pioneer for the new face of Catholicism, mapping out an unequivocal political and ethical code that stood for unconditional charity, civil liberties, and social justice. His widespread influence and spiritual presence are still felt strongly today. Now, for the first time, one of last century's most inspiring voices for humanity, conscience, and compassion is celebrated and remembered through the words of those who knew him best. Renowned author and journalist Terry Golway shares a diverse collection of intimate stories and accounts: from former New York Mayor Ed Koch, one of the archbishop's closest friends, to fellow clerics he inspired, to all manner of laypersons around the country whose lives were touched and changed by this vital pillar of the Roman Catholic Church. With never-before-seen photographs throughout, along with fascinating, previously unpublished correspondence to and from O'Connor, Full of Grace is a gorgeous tribute and an unprecedented remembrance, affording full access to the vast heart of the extraordinary man who once famously understated, "I hope that in each place I've gone, I saved some souls.
Ronald Reagan, "The Great Communicator," knew the power of words. His voice confronted America's foes, comforted the nation, and hastened the end of the Cold War. Ronald Reagan's America presents the history of the Reagan years told through his memorable speeches during the defining events of the era. Reagan's unshakable belief in the power of democracy against totalitarianism and of freedom against oppression shaped our world today. His ideas set the tone for our struggles and victories against the Soviet Union and in the Middle East, and his legacy continues in US policy at home and throughout the world. In the tradition of Let Every Nation Know, historian Terry Golway presents the defining moments of the Reagan years, with Ronald Reagan at their center. Woven throughout the book are carefully chosen excerpts of the speeches Reagan gave at 30 notable events throughout his political career included on one audio CD. Praise for Ronald Reagan's America "Nothing short of terrific...The insightful commentary adds a powerful complement." --Booklist "Illuminates the importance of public address to the success and reputation of presidents." --Library Journal "Riveting tour de force." --Publishers Weekly "A masterful job." --Bob Schieffer, CBS News "Marvelous work." --Joe Conason, journalist and author of The Hunting of the President and Big Lies
A biography like no other: hear the voice that led the nation out of darkness and into victory This vivid portrait shows a nation at its best and at its worst through the lens of the first American presidency truly impacted by the media age. An FDR biography unlike any other, Together We Cannot Fail offers a new view of how Roosevelt transformed an insular America into the world's most revered and feared superpower. An exclusive accompanying CD uses FDR's own stirring words to illustrate how he led the nation through the Great Depression and World War II to its "rendezvous with destiny." Historian Terry Golway brings alive how Roosevelt saved America from its worst fears and forever changed how Americans live and view themselves. This unique biography shows how FDR invented and established the practice of the media presidency with his famous fireside chats—the first presidential speeches broadcast nationally from the White House.
Let Every Nation Know is the first book of its kind-a historical biography in Kennedy's own words. Combining a remarkable audio CD of Kennedy's most famous speeches, debates and press conferences with the insights of two of America's preeminent historians, the result is a unique look at the world-changing words and presidency of John F. Kennedy. Robert Dallek, author of the #1 bestselling biography An Unfinished Life, and Terry Golway, author of Washington's General, bring to life the soaring oratory, marvelous wit and the intense drama of Kennedy's words and the events they evoke. "I had forgotten just how powerful these speeches were but the CD brings them to life once more and Dallek and Golway have done a masterful job of putting them into context."-Bob Schieffer, CBS News
In recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Comcast NBCUniversal presents His Dream, Our Stories: The Legacy of the March on Washington, an interactive book featuring intimate interviews with more than 25 individuals, many who participated in the March, as well as community and diversity leaders who were impacted by this historic event. Through their stories, readers will not only learn about the history of the March, but also of notable events throughout the years that eventually led to that hot summer day in August of 1963. Included are interviews with key figures of the civil rights movement, such as Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, Mamie Chalmers, Marc Morial, and Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles, along with others who attended the March in person, watched it on TV, or were too young to participate but were affected by its legacy nonetheless. There is also an introduction by Lester Holt of NBC News. His Dream, Our Stories: The Legacy of the March on Washington is part of Comcast NBCUniversal’s online and broadcast celebration and will serve as an effective tool for current and future generations to learn about that fateful afternoon and how it helped shape the civil rights struggle in America from that day forward.
Foreword by renowned Irish American actress Maureen O'Hara. This is 1 of 3 newest books in the acclaimed Legacy Chronicle series, each with more than 900-1000 extraordinary photos of personalities, events, artifacts, and more, plus compelling articles, captions, sidebar, eyewitness accounts and exclusive time line of events. This is a definitive account of beleaguered immigrants and descendants who rose to prominence and contributed mightily to the American saga.
Let Every Nation Know is the first book of its kind-a historical biography in Kennedy's own words. Combining a remarkable audio CD of Kennedy's most famous speeches, debates and press conferences with the insights of two of America's preeminent historians, the result is a unique look at the world-changing words and presidency of John F. Kennedy. Robert Dallek, author of the #1 bestselling biography An Unfinished Life, and Terry Golway, author of Washington's General, bring to life the soaring oratory, marvelous wit and the intense drama of Kennedy's words and the events they evoke. "I had forgotten just how powerful these speeches were but the CD brings them to life once more and Dallek and Golway have done a masterful job of putting them into context."-Bob Schieffer, CBS News
In recognition of the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s “I Have a Dream” speech, Comcast NBCUniversal presents His Dream, Our Stories: The Legacy of the March on Washington, an interactive book featuring intimate interviews with more than 25 individuals, many who participated in the March, as well as community and diversity leaders who were impacted by this historic event. Through their stories, readers will not only learn about the history of the March, but also of notable events throughout the years that eventually led to that hot summer day in August of 1963. Included are interviews with key figures of the civil rights movement, such as Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, Rev. Dr. Joseph E. Lowery, Mamie Chalmers, Marc Morial, and Rev. Samuel “Billy” Kyles, along with others who attended the March in person, watched it on TV, or were too young to participate but were affected by its legacy nonetheless. There is also an introduction by Lester Holt of NBC News. His Dream, Our Stories: The Legacy of the March on Washington is part of Comcast NBCUniversal’s online and broadcast celebration and will serve as an effective tool for current and future generations to learn about that fateful afternoon and how it helped shape the civil rights struggle in America from that day forward.
Ireland's struggle for freedom reaches back much further into the annals of history than most of us can imagine. Since the eleventh century, when legendary king Brian Boru united the chieftains of Ireland to resist Viking invasion, countless individual leaders have fought to preserve and protect Ireland's political and cul-tural autonomy. In a chronicle of unprecedented breadth and authority, For the Cause of Liberty tells the stories of these heroes -- including both men and women, Catholics and Protestants -- who enabled the Irish to free themselves from the yoke of colonial oppression. Journalist Terry Golway reconstructs the entire thousand-year history of Irish nationalism, covering each benchmark event in Ireland's political evolution and presenting a vivid, epic tale of both the famous and unsung patriots who changed the course of Ireland's history. Among these are Wolfe Tone, a leader of the 1798 rebellion who cut his own throat rather than submit to a hangman; Kevin Barry, executed at age eighteen rather than turn informer on the eve of independence in 1921; and Bobby Sands, an IRA militant who died on a hunger strike in 1981, calling international attention to the conflict in Northern Ireland. The engaging and admirable story of how the Irish have saved themselves, For the Cause of Liberty is a peerless work of scholarship, and it offers a fresh context for the ongoing discussion of Ireland's political future.
The death in May 2000 of John Cardinal O'Connor, archbishop of New York, was a vital loss to countless millions. A shining, openhearted crusader for traditional values in an increasingly bewildering culture, O'Connor was a pioneer for the new face of Catholicism, mapping out an unequivocal political and ethical code that stood for unconditional charity, civil liberties, and social justice. His widespread influence and spiritual presence are still felt strongly today. Now, for the first time, one of last century's most inspiring voices for humanity, conscience, and compassion is celebrated and remembered through the words of those who knew him best. Renowned author and journalist Terry Golway shares a diverse collection of intimate stories and accounts: from former New York Mayor Ed Koch, one of the archbishop's closest friends, to fellow clerics he inspired, to all manner of laypersons around the country whose lives were touched and changed by this vital pillar of the Roman Catholic Church. With never-before-seen photographs throughout, along with fascinating, previously unpublished correspondence to and from O'Connor, Full of Grace is a gorgeous tribute and an unprecedented remembrance, affording full access to the vast heart of the extraordinary man who once famously understated, "I hope that in each place I've gone, I saved some souls.
A hugely entertaining celebration of one of America’s greatest politicians—a source of inspiration for our equally challenging times... Fiorello LaGuardia was one of the twentieth century’s most colorful politicians—on the New York and national stage. He was also quintessentially American: the son of Italian immigrants, who rose in society through sheer will and chutzpah. Almost one hundred years later, America is once again grappling with issues that would have been familiar to the Little Flower, as he was affectionately known. It’s time to bring back LaGuardia, argues historian and journalist Terry Golway, to remind us all what an effective municipal officer (as he preferred to call himself) can achieve... Golway examines LaGuardia’s extraordinary career through four essential qualities: As a patriot, a dissenter, a leader, and a statesman. He needed them all when he stood against the nativism, religious and racial bigotry, and reactionary economic policies of the 1920s, and again when he faced the realities of Depression-era New York and the rise of fascism at home and abroad in the 1930s. Just before World War II, the Roosevelt administration formally apologized to the Nazis when LaGuardia referred to Hitler as a “brown-shirted fanatic.” There was nobody quite like Fiorello LaGuardia. In this immensely readable book, as entertaining as the man himself, Terry Golway captures the enduring appeal of one of America’s greatest leaders.
Described by Padraig Pearse as the “greatest of the Fenians”, John Devoy was born before the Famine and lived to see the Irish tricolour flying from Dublin Castle. The descendent of a rebel family, he was an avowed Fenian who went into exile in New York in 1871. Over the next half-century he was the most-prominent leader of the Irish-American nationalist movement. Every Irish leader from Parnell to Pearse sought his counsel. He organised a dramatic rescue of Fenian prisoners from Australia, rallied Irish America behind the Land War, served as a middle man between the Easter rebels and the German government, and helped move Irish-American opinion in favour of the Treaty. When he died in 1928, Devoy was accorded a state funeral and a hero’s burial in Ireland. This new revised edition of the acclaimed biography of this overlooked architect of the Irish independence movement is also the story of Ireland, and of Irish-America, from the Famine to Freedom, examining the extraordinary cloak-and-dagger planning of the Easter Rising and the critical role of America in its outcome. “The Devoy story, in Terry Golway’s hands, combines wide scholarship and adventure: it reads like a novel. Get a comfortable chair when you read this book: you won’t be able to put it down.” – Frank McCourt “Terry Golway tells the story of this exceptional man with affection and deft narrative sense…this book will charm and enlighten readers.” – Thomas Keneally
“Golway’s revisionist take is a useful reminder of the unmatched ingenuity of American politics.”—Wall Street Journal History casts Tammany Hall as shorthand for the worst of urban politics: graft and patronage personified by notoriously crooked characters. In his groundbreaking work Machine Made, journalist and historian Terry Golway dismantles these stereotypes, focusing on the many benefits of machine politics for marginalized immigrants. As thousands sought refuge from Ireland’s potato famine, the very question of who would be included under the protection of American democracy was at stake. Tammany’s transactional politics were at the heart of crucial social reforms—such as child labor laws, workers’ compensation, and minimum wages— and Golway demonstrates that American political history cannot be understood without Tammany’s profound contribution. Culminating in FDR’s New Deal, Machine Made reveals how Tammany Hall “changed the role of government—for the better to millions of disenfranchised recent American arrivals” (New York Observer).
The overlooked Quaker from Rhode Island who won the American Revolution's crucial southern campaign and helped to set up the final victory of American independence at Yorktown Nathanael Greene is a revolutionary hero who has been lost to history. Although places named in his honor dot city and country, few people know his quintessentially American story as a self-made, self-educated military genius who renounced his Quaker upbringing-horrifying his large family-to take up arms against the British. Untrained in military matters when he joined the Rhode Island militia in 1774, he quickly rose to become Washington's right-hand man and heir apparent. After many daring exploits during the war's first four years (and brilliant service as the army's quartermaster), he was chosen in 1780 by Washington to replace the routed Horatio Gates in South Carolina. Greene's southern campaign, which combined the forces of regular troops with bands of irregulars, broke all the rules of eighteenth-century warfare and foreshadowed the guerrilla wars of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. His opponent in the south, Lord Cornwallis, wrote, "Greene is as dangerous as Washington. I never feel secure when I am encamped in his neighborhood. He is vigilant, enterprising, and full of resources." Greene's ingenious tactics sapped the British of their strength and resolve even as they "won" nearly every battle. Terry Golway argues that Greene's appointment as commander of the American Southern Army was the war's decisive moment, and this bold new book returns Greene to his proper place in the Revolutionary era's pantheon. "Washington said if he went down in battle, Greene was his choice to succeed him. Read this book and you will understand why." -- Joseph J. Ellis, author of His Excellency: George Washington
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