Thurston Clarke's Books

JFK's Last Hundred Days

An Intimate Portrait of a Great President

By: Thurston Clarke

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JFK's Last Hundred Days

An Intimate Portrait of a Great President

By: Thurston Clarke

Poignant, fascinating, entertaining and informative ... reminds us exactly how much did happen in that time span and of how many tantalising hints he left behind' Financial Times'Brilliantly captures Kennedy's entire life through the prism of his final months ... the hero, like the devil, is in the detail' Mark Mason, Spectator, Books of the Year'Wonderfully vivid' Dominic Sandbrook, Sunday Times'A vivid portrait of Kennedy as an immensely complex human being: by turns detached and charismatic, a hard-nosed politician and a closet romantic, cautious in his decision making but reckless in his womanizing' Michicko Kakutani, New York Times 'A superb piece of writing - richly detailed and, considering that the end is all too well known, surprisingly enthralling' Frank Gannon, Wall Street Journal'The great merit of Clarke's account is that it encompasses both sides of Kennedy: the statesman and the chancer; the moralist and the opportunist' David Runciman, New Statesman'A superb book ... has the ominousness of a Shakespearean tragedy' Roger Lewis, Daily Mail

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448

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ISBN 10

0141048077

ISBN 13

9780141048079

Ask Not

The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America

By: Thurston Clarke

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Ask Not

The Inauguration of John F. Kennedy and the Speech That Changed America

By: Thurston Clarke

2013 is the 50th Anniversary of JFK’s assassination. A narrative of Kennedy's quest to create a speech that would distill American dreams and empower a new generation, Ask Not is a beautifully detailed account of the inauguration and the weeks preceding it. During a time when America was divided, and its citizens torn by fears of war, John F. Kennedy took office and sought to do more than just reassure the American people. His speech marked the start of a brief, optimistic era. Thurston Clarke's portrait of JFK is balanced, revealing the president at his most dazzlingly charismatic and cunningly pragmatic. Thurston Clarke's latest book, JFK's Last Hundred Days, is currently available in hardcover.

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328

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

ISBN 10

1101478055

ISBN 13

9781101478059

Pearl Harbor Ghosts

The Legacy of December 7, 1941

By: Thurston Clarke

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Pearl Harbor Ghosts

The Legacy of December 7, 1941

By: Thurston Clarke

A landmark book published to rave reviews a decade ago, Pearl Harbor Ghosts has now been updated to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the surprise attack that forever changed the course of history. Full of gripping drama and vibrant details, here is the intimate human story of the events surrounding that fateful day of December 7, 1941–the glamorous tropical city that seemed too beautiful to suffer devastation . . . the stunned naval personnel whose lives would permanently be divided into before and after Pearl Harbor . . . the ordinary Honolulu residents who were tragically unprepared to be the first target in the Pacific war . . . the Japanese pilots who manned the squadron of deadly silver bombers . . . and the island’s community of Japanese-Americans whose lives would never be the same again. Blending meticulous historic recreation with lively reporting, Clarke counterpoints the freeze-frame nightmare of the 1941 bombing with the disturbing realities of present-day Honolulu, where hundreds of veterans, both American and Japanese, converge each year to relive every hour of the attack. Wealthy Waikiki landowners and native Hawaiian farmers, admirals and nurses, Navy wives and government officials–all take their part in Clarke’s rich tapestry of memory and insight. In the end, Pearl Harbor emerges as a trauma that spread from Oahu to engulf the nation and the world–an event that continues to reverberate in the lives of all who experienced it.

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338

Publisher

Ballantine Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0345446070

ISBN 13

9780345446077

JFK's Last Hundred Days

The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President

By: Thurston Clarke

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JFK's Last Hundred Days

The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President

By: Thurston Clarke

A Kirkus Best Book of 2013 A revelatory, minute-by-minute account of JFK’s last hundred days that asks what might have been Fifty years after his death, President John F. Kennedy’s legend endures. Noted author and historian Thurston Clarke argues that the heart of that legend is what might have been. As we approach the anniversary of Kennedy’s assassination, JFK’s Last Hundred Days reexamines the last months of the president’s life to show a man in the midst of great change, finally on the cusp of making good on his extraordinary promise. Kennedy’s last hundred days began just after the death of two-day-old Patrick Kennedy, and during this time, the president made strides in the Cold War, civil rights, Vietnam, and his personal life. While Jackie was recuperating, the premature infant and his father were flown to Boston for Patrick’s treatment. Kennedy was holding his son’s hand when Patrick died on August 9, 1963. The loss of his son convinced Kennedy to work harder as a husband and father, and there is ample evidence that he suspended his notorious philandering during these last months of his life. Also in these months Kennedy finally came to view civil rights as a moral as well as a political issue, and after the March on Washington, he appreciated the power of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., for the first time. Though he is often depicted as a devout cold warrior, Kennedy pushed through his proudest legislative achievement in this period, the Limited Test Ban Treaty. This success, combined with his warming relations with Nikita Khrushchev in the wake of the Cuban missile crisis, led to a détente that British foreign secretary Sir Alec Douglas- Home hailed as the “beginning of the end of the Cold War.” Throughout his presidency, Kennedy challenged demands from his advisers and the Pentagon to escalate America’s involvement in Vietnam. Kennedy began a reappraisal in the last hundred days that would have led to the withdrawal of all sixteen thousand U.S. military advisers by 1965. JFK’s Last Hundred Days is a gripping account that weaves together Kennedy’s public and private lives, explains why the grief following his assassination has endured so long, and solves the most tantalizing Kennedy mystery of all—not who killed him but who he was when he was killed, and where he would have led us.

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347

Publisher

Penguin

Published Date

ISBN 10

1101617802

ISBN 13

9781101617809

The Last Campaign

Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America

By: Thurston Clarke

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The Last Campaign

Robert F. Kennedy and 82 Days That Inspired America

By: Thurston Clarke

Tells the story of Robert F. Kennedy's 1968 Presidential campaign.

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334

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

0805077928

ISBN 13

9780805077926

Honorable Exit

How a Few Brave Americans Risked All to Save Our Vietnamese Allies at the End of the War

By: Thurston Clarke

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Honorable Exit

How a Few Brave Americans Risked All to Save Our Vietnamese Allies at the End of the War

By: Thurston Clarke

A MAIN SELECTION OF THE MILITARY BOOK CLUB A groundbreaking revisionist history of the last days of the Vietnam War that reveals the acts of American heroism that saved more than one hundred thousand South Vietnamese from communist revenge In 1973 U.S. participation in the Vietnam War ended in a cease-fire and a withdrawal that included promises by President Nixon to assist the South in the event of invasion by the North. But in early 1975, when North Vietnamese forces began a full-scale assault, Congress refused to send arms or aid. By early April that year, the South was on the brink of a defeat that threatened execution or years in a concentration camp for the untold number of South Vietnamese who had supported the government in Saigon or worked with Americans. Thurston Clarke begins Honorable Exit by describing the iconic photograph of the Fall of Saigon: desperate Vietnamese scrambling to board a helicopter evacuating the last American personnel from Vietnam. It is an image of U.S. failure and shame. Or is it? By unpacking the surprising story of heroism that the photograph actually tells, Clarke launches into a narrative that is both a thrilling race against time and an important corrective to the historical record. For what is less known is that during those final days, scores of Americans--diplomats, businessmen, soldiers, missionaries, contractors, and spies--risked their lives to assist their current and former translators, drivers, colleagues, neighbors, friends, and even perfect strangers in escape. By the time the last U.S. helicopter left Vietnam on April 30, 1975, these righteous Americans had helped to spirit 130,000 South Vietnamese to U.S. bases in Guam and the Philippines. From there, the evacuees were resettled in the U.S. and became American citizens, the leading edge of one of America's most successful immigrant groups. Into this tale of heroism on the ground Clarke weaves the political machinations of Henry Kissinger advising President Ford in the White House while reinforcing the delusions of the U.S. Ambassador in Saigon, who, at the last minute, refused to depart. Groundbreaking, page-turning, and authoritative, Honorable Exit is a deeply moving history of Americans at a little-known finest hour.

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466

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Anchor

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ISBN 10

1101872349

ISBN 13

9781101872345

Honourable Exit

how a few brave Americans risked all to save their Vietnamese allies at the end of the war

By: Thurston Clarke

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Honourable Exit

how a few brave Americans risked all to save their Vietnamese allies at the end of the war

By: Thurston Clarke

In the last days of the Vietnam War, more than 130,000 South Vietnamese were saved from their otherwise dire fate by the heroic acts of ordinary Americans. This groundbreaking account by New York Times-bestselling author Thurston Clarke uncovers a previously untold story of bravery and honour. 1973. US participation in the Vietnam War ends. As troops withdraw, President Nixon pledges to assist the South in the event of invasion by the North. 1975. North Vietnam begins a full-scale assault on the South. Congress does nothing. Hundreds of thousands of South Vietnamese face execution or life in concentration camps. An iconic photograph is taken of the Fall of Saigon, depicting desperate Vietnamese people scrambling to board a helicopter evacuating the last of the American soldiers. It is an image of US failure and shame. Or is it? In Honourable Exit, Clarke revisits the last days of the Vietnam War to uncover the previously untold story of a life-saving mass evacuation. During those final days, a number of Americans — diplomats, businessmen, soldiers, missionaries, contractors, and spies — risked their lives and disobeyed orders to help their translators, drivers, colleagues, neighbours, friends, and even perfect strangers to escape. By the time the last US helicopter left Vietnam on 30 April 1975, these heroic Americans had helped to spirit over 130,000 South Vietnamese to resettlement in the US and life as American citizens. Groundbreaking, page-turning, and authoritative, Honourable Exit is a deeply moving history of Americans in one of their little-known finest hours.

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445

Publisher

Scribe Publications

Published Date

ISBN 10

1925693805

ISBN 13

9781925693805

Lynching

American Mob Murder in Global Perspective

By: Robert W. Thurston

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Lynching

American Mob Murder in Global Perspective

By: Robert W. Thurston

Addressing one of the most controversial and emotive issues of American history, this book presents a thorough reexamination of the background, dynamics, and decline of American lynching. It argues that collective homicide in the US can only be partly understood through a discussion of the unsettled southern political situation after 1865, but must also be seen in the context of a global conversation about changing cultural meanings of 'race'. A deeper comprehension of the course of mob murder and the dynamics that drove it emerges through comparing the situation in the US with violence that was and still is happening around the world. Drawing on a variety of approaches - historical, anthropological and literary - the study shows how concepts of imperialism, gender, sexuality, and civilization profoundly affected the course of mob murder in the US. Lynching provides thought-provoking analyses of cases where race was - and was not - a factor. The book is constructed as a series of case studies grouped into three thematic sections. Part I, Understanding Lynching, starts with accounts of mob murder around the world. Part II, Lynching and Cultural Change, examines shifting concepts of race, gender, and sexuality by drawing first on the romantic travel and adventure fiction of the era 1880-1920, from authors such as H. Rider Haggard and Edgar Rice Burroughs. Changing images of black and white bodies form another major focus of this section. Part III, Blood, Debate, and Redemption in Georgia, follows the story of American collective murder and growing opposition to it in Georgia, a key site of lynching, in the early twentieth century. By situating American mob murder in a wide international context, and viewing the phenomenon as more than simply a tool of racial control, this book presents a reappraisal of one of the most unpleasant, yet important periods of America's history, one that remains crucial for understanding race relations and collective violence around the world.

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Page Count

442

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1317102975

ISBN 13

9781317102977

Reading Postwar British and Irish Poetry

By: Michael Thurston,Nigel Alderman

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Reading Postwar British and Irish Poetry

By: Michael Thurston,Nigel Alderman

Combining detailed explorations of both mainstream and experimental poets with a clear historical and literary overview, Reading Postwar British and Irish Poetry offers readers at all levels an ideal guide to the rich body of poetic works published in Britain and Ireland over the last half-century. Features detailed discussions of individual poems that are widely available in anthologies and selected poems volumes Pays explicit attention to how to read the poems, focusing on language and form and the institutional conditions of literary possibility in which poets worked Includes poets of all types and styles from throughout the post-war period, including canonical and mainstream poets alongside experimental poets, women, and poets of color

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368

Publisher

John Wiley & Sons

Published Date

ISBN 10

1118619811

ISBN 13

9781118619810

The Body in the Anglosphere, 1880–1920

"Well Sexed Womanhood," "Finer Natives," and "Very White Men"

By: Robert W. Thurston

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The Body in the Anglosphere, 1880–1920

"Well Sexed Womanhood," "Finer Natives," and "Very White Men"

By: Robert W. Thurston

Focusing on the body in every chapter, this book examines the changing meanings and profound significance of the physical form among the Anglo-Saxons from 1880 to 1920. They formed an imaginary—but, in many ways, quite real—community that ruled much of the world. Among them, racism became more virulent. To probe the importance of the body, this book brings together for the first time the many areas in which the physical form was newly or more extensively featured, from photography through literature, frontier wars, violent sports, and the global circus. Sex, sexuality, concepts of gender including women’s possibilities in all areas of life, and the meanings of race and of civilization figured regularly in Anglo discussions. Black people challenged racism by presenting their own photos of respectable folk. As all this unfolded, Anglo men and women faced the problem of maintaining civilized control vs. the need to express uninhibited feeling. With these issues in mind, it is evident that the origins of today’s debates about race and gender lie in the late nineteenth century.

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Page Count

314

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1000520684

ISBN 13

9781000520682

JFK's Last Hundred Days

The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President

By: Thurston Clarke

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JFK's Last Hundred Days

The Transformation of a Man and the Emergence of a Great President

By: Thurston Clarke

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347

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Penguin

Published Date

ISBN 10

1101617802

ISBN 13

9781101617809

California Fault

Searching for the Spirit of a State Along the San Andreas

By: Thurston Clarke

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California Fault

Searching for the Spirit of a State Along the San Andreas

By: Thurston Clarke

DELIGHTFULLY ECLECTIC . . . Move over, Alexis de Tocqueville. When Thurston Clarke makes the UFO-earthquake connection halfway through Fault, he elevates himself to the first rank of America's social observers." --Los Angeles Times California has always symbolized the good life, but social problems and natural disasters have tarnished the image of the Golden State. To find out what happened to the California Dream, Clarke sets off on a remarkable journey down the San Andreas fault searching for earthquakes and good news. From the "sensitive" whose headaches predict earthquakes with uncanny precision to a determined dreamer at the Salton Sea who hopes someday to build a blue-collar resort along the abandoned shores, Clarke introduces us to a memorable cast of eccentrics, asking each the provocative question: What is it like living in a place that--no matter how beautiful--might suddenly, while you opened the cereal, combed your hair, or bathed the baby, strike you dead? "VIVID AND CONTINUALLY SURPRISING . . . The author has an unerring ability to search out exactly the right despoiler, utopian, or local eccentric to illuminate the history and character of each stop along the way." --The New Yorker

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Page Count

436

Publisher

Ballantine Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

0345409086

ISBN 13

9780345409089

History of Sanbornton, New Hampshire

Vol. 2

By: Moses Thurston Runnels

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History of Sanbornton, New Hampshire

Vol. 2

By: Moses Thurston Runnels

Reprint of the original, first published in 1882.

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1058

Publisher

BoD – Books on Demand

Published Date

ISBN 10

3385409373

ISBN 13

9783385409378

Honorable Exit

How a Few Brave Americans Risked All to Save Our Vietnamese Allies at the End of the War

By: Thurston Clarke

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Honorable Exit

How a Few Brave Americans Risked All to Save Our Vietnamese Allies at the End of the War

By: Thurston Clarke

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466

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Anchor

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ISBN 10

1101872349

ISBN 13

9781101872345

Landscapes of Power, Landscapes of Conflict

State Formation in the South Scandinavian Iron Age

By: Tina L. Thurston

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Landscapes of Power, Landscapes of Conflict

State Formation in the South Scandinavian Iron Age

By: Tina L. Thurston

Tina Thurston’s Landscapes of Power; Landscapes of Conflict is a thi- generation processual analysis of sociopolitical evolution during the Iron Age in southern Scandinavia. Several red flags seem to be raised at once. Are not archaeologists now postprocessual, using new interpretive approaches to - derstand human history? Is not evolution a discredited concept in which - cieties are arbitrarily arranged along a unilinear scheme? Should not modern approaches be profoundly historical and agent-centered? In any event, were not Scandinavians the ultimate barbarian Vikings parasitizing the complex civilized world of southern and central Europe? Tina Thurston’s book focuses our attention on the significant innovations of anthropological archaeology at the end of the twentieth century. A brief overview of processual archaeology can set the context for - preciating Landscapes ofPower; Landscapes of Conflict. During the 1960s the emergent processual archaeology (a. k. a. the New Archaeology) cryst- lized an evolutionary paradigm that framed research with the comparative ethnography of Service and Fried. It was thought that human societies p- gressed through stages of social development and that the goal was to d- cover the evolutionary prime movers (such as irrigation, warfare, trade, and population) that drove social and cultural change. By the 1970s prime movers had fallen from favor and social evolution was conceived as complicated flows of causation involving many variables.

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334

Publisher

Springer Science & Business Media

Published Date

ISBN 10

0306471841

ISBN 13

9780306471841

A Practitioner's Guide to Trusts

By: John Thurston

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A Practitioner's Guide to Trusts

By: John Thurston

A Practitioner's Guide to Trusts is a step-by-step guide to all the practical aspects of trust law. Written by an expert and highly respected author, this handbook provides practical information that is as useful to accountants and trust practitioners as it is to lawyers.Written by an expert and highly respected author, this handbook provides practical information that is as useful to accountants and trust practitioners as it is to lawyers. It has been fully updated and revised to take into account the latest Finance Act.KEY FEATURES:Includes changes to IHT treatment of trusts subject to the relevant property regime (simplification of the calculation of IHT charges on trusts at ten-yearly intervals or when assets are transferred out of the trust);Expanded analysis on income tax and CGT treatment of trusts;The book has been designed to make key information easy to find and assimilate and includes signposts to provide useful summaries and focus points to highlight important issues;Case law includes the IHT Pawson holiday let case (28 Jan 2013).Includes coverage of the following areas:Breach of trust;Capital Gains Trust and second residences;Income tax and settlor interested trusts;Ownership of house (Jones v Kernott);Ownership of monies in joint bank account;Proprietary estoppel;Removal of trustees;Severance of joint tenancy.Previous edition ISBN: 9781847667687

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Page Count

661

Publisher

A&C Black

Published Date

ISBN 10

1780433573

ISBN 13

9781780433578

Carnie King

The Story of Patty Conklin and Conklin Shows

By: John Thurston

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Carnie King

The Story of Patty Conklin and Conklin Shows

By: John Thurston

The story of the audacious showman who built the greatest carnival dynasty in North America. Enter the realm of the carnie king, Patty Conklin, the flamboyant founder of what would become the world’s largest carnival company. Patty started on the mean streets of New York selling peanuts before becoming a a small-time operator. Willing to try anything to promote his show, he established himself as a carnie celebrity. Winning the midway contract for the Canadian National Exhibition in 1937, he made it his personal world’s fair. It became the foundation for his son and grandson to expand Conklin Shows until they were playing the biggest fairs and exhibitions throughout North America. Carnie King begins with the birth of Joseph Renker to German immigrant parents, tells of his personal transformation into Patty Conklin, and follows his incredible life through to his death in 1970. It covers his company's history after Jim Conklin took over, expanded it beyond recognition, then handed it on to his own son. Not only a history of Conklin Shows, Carnie King explores how midways work and their commercial and popular presence in North America The story it tells is based on dozens of interviews with carnies and access to the Conklin archives. It includes anecdotes about a range of characters and insights about life on the midway. Carnie King is at once a revealing look at a unique part of twentieth-century culture and a vivid account of three generations of showmen and their dominance of midways across the continent.

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