William Roe Polk's Books

Polk's Folly

An American Family History

By: William R. Polk

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Polk's Folly

An American Family History

By: William R. Polk

Polk's Folly is William Polk's captivating investigation of his impressive family tree and of the broader American tale it narrates. Growing up in Texas in the late 1930s, listening to his grandmother's memories of her childhood amidst the Civil War, Polk became fascinated by tales of his family's engagement in monumental moments of our nation's history. Beginning when Robert Pollok fled Ireland in the 1680s, Polk's saga includes an Indian trader, an early drafter of the Declaration of Independence, one of our greatest presidents, heroes and rascals on both sides of the Civil War, Indian fighters, a World War I diplomat, and Polk's own brother, a journalist who reported on the Nuremberg Trials. Full of stunning detail and based on primary historical documents, Polk's Folly is a grand American chronicle that allows history to include the lives that made it happen.

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Page Count

610

Publisher

Anchor

Published Date

ISBN 10

0385491514

ISBN 13

9780385491518

Crusade and Jihad

The Thousand-year War Between the Muslim World and the Global North

By: William Roe Polk

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Crusade and Jihad

The Thousand-year War Between the Muslim World and the Global North

By: William Roe Polk

Encompasses the entire history of the catastrophic encounter between the Global North--China, Russia, Europe, Britain, and America--and Muslim societies from Central Asia to West Africa, explaining the deep hostilities between them and how they grew over the centuries. --Adapted from publisher description.

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Page Count

651

Publisher

Yale University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0300222904

ISBN 13

9780300222906

Understanding Iran

Everything You Need to Know, From Persia to the Islamic Republic, From Cyrus to Khamenei

By: William R. Polk

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Understanding Iran

Everything You Need to Know, From Persia to the Islamic Republic, From Cyrus to Khamenei

By: William R. Polk

New introduction and afterword"--Cover.

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Page Count

289

Publisher

Macmillan

Published Date

ISBN 10

023010343X

ISBN 13

9780230103436

The Elusive Peace (Routledge Revivals)

The Middle East in the Twentieth Century

By: William R. Polk

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The Elusive Peace (Routledge Revivals)

The Middle East in the Twentieth Century

By: William R. Polk

The Elusive Peace, first published in 1979, highlights the crucial developments in the Middle East during the twentieth century: the coming of nationalism, the struggle for independence, the effects of the Cold War and the four ‘hot wars’ in the Middle East. The numerous attempts to solve the conflicts, and the ultimate failure of such attempts, are discussed with particular reference to the war in Lebanon, and its relation to larger conflicts. As an American emissary during the Kennedy, Johnston and Nixon years, William Polk is unique in his ability to assess the key personalities and provide thorough analysis, considering Sadat and Begin, and the American policies of Dulles and Kissinger. This is a fascinating and inclusive study which provides essential background to the on-going turmoil in the Middle East.

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Page Count

182

Publisher

Routledge

Published Date

ISBN 10

1134461046

ISBN 13

9781134461042

John Quincy Adams and American Global Empire

By: William Earl Weeks

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John Quincy Adams and American Global Empire

By: William Earl Weeks

This is the story of a man, a treaty, and a nation. The man was John Quincy Adams, regarded by most historians as America's greatest secretary of state. The treaty was the Transcontinental Treaty of 1819, of which Adams was the architect. It acquired Florida for the young United States, secured a western boundary extending to the Pacific, and bolstered the nation's position internationally. As William Weeks persuasively argues, the document also represented the first determined step in the creation of an American global empire. Weeks follows the course of the often labyrinthine negotiations by which Adams wrested the treaty from a recalcitrant Spain. The task required all of Adams's skill in diplomacy, for he faced a tangled skein of domestic and international controversies when he became secretary of state in 1817. The final document provided the United States commercial access to the Orient—a major objective of the Monroe administration that paved the way for the Monroe Doctrine of 1823. Adams, the son of a president and later himself president, saw himself as destined to play a crucial role in the growth and development of the United States. In this he succeeded. Yet his legendary statecraft proved bittersweet. Adams came to repudiate the slave society whose interests he had served by acquiring Florida, he was disgusted by the rapacity of the Jacksonians, and he experienced profound guilt over his own moral transgressions while secretary of state. In the end, Adams understood that great virtue cannot coexist with great power. Weeks's book, drawn in part from articles that won the Stuart Bernath Prize, makes a lasting contribution to our understanding of American foreign policy and adds significantly to our picture of one of the nation's most important statesmen.

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Page Count

249

Publisher

University Press of Kentucky

Published Date

ISBN 10

0813148375

ISBN 13

9780813148373

Victory Without Peace

The United States Navy in European Waters, 1919-1924

By: William N Still

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Victory Without Peace

The United States Navy in European Waters, 1919-1924

By: William N Still

Victory Without Peace concentrates on the U.S. Navy in European and Near Eastern waters during the post-World War I era. As participants in the Versailles peace negotiations, the Navy was charged with executing the naval terms of the Armistice as well as preserving stability and peace. U.S. warships were deploying into the Near East, Baltic, Adriatic, and Northern Europe, while simultaneously withdrawing its demobilized forces from European waters. This signifies the first time the U.S. Navy contributed to peacetime efforts, setting a precedent continues today. Conversely, Congressional appropriations handicapped this deployment by demobilization, general naval policy and postwar personnel, and operating funds reductions. Though reluctant to allocate postwar assets into seemingly unimportant European and Near Eastern waters, the Navy was pressured by the State Department and the American Relief Administration's leader, Herbert Hoover, to deploy necessary forces. Most of these were withdrawn by 1924 and the European Station assumed the traditional policy of showing the flag.

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Page Count

586

Publisher

Naval Institute Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

1682470156

ISBN 13

9781682470152

When the Eagle Screamed

The Romantic Horizon in American Expansionism, 1800-1860

By: William H. Goetzmann

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When the Eagle Screamed

The Romantic Horizon in American Expansionism, 1800-1860

By: William H. Goetzmann

When the Eagle Screamed argues that America’s expansionism between 1800 and 1860 positioned it against some of the world’s most powerful and aggressive nations. As the United States moved onto the world scene in this age of Manifest Destiny, it clashed with Britain, France, Russia, Spain, and Mexico.

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Page Count

172

Publisher

University of Oklahoma Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

080613223X

ISBN 13

9780806132235

Mortal Follies

Episcopalians and the Crisis of Mainline Christianity

By: William Murchison

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Mortal Follies

Episcopalians and the Crisis of Mainline Christianity

By: William Murchison

It's not that the dignified and rarefied old Episcopal Church quit believing in God. It's that the God you increasingly hear spoken of in Episcopal circles is infinitely tolerant and given to sudden changes of mind--not quite the divinity you thought you were reading about in the scriptures. Episcopalians of the twenty-first century, like their counterparts in other churches of the so-called American mainline--such as Methodists and Presbyterians--seem to prefer a God that the culture would be proud of, as against a culture that God would be proud of. While they work to rebrand and reshelve orthodox Christianity for the modern market, exponents of the new thinking are busy reducing mainstream Christian witness to a shadow of its former self. Mortal Follies is the story of the Episcopal Church's mad dash to catch up with a secular culture fond of self-expression and blissfully relaxed as to norms and truths. An Episcopal layman, William Murchison details how leaders of his church, starting in the late 1960s, looked over the culture of liberation, liked what they saw, and went skipping along with the shifting cultural mood--especially when the culture demanded that the church account for its sins of "heterosexism" and "racism." Episcopalians have blended so deeply into the cultural woodwork that it's hard sometimes to remember that it all began as a divine calling to the normative and the eternal.

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Page Count

226

Publisher

Encounter Books

Published Date

ISBN 10

1594033552

ISBN 13

9781594033551

In the Shadow of FDR

From Harry Truman to Barack Obama

By: William E. Leuchtenburg

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In the Shadow of FDR

From Harry Truman to Barack Obama

By: William E. Leuchtenburg

A ghost has inhabited the Oval Office since 1945—the ghost of Franklin Delano Roosevelt. FDR's formidable presence has cast a large shadow on the occupants of that office in the years since his death, and an appreciation of his continuing influence remains essential to understanding the contemporary presidency.This new edition of In the Shadow of FDR has been updated to examine the presidency of George W. Bush and the first 100 days of the presidency of Barack Obama. The Obama presidency is evidence not just of the continuing relevance of FDR for assessing executive power but also of the salience of FDR's name in party politics and policy formulation.

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Page Count

454

Publisher

Cornell University Press

Published Date

ISBN 10

0801462576

ISBN 13

9780801462573

Book's by William Roe Polk

Polk's Folly

Polk's Folly

Crusade and Jihad

Crusade and Jihad

Understanding Iran

Understanding Iran

The Elusive Peace (Routledge Revivals)

The Elusive Peace (Routledge Revivals)

John Quincy Adams and American Global Empire

John Quincy Adams and American Global Empire

Victory Without Peace

Victory Without Peace

When the Eagle Screamed

When the Eagle Screamed

Mortal Follies

Mortal Follies

In the Shadow of FDR

In the Shadow of FDR

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