THE BOOKS
THE BOOKS
THE BOOKS
NON-FICTION
NON-FICTION
The Prophet
ISBN: 978-1-953058-85-0
It has now been a century since Kahlil Gibran first brought The Prophet to the world. It sold out its first run of 1300 copies within weeks and went on to sell millions of copies in more than 100 languages. It is not a book of analytic philosophy and it is not a simple self-help book. It is a work of offered wisdom that flies to the heavens on the wings of its imaginative prose and lands again on the solid ground right next to the reader where it is most needed.
All readers should make the lessons of the prophet their own and find in his words the keys that might open doors that otherwise would be shut to them. We don’t intend any particular lessons to be found in these pages and don’t mean to endorse any specific lessons that may be found. We do intend our readers to engage with the text, search for keys that speak to them, and collect what wisdom they find.
Meditations
ISBN-13: 978-1953058317
Marcus Aurelius was emperor of Rome from 161 to 180. His reign was fraught with foreign wars and instability at the edges of the empire. Among his great accomplishments was presiding over a reformation of civil law, including bringing more justice to the least favored in Roman society. But whatever he accomplished as one of the last great emperors of Rome, Marcus Aurelius's most lasting legacy was a thinker and instructor of self-improvement. Through his studies and his experiences, the emperor picked up valuable lessons. It was while he was on campaign in the last decade of his life that he composed this little book to keep those lessons close at hand and ready to help him live the good life. This book is his guide on how to face daily life.
This is not a new translation of Meditations but a compilation of two earlier translations. Editors Gary L. Gregg II and N. Susan Laehn hope to provide readers with an accessible and applicable version of the text-- one that unlocks the many lessons the emperor himself sought to learn. The goal is that this new edition of the emperor's handbook will hold many keys you find worthy of picking up and carrying away with you. And we hope it becomes one of the many treasures you come back to over and over again for education and inspiration along your own journey living the good life.
Reflection and Choice
ISBN-13: 978-1953058034
The Constitution of the United States has endured as our fundamental law for more than 230 years. Its longevity itself is a remarkable achievement considering the unprecedented changes we have seen in economics, technology, and social life over that span of time. The document's success, however, was anything but assured as it was being written, debated, and then eventually ratified between 1787 and 1788.
Reflection and Choice contains the essence of the great debates the roiled American public life at the end of the 1780s. Editors Gary L. Gregg II and Aaron N. Coleman, along with the McConnell Center, are pleased to make this new edition of The Federalist Papers and excerpts from select Anti-Federalists essays available because they believe these debates are not just of historical importance but shed vital light even down to the current hour on the essential questions related to good government, liberty, order, and public happiness.
Hero Tales from American History
ISBN-13: 978-1935497387
Courage under Fire. Self-Sacrifice. Battles that Changed America.
American history is full of men and women who have acted courageously when their families, communities and country needed them most. Henry Cabot Lodge and Theodore Roosevelt discovered they both loved telling the stories of these outstanding individuals who helped make America. They pared down their favorite stories to 26 and gave them as a gift to the young people of America in 1895.
The McConnell Center at the University of Louisville is pleased to make this volume available again to America's youth in hopes that it inspires them to learn more of our history and encourages them to new acts of heroism.
America's Forgotten Founders
Second edition
ISBN-13: 9781610170239
Even as Americans devour books about our Founding Fathers, the focus seldom extends past a half dozen or so icons—Franklin, Washington, Adams, Jefferson, Madison, Hamilton. Many of the men (and women) who made prodigious contributions to the American founding have been all but forgotten.
America’s Forgotten Founders corrects this injustice. Editors Gary L. Gregg II and Mark David Hall surveyed forty-five top scholars in history, political science, and law to produce the first-ever ranking of the most neglected contributors to the American Revolution and our constitutional order. This unique book features engaging short biographies of the top ten most important Founders whose contributions are overlooked today: James Wilson, George Mason, Gouverneur Morris, John Jay, Roger Sherman, John Marshall, John Dickinson, Thomas Paine, Patrick Henry, and John Witherspoon.
Securing Democracy: Why We Have an Electoral College
ISBN-13: 9781933859477
The distinguished contributors to Securing Democracy—including Michael Barone, Walter Berns, and Daniel Patrick Moynihan—have an uncommonly complete understanding of the nature of American politics. They show that the American concept of democracy means much more than a prejudice for national direct elections. This book is the definitive volume for anyone interested in the logic and importance of the Electoral College, as well as the uniquely successfully democracy it has helped forge.
Considering the Bush Presidency
ISBN-13: 9780195166804
George W. Bush became president under some of the most unusual circumstances in U.S. history, with the very legitimacy of his claim to victory a matter of strong public debate. In spite of the highly contested election that brought him to power, Bush came into office with assertiveness and resolve, surprising many of his critics with a successful early push for tax reduction and other domestic initiatives. However, the shattering events of September 11, 2001 forced the Bush administration to refocus its agenda. Since that day, the power of the presidency--as well as its limitations--have been at the forefront of the public's mind.
Considering the Bush Presidency offers a wide-ranging scholarly review and analysis of the George W. Bush presidency. Written by leading political scientists, this collection features timely and unique essays that cover such topics as the Bush transition, staffing the Bush presidency, battles over executive privilege, Bush and presidential war powers, the vice presidency of Dick Cheney, and the relationship between the president and Congress. With selections that balance popular topics and theoretical rigor, Considering the Bush Presidency is ideal for introductory American politics and presidency courses.
America's Forgotten Founders
ISBN-13: 9781884532818
Who are the members of America's founding generation who contributed the most to our experiment in republican government but whom we don't adequately remember in modern America?
This is the question that spurred Gary L. Gregg and Mark David Hall to conduct a survey of top scholars in history, political science and law. The results are the first-ever ranking of the most important and most forgotten contributors to the American Revolution and the creation of our constitutional order. America's Forgotten Founders contains well-written and engaging short biographies of the top ten members of the founding generation who are often overlooked but deserve to be remembered. This unique book contains essential biographical material, summations of major accomplishments, and primary source material from the pages of these forgotten founders.
Thinking About the Presidency: Documents and Essays from the Founding to the Present
ISBN-13: 9780742543379
Thinking About the Presidency is a concise, highly readable introduction to the American Presidency. As the only presidency reader updated through the September 11 attacks, the Iraq War, and the 2004 race for the presidency, this new text provides students with the most current information available on the presidency. Bringing together classic essays, primary sources, and contemporary scholarship, this new text encourages students to draw their own conclusions about major issues of constitutional governance while providing them with the foundation for continued thought about the office in the years to come.
To aid students in learning and reviewing, each section begins with a substantive introduction that places each reading into a coherent theoretical and historical context. To promote critical analysis and facilitate meaningful classroom discussions, each introduction includes thought-provoking questions for each of the readings. Gregg uses unique "Constitutional Context" boxes to directly relate sections of the Constitution to the topic being presented and his "Quick Facts" boxes provide ready reference materials to students.
Patriot Sage: George Washington and the American Political Tradition
ISBN-13: 9781882926381
From Library Journal:
"These three volumes are part of the nation's commemoration of the 200th anniversary of Washington's death. Hannaford's and Murray's books are slight both in size and substance. In The Essential George Washington, Hannaford has collected verbal "snapshots," brief comments on Washington made by sundry poets, politicians, journalists, and others, including Abigail Adams, James Fenimore Cooper, Newt Gingrich, and George Will. Murray's Washington's Farewell takes as its starting point a December 4, 1783, meeting of Washington and his officers, at which he bade farewell to his men and prepared to return to private life. Murray sketches the lives and characters of the officers who were at this convocation and discusses Washington's military career. Both books tend toward hagiography, and Patriot Sage is not far off. It opens with a preface by William J. Bennett, former Secretary of Education, U.S. drug czar, and chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, which states the conservative agenda of the essays collection: because the United States is in moral and political decline, it behooves us to emulate Washington in our public and private lives. The book's 12 essays touch on most facets of Washington's life--his management of Mount Vernon, his military strategies and tactics, his forging of the presidency, and his trustworthy character. One of the strongest essays is by Richard Brookhiser, author of one of the best recent biographies of Washington (Founding Father: Rediscovering George Washington, LJ 2/1/96). His prose is so buoyant it nearly leaps from the page. Unfortunately, none of these three books represents a significant advance in our knowledge or appreciation of our first president. Readers interested in Washington are advised to consult books like Brookhiser's. Patriot Sage is recommended for larger public libraries; the Murray and Hannaford books are not essential purchases."
-Thomas J. Schaeper, St. Bonaventure Univ., NY
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.
Vital Remnants: America's Founding and the Western Tradition
ISBN-13: 9781882926312
"Vital Remnants contains a remarkable series of essays that will change the direction of scholarship on the founding. The authors have identified new perspectives on virtue and faith in the American tradition that will compel readers to go beyond the existing schools of liberalism and communitarianism." -James W. Ceaser, author, Reconstructing America: The Symbol of America in Modern Thought "This superior collection of essays on American civilization should be in the hands of every student of the subject. It is lucidly written by some of leading scholars in several fields. Warmly recommended."-Ellis Sandoz, editor, Political Sermons of the American Founding Era: 1730-1805.
The Presidential Republic
ISBN-13: 978-0847683789
For two centuries, American presidents have considered themselves to be representatives of the American people. In this detailed study of presidential representation, Gary Gregg explores the theory, history, and consequences of presidents acting as representatives in the American political system. Gregg explores questions such as what it means to be a representative, how the Founding Fathers understood the place of the presidency in the Republic established by the Constitution, and the effects a representational presidency has on deliberative democracy. This important examination of the presidency's place in our political system is essential reading for those interested in American political theory, constitutional studies, and American history.