Virtue, Valor, and Vanity

Virtue, Valor, and Vanity PDF Author: Eric Burns
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1628721960
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 285

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Book Description
Washington, Adams, Henry, Jefferson, Franklin, and Hamilton: their ambitions, intrigues, and jealousies shaped the birth of the nation, but they overcame their foibles and imperfections to throw off the chains of tyranny and form a more perfect union. We think of them now as faces on money or statues on pedestals, and, as Burns illustrates in luminous prose, that’s exactly what they always wanted to be. They all possessed astonishing brilliance, but many had large egos and more than just a little vanity, especially John Adams, who never felt he received his public due and often complained in his letters about the unjust fame of his peers. History remembers Patrick Henry as the author of the patriotic call to arms, “give me liberty, or give me death!” but, at the beginning of his life in the public eye, he shamelessly traded integrity for renown. Interest in the founding fathers has never been greater; Virtue, Valor, and Vanity presents all of these well-known and oft-quoted men with wisdom and candor. In this fresh, informative work, Burns brings the founding fathers down off their pedestals to reveal the flesh-and-blood men—vain and modest, sensitive and stubborn, brilliant and ambitious—who attempted to overcome their faults in order to establish a new nation that would be a paragon of governance. For the armchair historian, here is an exciting new look at our country’s origins.

Virtue, Valor, and Vanity

Virtue, Valor, and Vanity PDF Author: Eric Burns
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1628721960
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 285

Get Book Here

Book Description
Washington, Adams, Henry, Jefferson, Franklin, and Hamilton: their ambitions, intrigues, and jealousies shaped the birth of the nation, but they overcame their foibles and imperfections to throw off the chains of tyranny and form a more perfect union. We think of them now as faces on money or statues on pedestals, and, as Burns illustrates in luminous prose, that’s exactly what they always wanted to be. They all possessed astonishing brilliance, but many had large egos and more than just a little vanity, especially John Adams, who never felt he received his public due and often complained in his letters about the unjust fame of his peers. History remembers Patrick Henry as the author of the patriotic call to arms, “give me liberty, or give me death!” but, at the beginning of his life in the public eye, he shamelessly traded integrity for renown. Interest in the founding fathers has never been greater; Virtue, Valor, and Vanity presents all of these well-known and oft-quoted men with wisdom and candor. In this fresh, informative work, Burns brings the founding fathers down off their pedestals to reveal the flesh-and-blood men—vain and modest, sensitive and stubborn, brilliant and ambitious—who attempted to overcome their faults in order to establish a new nation that would be a paragon of governance. For the armchair historian, here is an exciting new look at our country’s origins.

Virtue, Valor, & Vanity

Virtue, Valor, & Vanity PDF Author: Eric Burns
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
ISBN:
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 272

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Book Description
A fresh look at the Founding Fathers, whose broad vision, extraordinary altruism, rare courage, and dedication resulted in a remarkable new concept of government.

Virtue, Valor, and Vanity

Virtue, Valor, and Vanity PDF Author: Eric Burns
Publisher: Arcade Publishing
ISBN: 9781611453966
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 0

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Book Description
See the Founding Fathers as you never have before.

Alexander Hamilton's Revolution

Alexander Hamilton's Revolution PDF Author: Phillip Thomas Tucker
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1510716602
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 547

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Book Description
Despite his less-than-promising beginnings as the only key Founding Father not born and raised on American soil, Hamilton was one of the best and brightest of his generation. His notoriety has rested almost entirely on his role as Secretary of the Treasury in Washington's administration, yet few realize that Washington and Hamilton's bond was forged during the Revolutionary War. Alexander Hamilton's Revolution is the first book to explore Hamilton's critical role during the battle for independence. New information presents a little-known and underpublished aspect of Hamilton's life: that he was not only Washington's favorite staff officer, but also his right-hand man for most of the Revolution, serving as Chief of Staff from 1777 to early 1781. While he found this position rewarding, Hamilton continually asked Washington for a field command. Hamilton's wish was granted at the decisive battle of Yorktown, where his Infantry Battalion charged on the defensive bastion on Cornwallis's left flank. Hamilton's capture of this position, while French forced captured the adjacent position, sealed Cornwallis's fate and forced his surrender and ultimate colonial victory. The entire patriotic cause benefited immeasurably from the advice and strategies provided to Washington by his youngest staff officer, Alexander Hamilton. Now, those critical contributions are brought to light in Hamilton's Revolution.

The Progress of Vanity and Virtue, Or, The History of Two Sisters, Etc

The Progress of Vanity and Virtue, Or, The History of Two Sisters, Etc PDF Author:
Publisher:
ISBN:
Category :
Languages : en
Pages :

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Book Description


Valour And Vanity

Valour And Vanity PDF Author: Mary Robinette Kowal
Publisher: Hachette UK
ISBN: 1472110404
Category : Fiction
Languages : en
Pages : 241

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Book Description
Murano, Italy When a family celebration brings Glamourists Jane and David Vincent to the Continent, they seize the opportunity to voyage for Murano, to study the world-renowned glassblowers at work. But their ship is set upon by Barbary corsairs en route – and they arrive in Murano penniless. Fortunately, they meet a gentleman banker who arranges for a line of credit and a place to live. But just as the Vincents start to relax, a solicitor arrives at their house and it becomes clear they have been the victims of an elaborate heist. Trapped, penniless, their safety in fragile shape, they hatch a reckless plan to get their money back. The ensuing adventure is a glorious envisioning of all the best parts of heist narratives, but in a Regency setting – with magic.

The High Ground

The High Ground PDF Author: Dee R. Edgeworth
Publisher: Fulton Books, Inc.
ISBN:
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 157

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Book Description
Why civic virtue matters to America. America is at a crossroad. Current public opinion surveys report that Americans believe that the country is on the wrong track, and they are broadly pessimistic about the future. Diminishing social trust, lack of civility, and promotion of individualism over community has resulted in a country that is discontented, fractious, alienated, and divided. What is happening to our American values and virtues? Our American Founders believed that the government cannot secure the rights of individuals without a necessary moral foundation, and they were praised as examples of virtue. What were the virtues and values that were so important to the American Founders, and are they relevant today? Focusing on the lives of these early leaders will reemphasize the importance of these virtues, and the power of their examples will teach us lessons that we can apply to the challenges we are facing today as we strive to attain the high ground.

The Politics of Fame

The Politics of Fame PDF Author: Eric Burns
Publisher: Rutgers University Press
ISBN: 1978800703
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 176

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Book Description
Celebrities can come from many different realms: film, music, politics, sports. But what do all these major celebrities have in common? What elevates them to the status of household names while their equally talented peers remain in relative obscurity? Is it just a question of charisma, or does fame depend more on the collective fantasies of fans than the actual accomplishments of celebrities? In search of answers, cultural historian Eric Burns delves deep into the biographies of some of the most famous figures in American history, from Benjamin Franklin to Fanny Kemble, Elvis Presley to Gene Tierney, and Michael Jordan to Oprah Winfrey. Through these case studies, he considers the evolution of celebrity throughout the ages. More controversially, he questions the very status of fame in the twenty-first century, an era in which thousands of minor celebrities have seen their fifteen minutes in the spotlight. The Politics of Fame is a provocative and entertaining look at the lives and afterlives of America’s most beloved celebrities as well as the mad devotion they inspired. It raises important questions about what celebrity worship reveals about the worshippers—and about the state of the nation itself

The Golden Lad

The Golden Lad PDF Author: Eric Burns
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
ISBN: 1681771004
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 300

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Book Description
More than a century has passed since Theodore Roosevelt was in the White House, but he still continues to fascinate. He became a war hero, reformed the NYPD, busted the largest railroad and oil trusts, passed the Pure Food and Drug Act, created national parks and forests, won the Nobel Peace Prize, and built the Panama Canal—to name just a few.Yet it was the cause he championed the hardest—America's entry in to WWI—that would ultimately divide and destroy him. His youngest son, Quentin, his favorite, would die in an air fight. How does looking at Theodore's relationship with his son, and understanding him as a father, tell us something new about this larger-than-life-man? Does it reveal a more human side? A more hypocritical side? Or simply, if tragically, a nature so surprisingly sensitive, despite the bluster, that he would die of a broken heart?Roosevelt's own history of boyhood illnesses made him so aware of was like to be a child in pain, that he could not bear the thought of his own children suffering. The Roosevelts were a family of pillow-fights, pranks, and "scary bear." And it was the baby, Quentin—the frailest—who worried his father the most. Yet in the end, it was he who would display, in his brief life, the most intellect and courage of all.

1957

1957 PDF Author: Eric Burns
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 1538140691
Category : History
Languages : en
Pages : 305

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Book Description
In 1957, America turned its back on its earlier self and jumped headlong into the nation it has become today. From Sputnik and the beginning of the space race to Little Richard and the underappreciated influence of rock n’ roll in bringing blacks and whites closer together, to President Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway Act, which forever changed the landscape, 1957 represents the year when all of the energy and anxiety that had followed the end of World War II exploded. In compelling stories from politics, pop culture, business, and the media, Eric Burns captures the excitement of a headspinning year and the lingering fallout that continues to resonate seven decades later. For baby boomers seeking to relive their formative years or readers seeking a window into midcentury America, 1957 provides a highly readable tour through one of the most fascinating years in American history.