Columbia Historical Portrait Of New York

CARO, ROBERT A. THE PATH TO POWER, New York Knopf 1982
0394499735 As New Condition

<B> The profound understanding of the uses and abuses of power Robert Caro displayed in his 1974 biography of Robert Moses, The Power Broker, is a scathing achievement the author surpassed with panache in this, his second book. Caro's dogged research and refusal to accept received wisdom results in an eye-opening portrait that unforgettably captures the titanic personality of Lyndon Baines Johnson (1908-1973). Though stronger on Johnson's duplicity and naked self-promotion than his intelligence and charm, Caro nails it all. He chronicles the evolution of an attention-demanding youth from the Texas hill country into a seasoned congressman who would abandon his ardent espousal of the New Deal as soon as it ceased to be expedient. The dirty details begin with college elections that earn young Lyndon a reputation as a crook and a liar; Caro goes on to unravel financial shenanigans of impressive ingenuity. Johnson's consuming desire to get ahead and his political genius "unencumbered by philosophy or ideology" are staggering. The White House, Great Society, and Vietnam lie ahead when the main narrative closes in 1941, but the roots of Johnson's future achievements and tragic failures are laid bare. This biography may well stand as the best book written in the second half of the 20th century about personal ambition inextricably linked with historic change. --Wendy Smith --This text refers to the Paperback edition. Review Winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award "Proof that we live in a great age of biography . . . [a book] of radiant excellence . . . Caro's evocation of the Texas Hill Country, his elaboration of Johnson's unsleeping ambition, his understanding of how politics actually works are---let it be said flat out---at the summit of American historical writing." --Washington Post "A monumental political saga . . . powerful and stirring. It's an overwhelming experience to read The Path to Power." --Christopher Lehmann-Haupt, New York Times "Not only a historical but a literary event. An epic biography . . . A sweeping, richly detailed portrait . . . vivid [with] Caro's astonishing concern for the humanity of his characters. An awesome achievement." --Peter S. Prescott, Newsweek "Stands at the pinnacle of the biographical art." --Donald R. Morris, Houston Post "The major biography of recent years. Brilliant . . . Magisterial . . . Caro has given us an American life of compelling fascination. A benchmark beside which other biographies will be measured for some time to come." --Alden Whitman, Los Angeles Herald Examiner "An ineradicable likeness of an American giant. Caro has brought to life a young man so believable and unforgettable that we can hear his heartbeat and touch him." --Henry F. Graff, Professor of History, Columbia University " Epic. A brief review cannot convey the depth, range and detail of this fascinating story. Caro is a meticulous historian. A monument of interpretive biography." --Michael R. Beschloss, Chicago Sun-Times Book Week "Splendid and moving. At this rate Caro's work will eventually acquire Gibbon-like dimensions, and Gibbon-like passion. . . . Caro is a phenomenon . . . an artful writer, with a remarkable power to evoke and characterize politicians, landscapes, relationships. This massive book is almost continually exciting." --Richard Eder, Los Angeles Times "By every measure---depth of research, brilliance of conception, the seamless flow of the prose---it is a masterpiece of biography." --Dan Cryer, Newsday "Extraordinary. A powerful, absorbing, at times awe-inspiring, and often deeply alarming story. <P><B> A vivid picture of the emergence of one of this century's authentically great politicians." --Alan Brinkley, Boston Sunday Globe "The book races at Johnson's own whirlwind pace. A tour de force that blends relentless detective work, polemical vigor and artful storytelling into the most compelling narrative of American political life since All the King's Men." --Henry Mayer, San Francisco Chronicle. </B><P> Hardcover 6-1/2 x 9" out of Print

[SW: JOHNSON, LYNDON B. (LYNDON BAINES), 1908-1973, TEXAS -- POLITICS AND GOVERNMENT 1865-1950, UNITED STATES --, 1933-1945, PRESIDENTS BIOGRAPHY]

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Kouwenhoven, John A. The Columbia Historical Portrait of New York. 1972. Paper.

New York: Icon/Harper & Row. 1972. (First edition thus). Quarto. Stiff illustrated wraps. Wraps and edges of leaves are faintly yellowed. Wraps are a trifle worn at the edges else very good. Profusley illustrated. A great book.

[SW: Photography,New York]

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Shenk, David: The Forgetting: Alzheimer's, Portrait of an Epidemic, New York Doubleday 2001 ; fester Einband / hard cover; Schutzumschlag / dust cover; sig.; 1. Ed. ISBN: 0385498373
0385498373 Fine

viii, 290 pp., biblio., index; 25 cm. SIGNED by Author/half-title page, otherwise as new. Stated "First Edition." Dust jacket protected in a mylar book cover. "An urgent and moving exploration of the Alzheimer's epidemic, The Forgetting is a dazzling meditation on the nature of memory and self and on the disease that robs people of both. Alzheimer's disease is a demographic time bomb. Since 1975, the number of Americans afflicted has risen from five hundred thousand to five million; over the next fifty years, an estimated eighty to one hundred million more people worldwide will succumb to it. But it is the story behind these numbers that makes The Forgetting such a landmark work. A magnificent synthesis of history, science, politics, psychology ,and profound human drama, the book explores the nature of a disease that attacks not merely memory but the very core of our human identity. Delving into such diverse areas as art history, literature, genetics, and neurobiology, David Shenk shows that Alzheimer's particular terror, the gradual eradication of memory and of mind is as old as humankind itself. He convincingly posits that such historical figures as Ralph Waldo Emerson, Jonathan Swift and Frederick Law Olmstead were caught in the disease's insidious grip. Moving portraits of contemporary patients, their families, and their caregivers drive home the sad pattern of regression Alzheimer's exacts, a pathology that eerily mirrors child development in reverse. Yet Shenk offers a well of empathy and understanding for families striving to better understand and come to terms with their loss. With equal mastery Shenk charts the complicated race to find a cure. As scientists pursue a treatment worth billions of dollars, the brutal competition among them poses a serious threat to the traditional ethic of sharing vital research. But there are heartening signs of progress, and for the first time there is excitement among scientists that a cure may indeed be possible. Shenk eloquently calls Alzheimer's 'death by a thousand subtractions.' The Forgetting is at once a powerful examination of what this means and a forthright discussion of the impact this epidemic will have on the life of every reader. / David Shenk is the author of Data Smog, which The New York Times hailed as an 'indispensable guide to the big picture of technology's cultural impact.' A former fellow at the Freedom Forum Media Studies Center at Columbia University, he has written for Harper's, Wired, Salon, The New Republic, the Washington Post, and The New Yorker and is an occasional commentator for NPR's All Things Considered. He lives in Brooklyn, New York, with his wife and daughter." - Publisher. SIGNED First Edition, First Printing Fine Hard Cover 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall Collectible; First Edition, First Printing

[SW: Collectible]

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Rubel, David, and Shorto, Russell (Joint Editors); Foner, Eric (Introduction by): The Civil War Chronicle: The Only Day-by-Day Portrait of America's Tragic Conflict as told by Soldiers, Journalists, Politicians, Farmers, Nurses, Slaves, and Other Eyewitnesses, New York Gramercy Books; Random House 2003 ; fester Einband / hard cover; Schutzumschlag / dust cover ISBN: 0517221810
0517221810 Fine

544 pp., illus., index; 24 cm. AS NEW. Dust jacket protected in a mylar book cover. OVERSIZE! No priority/international, except by special arrangement. "In this moving day-by-day chronicle, we hear the real voices of the soldiers, nurses, farmers, laborers, slaves, and freed people who lived through America's most tragic conflict. This much-needed collection of the letters, diaries, speeches, telegrams, newspaper accounts, and official battlefield reports penned by those people presents an astonishing array of perspectives and conflicting accounts of this very personal war. Hundreds of period black and white images enhance the firstperson accounts and help recapture the texture of life at all levels and on both sides of the Civil War. / J. Matthew Gallman is the Henry R. Luce Professor of the Civil War Era at Gettysburg College, where he directs the Office of Civil War Era Studies. He has studied the Civil War period for much of the past twenty years and is the author of Mastering Wartime: A Social History of Philadelphia During the Civil War and The North Fights the Civil War: The Home Front, as well as many articles on various aspects of the Northern home front. Eric Foner is the DeWitt Clinton Professor of History at Columbia University and the author of numerous works on nineteenth-century American history, including The Story of American Freedom, Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, and Free Soil, Free Labor, Free Men: The Ideology of the Republican Party Before the Civil War. He has been named Scholar of the Year by the New York Council for the Humanities and has served as president of both the Organization of American Historians and the American Historical Association." - Publisher. Fine Hard Cover 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall

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