Focusing on the broken friendship between Teddy Roosevelt and his chosen successor, William Howard Taft, a Pulitzer Prize-winning historian revisits the Progressive Era during which Roosevelt wielded the Bully Pulpit to challenge and triumph over abusive monopolies, political bosses and corrupt money brokers only to see it compromised by Taft. (This book was previously featured in Forecast.)
Drawing on presidential speeches, letters, and administrative and archival records, a study of the attitudes of the presidents toward immigrants reflects the chief executives' support for a melting pot model rather than a nativism racism, addressing the specific policies of the presidents from McKinley through Hoover.
One of the Best Books of the Year as chosen by The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Economist, Time, USA TODAY, Christian Science Monitor, and more. “A tale so gripping that one questions the need for fiction when real life is so plump with drama and intrigue” (Associated Press). Doris Kearns Goodwin’s The Bully Pulpit is a dynamic history of the first decade of the Progressive era, that tumultuous time when the nation was coming unseamed and reform was in the air. The story is told through the intense friendship of Theodore Roosevelt and William Howard Taft—a close relationship that strengthens both men before it ruptures in 1912, when they engage in a brutal fight for the presidential nomination that divides their wives, their children, and their closest friends, while crippling the progressive wing of the Republican Party, causing Democrat Woodrow Wilson to be elected, and changing the country’s history. The Bully Pulpit is also the story of the muckraking press, which arouses the spirit of reform that helps Roosevelt push the government to shed its laissez-faire attitude toward robber barons, corrupt politicians, and corporate exploiters of our natural resources. The muckrakers are portrayed through the greatest group of journalists ever assembled at one magazine—Ida Tarbell, Ray Stannard Baker, Lincoln Steffens, and William Allen White—teamed under the mercurial genius of publisher S.S. McClure. Goodwin’s narrative is founded upon a wealth of primary materials. The correspondence of more than four hundred letters between Roosevelt and Taft begins in their early thirties and ends only months before Roosevelt’s death. Edith Roosevelt and Nellie Taft kept diaries. The muckrakers wrote hundreds of letters to one another, kept journals, and wrote their memoirs. The letters of Captain Archie Butt, who served as a personal aide to both Roosevelt and Taft, provide an intimate view of both men. The Bully Pulpit, like Goodwin’s brilliant chronicles of the Civil War and World War II, exquisitely demonstrates her distinctive ability to combine scholarly rigor with accessibility. It is a major work of history—an examination of leadership in a rare moment of activism and reform that brought the country closer to its founding ideals.
President Theodore Roosevelt left his mark on every facet of American life, including, quite colorfully, its language. Here, in a single volume, are not only his best "Teddyisms"—"hyphenated America," "muckraker," "the square deal," "the lunatic fringe," "good to the last drop," and many others—and lost words, but also the best of Roosevelt's most memorable quotations, which serve to illuminate every area of our culture: Americans; boxing; citizenship; conservation; courage; death; democracy; extremists; family values; football; government; heroism; history; hunting; leadership; liberty; patriotism; power; religion; war and peace; winning; women's rights; and much more.
Drawing on two decades of survey research involving thousands of ministers nationwide, five social scientists explore the political lives of clergy in eight evangelical and mainline Protestant denominations, including the Assemblies of God, Southern Baptist Convention, United Methodist Church, and Presbyterian Church. They find that the competing theological perspectives of orthodoxy and modernism are increasingly tied to ideological and partisan divisions in American politics, and help illuminate the current relationship between church and state in America. Paper edition (unseen), $19.95. Annotation copyrighted by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR
This book explores how presidents use speeches to shape and influence public policy. Each chapter examines a selected speech delivered by every president from Roosevelt through Barack Obama to show how language has been instrumental in directing policy.
Are churches looking for the wrong kind of leaders? The last decade has witnessed a rising number of churches wrecked by spiritual abuse--harsh, heavy-handed, domineering behavior from those in a position of spiritual authority. And high-profile cases are only a small portion of this widespread problem. Behind the scenes are many more cases of spiritual abuse that we will never hear about. Victims suffer in silence, not knowing where to turn. Of course, most pastors and leaders are godly, wonderful people who don't abuse their sheep. They shepherd their flocks gently and patiently. But we can't ignore the growing number who do not. We have tolerated and even celebrated the kind of leaders Jesus warned us against. We need gentle shepherds now more than ever, and in Bully Pulpit, seminary president and biblical scholar Michael J. Kruger offers a unique perspective for both church leaders and church members on the problem of spiritual abuse, how to spot it, and how to handle it in the church. "Every Christian from pulpit to pew needs to read this wise and timely work." - Karen Swallow Prior "Both urgent and timely." - Sam Storms "Thoughtful, wise, and biblical." - Mark Vroegop
The next Democratic presidential candidate, Jack Morgan decides to campaign on a radical environmental platform, forsaking the media blitz of the campaign trail and sitting at home on his Ohio front porch for heart-to-hearts with the nation. Original.
The popular television journalist reflects on such issues as corporate greed, the death penalty, the legal system, gay marriage, plastic surgery, and other topics.
