As his parents finished packing the few personal belongings they were permitted to take out of Germany, the bespectacled 15-year-old stood in the corner of the apartment memorizing the details of the scene. He was a bookish and reflective child, with that odd mixture of ego and insecurity that can come from growing up smart yet persecuted. "I'll be back someday," he said to the customs inspector who was surveying the boxes. Years later, he would recall...

At midnight on August 15, 1947, 400 million people were liberated from the British Empire. With the loss of India, its greatest colony, Britain ceased to be a superpower. This defining moment was brought about by a handful of people: Jawaharlal Nehru, the fiery Indian prime minister; Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the leader of the new Islamic Republic of Pakistan; Mohandas Gandhi, the mystical figure who enthralled a nation; and Louis and Edwina Mountbatten,...

In this biography Anthony Everitt brings to life the world of ancient Rome in its glorious heyday. Cicero squared off against Caesar and was friends with young Brutus. He advised Pompey on his botched transition from military hero to politician. He lambasted Mark Antony and was the master of the smear campaign, as feared for his wit as he was for exposing his opponents' sexual peccadilloes. Brilliant, voluble, cranky, a terrible gossip, and a genius...

"More so than almost anyone outside John McCain's immediate family, Mark Salter had unparalleled access to Senator McCain. Salter served to influence the senator's thoughts and actions, cowriting several books with him and acting as a valued confidant. Now, Salter draws on the storied facets of McCain's early biography as well as the later-in-life political philosophy for which the nation knew and loved him, delivering an intimate and comprehensive...

This book tells the story of how Gandhi used the principles of nonviolent resistance and civil disobedience to fight discrimination against Indians in South Africa and to end British rule in India. Like the series biography of Martin Luther King, Jr., Gandhi's story focuses on his peaceful heroism in the struggle for civil rights and social change.

Ben Franklin is the most lovable of America's founding fathers. His wit, his charm, his inventiveness--even his grandfatherly appearance--are legendary. But this image obscures the scandals that dogged him throughout his life. In The Loyal Son, award-winning historian Daniel Mark Epstein throws the spotlight on one of the more enigmatic aspects of Franklin's biography: his complex and confounding relationship with his illegitimate son William. When...

The concluding volume of the definitive biography of Gandhi relates his struggles to attain India's independence from England, improve relations between Hindus and Muslims, and develop India's economic self-reliance, all using methods of nonviolence.

In this breathtaking companion to the award-winning Grandfather Gandhi, Arun Gandhi, with Bethany Hegedus, tells a poignant, personal story of the damage of wastefulness, gorgeuously illustrated by Evan Turk. At Grandfather Gandhi’s service village, each day is filled, from sunrise to sunset, with work that is done for the good of all. The villagers vow to live simply and non-violently. Arun Gandhi tries very hard to follow these vows, but he struggles...

An intimate look at the founders--George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison--and the women who played essential roles in their lives.