Five Days In Philadelphia
Five Days In Philadelphia

Author: Charles Peters

Publisher: PublicAffairs

Published: 2005-07-05

Total Pages: 288

ISBN-13: 9781586481124

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There were four strong contenders when the Republican party met in June of 1940 in Philadelphia to nominate its candidate for president: the crusading young attorney and rising Republican star Tom Dewey, solid members of the Republican establishment Robert Taft and Arthur Vandenberg, and dark horse Wendell Willkie, utilities executive, favorite of the literati and only very recently even a Republican. The leading Republican candidates campaigned as isolationists. The charismatic Willkie, newcomer and upstager, was a liberal interventionist, just as anti-Hitler as FDR. After five days of floor rallies, telegrams from across the country, multiple ballots, rousing speeches, backroom deals, terrifying international news, and, most of all, the relentless chanting of "We Want Willkie" from the gallery, Willkie walked away with the nomination. The story of how this happened — and of how essential his nomination would prove in allowing FDR to save Britain and prepare this country for entry into World War II — is all told in Charles Peters' Five Days in Philadelphia. As Peters shows, these five action-packed days and their improbable outcome were as important as the Battle of Britain in defeating the Nazis.

Five Days in Philadelphia
Five Days in Philadelphia

Author: Charles Peters

Publisher:

Published: 2006

Total Pages: 274

ISBN-13:

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There were four strong contenders when the Republican Party met in June of 1940 to nominate its candidate: the crusading young attorney and rising Republican star Tom Dewey, two solid members of the Republican establishment, and dark horse Wendell Willkie, utilities executive, favorite of the literati and only very recently even a Republican. The leading candidates campaigned as isolationists. The charismatic newcomer Willkie was a liberal interventionist, just as anti-Hitler as FDR. After five days of floor rallies, telegrams from across the country, multiple ballots, rousing speeches, backroom deals, terrifying international news, and, most of all, the relentless chanting of "We Want Willkie" from the gallery, Willkie walked away with the nomination. As Peters shows, these five days and their improbable outcome were as important as the Battle of Britain in defeating the Nazis.--From publisher description.

Five Days in London, May 1940
Five Days in London, May 1940

Author: John Lukacs

Publisher: Yale University Press

Published: 1999-09-10

Total Pages: 389

ISBN-13: 0300180918

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A “gripping [and] splendidly readable” portrait of the battle within the British War Cabinet—and Churchill’s eventual victory—as Hitler’s shadow loomed (The Boston Globe). From May 24 to May 28, 1940, members of Britain’s War Cabinet debated whether to negotiate with Hitler or to continue what became known as the Second World War. In this magisterial work, John Lukacs takes us hour by hour into the critical events at 10 Downing Street, where Winston Churchill and his cabinet painfully considered their responsibilities. With the unfolding of the disaster at Dunkirk, and Churchill being in office for just two weeks and treated with derision by many, he did not have an easy time making his case—but the people of Britain were increasingly on his side, and he would prevail. This compelling narrative, a Washington Post bestseller, is the first to convey the drama and world-changing importance of those days. “[A] fascinating work of historical reconstruction.”—The Wall Street Journal “Eminent historian Lukacs delivers the crown jewel to his long and distinguished career.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “A must for every World War II buff.”—Cleveland Plain Dealer “Superb…can be compared to such classics as Hugh Trevor-Roper’s The Last Days of Hitler and Barbara Tuchman’s The Guns of August.”—Harper’s Magazine

Decision in Philadelphia
Decision in Philadelphia

Author: Christopher Collier

Publisher: Blackstone Publishing

Published: 2012-05-01

Total Pages: 474

ISBN-13: 162064195X

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Fifty-five men met in Philadelphia in 1787 to write a document that would create a country and change a world: the Constitution. Here is a remarkable rendering of that fateful time, told with humanity and humor. Decision in Philadelphia is the best popular history of the Constitutional Convention; in it, the life and times of eighteenth century America not only come alive, but the very human qualities of the men who framed the document are brought provocatively into focus—casting many of the Founding Fathers in a new light. A celebration of how and why our Constitution came into being, Decision in Philadelphia is also a testament of the American spirit at its finest.

Miracle At Philadelphia
Miracle At Philadelphia

Author: Catherine Drinker Bowen

Publisher: Back Bay Books

Published: 1986-09-30

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 9780316103985

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A classic history of the Federal Convention at Philadelphia in 1787, the stormy, dramatic session that produced the most enduring of political documents: the Constitution of the United States. From Catherine Drinker Bowen, noted American biographer and National Book Award winner, comes the canonical account of the Constitutional Convention recommended as "required reading for every American." Looked at straight from the records, the Federal Convention is startlingly fresh and new, and Mrs. Bowen evokes it as if the reader were actually there, mingling with the delegates, hearing their arguments, witnessing a dramatic moment in history. Here is the fascinating record of the hot, sultry summer months of debate and decision when ideas clashed and tempers flared. Here is the country as it was then, described by contemporaries, by Berkshire farmers in Massachusetts, by Patrick Henry's Kentucky allies, by French and English travelers. Here, too, are the offstage voices--Thomas Jefferson and Tom Paine and John Adams from Europe. In all, fifty-five men attended; and in spite of the heat, in spite of clashing interests--the big states against the little, the slave states against the anti-slave states--in tension and anxiety that mounted week after week, they wrote out a working plan of government and put their signatures to it.

Five Days in Paris
Five Days in Paris

Author: Danielle Steel

Publisher: Dell

Published: 2009-02-25

Total Pages: 306

ISBN-13: 0307566455

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In Danielle Steel’s beloved #1 New York Times bestselling novel, two strangers meet unexpectedly and fall in love in the City of Light. As president of a major pharmaceutical empire, Peter Haskell has everything: power, position, and a family that means everything to him. Compromise has been key in Peter Haskell’s life, and integrity is the base on which he lives. Olivia Thatcher is the wife of a famous senator. She has given to her husband’s ambition and career until her soul is bone-dry. She is trapped in a web of duty and obligation, married to a man she once loved and no longer even knows. Accidentally, they meet in Paris. Their totally different lives converge for one magical moment in the Place Vendôme, as Olivia carefully, silently, steps out of her life and walks away. Peter follows her, and in a café in Montmartre, their hearts are laid bare. Peter, once so certain of his path, is suddenly faced with a professional future in jeopardy. Olivia is no longer sure of anything except that she can’t go on anymore. Five days in Paris is all they have. They go back to their separate lives, but nothing is the same. Everything they believe is put on the line, until they each realize they must stand fast against compromise and face life’s challenges head-on. Danielle Steel’s classic novel is about honor and commitment, love and integrity—and the strength to find hope again. Five Days in Paris will change your life forever. BONUS: This edition contains an excerpt from Danielle Steel's Hotel Vendome.

A House on Fire
A House on Fire

Author: John A. Jackson

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2004-11-15

Total Pages: 368

ISBN-13: 0190287659

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"If You Don't Know Me By Now," "The Love I Lost," "The Soul Train Theme," "Then Came You," "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now"--the distinctive music that became known as Philly Soul dominated the pop music charts in the 1970s. In A House on Fire, John A. Jackson takes us inside the musical empire created by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thom Bell, the three men who put Philadelphia Soul on the map. Here is the eye-opening story of three of the most influential and successful music producers of the seventies. Jackson shows how Gamble, Huff, and Bell developed a black recording empire second only to Berry Gordy's Motown, pumping out a string of chart-toppers from Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, the Spinners, the O'Jays, the Stylistics, and many others. The author underscores the endemic racism of the music business at that time, revealing how the three men were blocked from the major record companies and outlets in Philadelphia because they were black, forcing them to create their own label, sign their own artists, and create their own sound. The sound they created--a sophisticated and glossy form of rhythm and blues, characterized by crisp, melodious harmonies backed by lush, string-laden orchestration and a hard-driving rhythm section--was a glorious success, producing at least twenty-eight gold or platinum albums and thirty-one gold or platinum singles. But after their meteoric rise and years of unstoppable success, their production company finally failed, brought down by payola, competition, a tough economy, and changing popular tastes. Funky, groovy, soulful--Philly Soul was the classic seventies sound. A House on Fire tells the inside story of this remarkable musical phenomenon.

The Idealist
The Idealist

Author: Samuel Zipp

Publisher: Belknap Press

Published: 2020-03-10

Total Pages: 441

ISBN-13: 0674737512

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Winner of the Robert H. Ferrell Book Prize “The Idealist is a powerful book, gorgeously written and consistently insightful. Samuel Zipp uses the 1942 world tour of Wendell Willkie to examine American attitudes toward internationalism, decolonization, and race in the febrile atmosphere of the world’s first truly global conflict.” —Andrew Preston, author of Sword of the Spirit, Shield of Faith A dramatic account of the plane journey undertaken by businessman-turned-maverick-internationalist Wendell Willkie to rally US allies to the war effort. Willkie’s tour of a planet shrunk by aviation and war inspired him to challenge Americans to fight a rising tide of nationalism at home. In August 1942, as the threat of fascism swept the world, a charismatic Republican presidential contender boarded the Gulliver at Mitchel Airfield for a seven-week journey around the world. Wendell Willkie covered 31,000 miles as President Roosevelt’s unofficial envoy. He visited the battlefront in North Africa with General Montgomery, debated a frosty de Gaulle in Beirut, almost failed to deliver a letter to Stalin in Moscow, and allowed himself to be seduced by Chiang Kai-shek in China. Through it all, he was struck by the insistent demands for freedom across the world. In One World, the runaway bestseller he published on his return, Willkie challenged Americans to resist the “America first” doctrine espoused by the war’s domestic opponents and warned of the dangers of “narrow nationalism.” He urged his fellow citizens to end colonialism and embrace “equality of opportunity for every race and every nation.” With his radio broadcasts regularly drawing over 30 million listeners, he was able to reach Americans directly in their homes. His call for a more equitable and interconnected world electrified the nation, until he was silenced abruptly by a series of heart attacks in 1944. With his death, America lost its most effective globalist, the man FDR referred to as “Private Citizen Number One.” At a time when “America first” is again a rallying cry, Willkie’s message is at once chastening and inspiring, a reminder that “one world” is more than a matter of supply chains and economics, and that racism and nationalism have long been intertwined.

Roosevelt's Second Act
Roosevelt's Second Act

Author: Richard Moe

Publisher: Oxford University Press

Published: 2015

Total Pages: 393

ISBN-13: 0190266287

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Filling a gap in presidential history, Roosevelt's Second Act uncovers in complex detail what lay behind Roosevelt's decision to stand for an unprecedented third term, and examines the multiplicity of conflicting forces at work on him. Compressing the narrative into a short time span, mainly the years 1939-40, this work focuses heavily on the interplay of dramatic events and fascinating characters, with FDR always at center stage.