James Macgregor Burns

A Pulitzer Prize–winning historian recounts the dramatic, eventful, and inspirational life of the thirty-second president of the United States. Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the longest serving president in US history, reshaping the country during the crises of the Great Depression and World War II. James MacGregor Burns's magisterial two-volume biography tells the complete life story of the fascinating political figure. Roosevelt: The Lion and...

Pulitzer Prize–winning historian James MacGregor Burns's definitive look at the power of transformational leadership, from Moses to Machiavelli to Martin Luther King Jr. Historian and political scientist James MacGregor Burns has spent much of his career documenting the use and misuse of power by leaders throughout history. In this groundbreaking study, Burns examines the qualities that make certain leaders-in America and elsewhere-succeed as transformative...

Burns's Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award–winning history of Franklin Delano Roosevelt's final years   The second entry in James Macgregor Burns's definitive two-volume biography of Roosevelt begins with the president's precedent-breaking third term election in 1940, just as Americans were beginning to face the likelihood of war. Here, Burns examines Roosevelt's skillful wartime leadership as well as his vision for post-war peace. The Soldier...

The second volume of Burns's acclaimed history of America, from the end of the Civil War to the beginning of the Great Depression   Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg Address pointed to a new way to preserve an old hope-that democracy might prove a vibrant and lasting form of government for people of different races, religions, and aspirations. The scars of the Civil War would not soon heal, but with that one short speech, the president held out the possibility...

This first of Burns's definitive and award-winning two-volume biography of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, mapping the personal and professional development of one of America's most brilliant politicians   Franklin Delano Roosevelt was the longest serving president in US history, reshaping the country during the crises of the Depression and World War II. But before his unprecedented run as president, there were decades of steady consolidation of power....

The Three Roosevelts is the extraordinary political biography of the intertwining lives of Theodore, Franklin, and Eleanor Roosevelt, who emerged from the closed society of New York's Knickerbocker elite to become the most prominent American political family of the twentieth century. As Pulitzer Prize- and National Book Award-winning author James MacGregor Burns and acclaimed historian Susan Dunn follow the evolution of the Roosevelt political philosophy,...

For decades, James MacGregor Burns has been one of the great masters of the study of power and leadership in America. Now he turns his eye to an institution of government that he believes has become more powerful-and more partisan-than the Founding Fathers ever intended: the Supreme Court. Much as we would like to believe that the Court remains aloof from ideological politics, Packing the Court reveals how often justices behave like politicians in...

Leading scholars define the special contributions and qualifications of our first president. Washington's legacy is a successful experiment in collective leadership, great initiatives in establishing a strong executive branch and the formulation of innovative and lasting economic and foreign policies. Along with highlighting these accomplishments, the authors also trace Washington's later dissatisfaction with public life and the seeds of dissent and...