Showing results by publisher "Tantor Media" in Politicians

After the United States embassy in Havana was closed in 1961, relations between the countries broke off. A thaw came in 1977 with the opening of a de facto embassy in Havana, the United States Interests Section—where Vicki Huddleston would serve under Presidents Clinton and George W. Bush. In her memoir of a diplomat at work, she tells gripping stories of face-to-face encounters with Fidel Castro and the initiatives she undertook, like the transistor radios she furnished to ordinary Cubans.

Benjamin Franklin was one of the preeminent scientists of his time. Driven by curiosity, he conducted cutting-edge research on electricity, heat, ocean currents, weather patterns, chemical bonds, and plants. But today, Franklin is remembered more for his political prowess and diplomatic achievements than his scientific creativity. In this incisive and rich account of Benjamin Franklin's life and career, Richard Munson recovers this vital part of Franklin's story.

For Pamela Wick, President and Mrs. Reagan were simply Ronnie and Nancy, her parents' best friends. What began with Pamela's mom and Nancy organizing the chili booth at their kids' school fair in Los Angeles soon propelled Pamela's parents into pivotal roles that would help Reagan secure the California governorship and eventually the grand prize: the White House. Determined to win her parents' approval as the perfect daughter, Pamela marries the son of Republican royalty and joins them in DC to begin her fairytale in the nation's Capitol—or so she thought.

The ultimate Hollywood story revealed: the sizzling relationship between Joseph Kennedy, patriarch of America's most influential political family, and Gloria Swanson, one of the most prominent silent film stars of her day. Gloria and Joe were in love with each other and with the movies, especially Queen Kelly, which completed the real-life ménage à trois. Starring along with the star of the screen and the Boston Brahman in this exposé are Erich von Stroheim, Kennedy's wife Rose, Swanson's husband, and a cast of colorful hangers-on.

Five years after the Civil War, North Carolina Republican state senator John W. Stephens was found murdered inside the Caswell County Courthouse. Stephens fought for the rights of freedpeople, and his killing by the Ku Klux Klan ultimately led to insurrection, Governor William W. Holden's impeachment, and the early unwinding of Reconstruction in North Carolina.

Stephen Kakfwi was born in a bush camp on the edge of the Arctic Circle in 1950. In a family torn apart by tuberculosis, alcohol, and the traumas endured by generations in residential school, he emerged as a respected Dene elder and eventually the Premier of the Northwest Territories. Kakfwi, schooled on civil rights and 1960s protest songs, dedicated himself to supporting chiefs in their claim to land that had been taken away from them and in their determination to seize control of the colonial political system.