The struggle to preserve the Republic has always been fraught with challenges. The emergence of conflicting political parties, opposed by the founders, and President John Adams' Alien and Sedition Acts, which curtailed First Amendment rights, made Franklin's warning at the Constitutional Convention—"a republic, if you can keep it"—seem prophetic. In the twentieth century, America faced significant trials: economic depression, World War II, McCarthyism, the Vietnam War, Watergate, the Iran-Contra scandal, and the Iraq War, all of which gave rise to demagogues, fueled by the expansion of mass media. This was not the leadership envisioned by the Founding Fathers. The resistance to demagoguery persisted through the anti-Communist fervor of the 1950s and the Vietnam War, but the latter set the stage for Richard Nixon's election in 1968 and the subsequent Watergate scandal, which tested democratic institutions. Nixon's resignation in 1974 prompted Gerald Ford to declare, "Our long national nightmare is over." Yet, the election of Donald Trump in 2016 posed a new threat. How did previous politics and administrations lead to this current assault on democracy? Robert Dallek examines a century of modern leadership, from Teddy Roosevelt to today, highlighting the personalities and voters behind each administration. His cautionary tale emphasizes that while change is constant in history, the direction of that change is ultimately in the h
Robert Dallek Ordine dei libri
Questo autore è specializzato nella scrittura sulla politica e la storia americana, concentrandosi sulle presidenze e sulle figure chiave che hanno plasmato l'America moderna. Il suo approccio è caratterizzato da una ricerca approfondita e da una prospettiva analitica su relazioni e decisioni complesse che hanno influenzato il corso della storia. Attraverso il suo lavoro, offre ai lettori una comprensione acuta delle dinamiche di potere e della psicologia dei leader. La sua scrittura è apprezzata per l'accuratezza fattuale e per la capacità di offrire ritratti vividi di figure storiche.







- 2021
- 2017
Franklin D. Roosevelt
- 752pagine
- 27 ore di lettura
Meticulously researched and authoritative ... Roosevelt is with us again in Dallek's outstanding cradle-to-grave study Douglas Brinkley Washington Post číst celé
- 2013
John F. Kennedy. An Unfinished Life 1917-1963
- 894pagine
- 32 ore di lettura
Updated edition of the authoritative single-volume biography of John F. Kennedy. Drawing upon first-hand sources and never-before-opened archives, prize-winning historian Robert Dallek reveals more than we ever knew about Jack Kennedy, forever changing the way we think about his life, his presidency and his legacy.Dallek also discloses that, while labouring to present an image of robust good health, Kennedy was secretly in and out of hospitals throughout his life, soill that he was administered last rites on several occasions. He never shies away from Kennedy's weaknesses, but also brilliantly explores his strengths. The result is a full portrait of a bold, brave and truly human John F. Kennedy.
- 2013
Camelot's court. Inside the Kennedy White House
- 492pagine
- 18 ore di lettura
Fifty years after John F. Kennedy’s assassination, presidential historian Robert Dallek, whom The New York Times calls “Kennedy’s leading biographer,” delivers a riveting new portrait of this president and his inner circle of advisors—their rivalries, personality clashes, and political battles. In Camelot’s Court, Dallek analyzes the brain trust whose contributions to the successes and failures of Kennedy’s administration—including the Bay of Pigs, civil rights, the Cuban Missile Crisis, and Vietnam—were indelible. Kennedy purposefully put together a dynamic team of advisors noted for their brilliance and acumen, including Attorney General Robert Kennedy, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, Secretary of State Dean Rusk, National Security Advisor McGeorge Bundy, and trusted aides Ted Sorensen and Arthur Schlesinger. Yet the very traits these men shared also created sharp divisions. Far from being unified, this was an uneasy band of rivals whose ambitions and clashing beliefs ignited fiery internal debates. Robert Dallek illuminates a president deeply determined to surround himself with the best and the brightest, who often found himself disappointed with their recommendations. The result, Camelot's Court: Inside the Kennedy White House, is a striking portrait of a leader whose wise resistance to pressure and adherence to principle offers a cautionary tale for our own time.
- 2011
The Lost Peace
- 432pagine
- 16 ore di lettura
As the Obama Administration struggles to define its strategy for the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, Dallek's critical and compelling look at Truman, Churchill, Stalin, and other world leaders in the wake of World War II not only offers important historical perspective but provides timely insight on America's course into the future.
- 2008
Nixon and Kissinger : Partners in Power
- 752pagine
- 27 ore di lettura
Probes the lives and times of two leaders whose partnership dominated the world stage and changed the course of history. Tapping into a wealth of documents and tapes, this book uncovers details about Nixon and Kissinger's personal relationship and the extent to which they struggled to outdo each... číst celé
- 2008
"Few chief executives have had so lasting an impact as our thirty-third president. It was Truman who ushered America into the nuclear age, established the alliances and principles that would define the Cold War and the national security state, started the nation on the road to civil rights, and won the most dramatic election of the twentieth century - his 1948 "whistlestop campaign" against Thomas E. Dewey." "Robert Dallek shows how this unassuming yet supremely confident man rose to the occasion in the years following World War II. It was not an easy task: Truman clashed with Southerners over civil rights, with organized labor over the right to strike, and with General Douglas MacArthur over the conduct of the Korean War. He personified Thomas Jefferson's observation that the presidency is a "splendid misery," but it was through his achievements that the United States truly came of age."--BOOK JACKET.
- 2007
Let Every Nation Know is the first book of its kind-a historical biography in Kennedy's own words. Combining a remarkable audio CD of Kennedy's most famous speeches, debates and press conferences with the insights of two of America's preeminent historians, the result is a unique look at the world-changing words and presidency of John F. Kennedy. Robert Dallek, author of the #1 bestselling biography An Unfinished Life, and Terry Golway, author of Washington's General, bring to life the soaring oratory, marvelous wit and the intense drama of Kennedy's words and the events they evoke. "I had forgotten just how powerful these speeches were but the CD brings them to life once more and Dallek and Golway have done a masterful job of putting them into context."-Bob Schieffer, CBS News
- 2007
Nixon and Kissinger
- 752pagine
- 27 ore di lettura
Working side by side in the White House, Richard Nixon and Henry Kissinger were two of the most compelling, contradictory, and powerful figures in America in the second half of the twentieth century. While their personalities could hardly have seemed more different, both were largely self-made men, brimming with ambition, driven by their own inner demons, and often ruthless in pursuit of their goals. Tapping into a wealth of recently declassified archives, Robert Dallek uncovers fascinating details about Nixon and Kissinger's tumultuous personal relationship and brilliantly analyzes their shared roles in monumental historical events—including the nightmare of Vietnam, the unprecedented opening to China, détente with the Soviet Union, the Yom Kippur War in the Middle East, the disastrous overthrow of Allende in Chile, and the scandal of Watergate.




