Crisis and Command: The History of Executive Power from George Washington to George W. Bush

By John Yoo

Using a popular technique for ranking American presidents, Yoo refracts their historical status through the lens of Article II of the Constitution. George Washington rates number one in Yoo's book for setting precedents: all his successors have the power to remove officials, to wage war, and to invoke executive privilege (keep secrets from Congress) none of which is explicit in Article II because of Washington. Yoo rates Lincoln and FDR second and third, respectively, for reasons familiar to history readers. Readers will learn about Supreme Court decisions that have pertained to the president's powers, along with Yoo's expansive interpretation thereof. Addressing criticism that the power pendulum has historically swung too far from Congress, Yoo rebuts with arguments that the legislature could, but rarely does, reclaim powers it has delegated to the executive. This will appeal to the core audience for constitutional law but will also draw interest based on the author's frequent TV appearances and his notoriety many critics regarded his legal advice to the Bush administration as anathema.

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The Imperial Cruise: A Secret History of Empire and War

B

By James Bradley

Bradley's first books, Flags of Our Fathers (2000) and Flyboys (2003), were sensationally popular World War II combat stories. His new one, about U.S.-Japanese diplomacy in 1905, represents a departure. Asserting a causal connection between diplomatic understandings reached then and war 36 years later, Bradley dramatizes his case with a delegation Theodore Roosevelt dispatched to Japan in the summer of 1905. Led by Secretary of War William Taft and ornamented by the president's quotable daughter Alice, it sailed while TR hosted the peace conference between victorious Japan and defeated Russia. As he recounts the itinerary of Taft's cruise, Bradley discusses attitudes of social Darwinism and white superiority that were then prevalent and expressed by TR and Taft. They modified their instincts, Bradley argues, in dealing with nonwhite Japan, and secretly conceded it possession of Korea. This is what Bradley asserts was a prerequisite to Pearl Harbor in 1941, a dubious thesis when the tensions of the 1930s stemmed from general Japanese aggressiveness, not its control of Korea per se. Bradley does fine on 1905 but falters when predicting the future.

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Four Hats in the Ring: The 1912 Election and the Birth of Modern American Politics

By Lewis L. Gould

Gould (Univ. of Texas) has long set a standard for the writing of superb political history, and this volume does not disappoint. Grounded in a host of manuscript collections, doctoral theses, scholarly writings, and contemporary articles, this book is unquestionably the definitive work on the seminal election of 1912, in the process superseding Frank K. Kelly, The Fight for the White House (1961); Francis L. Broderick, Progressivism at Risk (CH, Nov'89, 27-1692); and James Chace, 1912 (CH, Feb'05, 43-3599). The author ably recaptures the excitement of the presidential race between "Old Guard" Republican William Howard Taft, "Bull Moose" Progressive Theodore Roosevelt, Democrat Woodrow Wilson, and Socialist Eugene Victor Debs. Certain conclusions, not usually captured by historians, make this work somewhat revisionist: the already existing voter decline was not checked by such a crucial race; Roosevelt and Debs were both poor political strategists, squandering their political strength by electioneering in weak locales; public revelations concerning Wilson's health and a possible extramarital relationship could have killed his candidacy. Perhaps most important of all, the Roosevelt-Taft split so weakened Republican progressivism that the GOP has remained on a rightward course for close to a century.

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John Marshall: Writings

E

Edited by Charles F. Hobson

"It is emphatically the province and duty of the judicial department," John Marshall wrote in Marbury v. Madison, "to say what the law is." As its Chief Justice from 1801 to 1835, Marshall made the Supreme Court a full and equal branch of the federal government. In so doing, he joined Washington, his mentor, and Jefferson, his ideological rival, in the first rank of American founders. His legacy extends far beyond Marbury, which held for the first time that the Supreme Court has the power to declare acts of Congress unconstitutional. Under his leadership, the Court upheld the constitutionality of a national bank, established the supremacy of the federal judiciary over state courts and legislatures in matters of constitutional interpretation, and profoundly influenced the economic development of the nation through vigorous interpretation of the contract and interstate commerce clauses. His major judicial opinions are eloquent public papers, written with the conviction that "clearness and precision are most essential qualities," and designed to inform and persuade the citizens of the new republic about the meaning and purpose of their Constitution.

This volume collects 200 documents written between 1779 and 1835, including Marshall's most important judicial opinions, his influential rulings during the Aaron Burr treason trial, speeches, newspaper essays, and revealing letters to friends, fellow judges, and his beloved wife, Polly. It follows Marshall's varied career before becoming Chief Justice: as an officer in the Revolution, a supporter of the ratification of the Constitution, an envoy to France during the notorious "XYZ Affair," a congressman, and secretary of state in the Adams administration. The personal correspondence gathered here reveals the conviviality, good humor, and unpretentiousness that helped him unite the Court behind many of his landmark decisions, while selections from his biography of George Washington offer vivid descriptions of battles he fought in as a young man.

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My Life With the Taliban

By Abdul Salam Zaeef

Keen observers of Afghanistan have invariably referred to that country as the graveyard of empires. In recent years, its political destiny has largely been affected by the policies of the Taliban movement. In this highly readable book, Western readers are given a glimpse of the movement's goals via the words of Zaeef, a former senior member of the Taliban who was held as an American prisoner, including several years in Guantánamo. This autobiography has been ably translated from the Pashto and edited by Strick van Linschoten and Kuehn (cofounders, AfghanWire.com), who are based in the city of Kandahar, a major Taliban stronghold in Afghanistan. In this fluid narrative, the reader learns of Zaeef's formative years as a fighter against the Soviet occupation of his country, his subsequent administrative position in the Taliban government, his experience in Guantánamo, his eventual release without charge, and his resettlement in Kabul as a private citizen. In addition, Zaeef provides perspectives on Afghan issues that are largely ignored by the international media and recounts his criticisms of the U.S.-supported Afghan government.

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Afghanistan: Graveyard of Empires: a New History of the Borderlands

BB

Veteran defense analyst and Afghanistan expert David Isby provides an insightful and meticulously researched look at the current situation in Afghanistan, her history, and what he believes must be done so that the US and NATO coalition can succeed in what has historically been known as “the graveyard of empires.

Afghanistan is one of the poorest countries in the world with one of the lowest literacy rates. It is rife with divisions between ethnic groups that dwarf current schisms in Iraq, and all the groups are lead by warlords who fight over control of the drug trade as much as they do over religion. The region is still racked with these confrontations along with conflicts between rouge factions from Pakistan, with whom relations are increasingly strained. After seven years and billions of dollars in aid, efforts at nation-building in Afghanistan has produced only a puppet regime that is dependent on foreign aid for survival and has no control over a corrupt police force nor the increasingly militant criminal organizations and the deepening social and economic crisis.

The task of implementing an effective US policy and cementing Afghani rule is hampered by what Isby sees as separate but overlapping conflicts between terrorism, narcotics, and regional rivalries, each requiring different strategies to resolve. Pulling these various threads together will be the challenge for the Obama administration, yet it is a challenge that can be met by continuing to foster local involvement and Afghani investment in the region.

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Islands of the damned : a marine at war in the Pacific

 by R.V. Burgin. This well-narrated tale of a marine's Pacific campaigns on New Britain, Peleliu, and Okinawa inevitably invites comparison with E. B. Sledge's famed With the Old Breed (1981). Indeed, Sledge was part of Burgin's mortar platoon in the latter two campaigns. But Burgin's tale is more plainly told, as he was a Texas farm boy instead of a college student who dropped out of OCS to get into combat. But they were both good marines, who carried their weight through some of the ugliest fighting Americans have ever faced. One reads Burgin's narrative knowing that he survived and smiles when he comes home to marry his Australian fiancée and settle down to a career in the Postal Service and a retirement of attending First Marine Division reunions. --Booklist. (Check catalog)

Jenniemae & James

 by Brooke Newman. A mathematician, friend of Albert Einstein, and father of two employed an illiterate, numbers-savvy maid to take care of his affluent Washington, D.C., home, and an improbable friendship ensued. In this thoroughly engaging memoir, Newman, the daughter of James Newman, author of 1956's The World of Mathematics, wonderfully recreates the early Civil Rights era when the miraculous Jenniemae Harrington came into the family's lives and rendered their emotionally reticent, offbeat household more warmly human. Jenniemae was a large African-American woman from rural Alabama who lived with her sister in the Washington ghetto when she first came to work for the Newmans in 1948. She spouted folksy wisdom (e.g., "Only a fool will argue against the sun") and gambled (with phenomenal success) on numbers that had occurred to her in her dreams. As James worked in his home office during the day, he learned of Jenniemae's daily numbers betting, although she refused to admit it was gambling ("It's the Lord's gift," was how she explained it). Over the years, their endearingly antagonistic friendship deepened, and they managed to see the other through numerous crises (including Jenniemae's rape by a bus driver and James's marital and girlfriend grief). The author, as a keen observer growing up in this fraught household, absorbed the emotional ramifications of Jenniemae's presence, and fashions dialogue that is pitch-perfect. --Publishers weekly. (Check Catalog)

Kaboom : embracing the suck in a savage little war

 by Matt Gallagher. Lt. Gallagher arrived in Iraq in 2007 and promptly started to blog about it; his site became widely read by soldiers. It was ordered shut down in 2008 but was part of the cultural shift that by the next year embraced blogging by soldiers. Here, his exceptional narrative technique makes the soldier in-group cant both believable and coherent; his relentless pursuit of sanity in the midst of a chaotic storm of IEDs, policy changes, sheiks, civilians, and baffling missions makes this blog-based memoir an exciting read reminiscent of Anthony Swofford's Jarhead. --Library Journal. (Check catalog)