“A tale of political intrigue, famous personalities, technological innovations and bitter feuds, all under the pervasive shadow of slavery.” —Steve Raymond, The Seattle TimesThe modern United States Capitol is a triumph of both engineering and design. But the history of the Capitol is also the history of America's most tumultuous years. As the new Capitol rose above Washington's skyline, battles over slavery and secession ripped the country apart. Ground was broken just months after Congress adopted the compromise of 1850, which was supposed to settle the "slavery question" for all time. The statue Freedom was placed atop the Capitol's new dome in 1863, five months after the Battle of Gettysburg.In Freedom's Cap, the award-winning journalist Guy Gugliotta recounts the history and broader meaning of the Capitol building through the lives of the three men most responsible for its construction. We owe the building's scale and magnificence to none other than Jefferson Davis, who remained the Capitol's staunchest advocate up until the week he left Washington to become president of the Confederacy. Davis's protégé and the Capitol's lead engineer, Captain Montgomery C. Meigs, became quartermaster general of the Union Army and never forgave Davis for his betrayal of the nation. The Capitol's brilliant architect and Meigs's longtime rival, Thomas U. Walter, defended slavery at the beginning of the war but eventually turned fiercely against the South.In impeccable detail, Gugliotta captures the clash of personalities behind the building of the Capitol and the unique engineering, architectural, design, and political challenges the three men collectively overcame to create the iconic seat of American government.

Meet one of the most powerful women in French history in this historical biography of King Louis XV’s most famous mistress-advisor and 18th-century Versailles.When Madame de Pompadour became the mistress of Louis XV, no one expected her to retain his affections for long. A member of the bourgeoisie rather than an aristocrat, she was physically too cold for the carnal Bourbon king, and had so many enemies that she could not travel publicly without risking a pelting of mud and stones. History has loved her little better. Nancy Mitford’s delightfully candid biography re-creates the spirit of 18th-century Versailles with its love of pleasure and treachery. We learn that the Queen was a “bore,” the Dauphin a “prig,” and see France increasingly overcome with class conflict. With a fiction writer’s felicity, Mitford restores the royal mistress and celebrates her as a survivor, unsurpassed in “the art of living,” who reigned as the most powerful woman in France for nearly 20 years.

“Will likely be the definitive biography. . . . a detailed and fascinating account of how the Supreme Court functioned during Brennan’s long tenure.” —Publishers Weekly (starred review) This is a compelling inside look at the life of William Brennan, a champion of free speech who is widely considered the most influential Supreme Court justice of the twentieth century. Before his death, Brennan granted Stephen Wermiel access to volumes of personal and court materials that at the time were sealed to the public for another two decades. This “coveted set of documents,” as Jeffrey Toobin described it, includes Brennan’s case histories—in which he recorded strategies behind major battles including Roe v. Wade, affirmative action, the death penalty, obscenity law, and the constitutional right to privacy—as well as more personal documents that reveal some of Brennan’s curious contradictions, like his refusal to hire female clerks even as he wrote groundbreaking women’s rights decisions; his complex stance as a justice and a Catholic; and details on Brennan’s unprecedented working relationship with Chief Justice Earl Warren. In this biography, Wermiel and Seth Stern distill decades of valuable information into a seamless, riveting portrait of the man behind the Court’s most liberal era.“The most comprehensive and well-organized look at the legendary liberal jurist to date.” —The New York Times“Seats the reader in Brennan’s chambers to listen to his conversations and see the memoranda exchanged with other justices and his law clerks.” —Newark Star Ledger“The authors balance differing accounts of Brennan the jurist and the man, presenting an evenhanded portrait of the affable but stubborn Justice.” —Kirkus Reviews

New York Times–Bestselling Author: An “extraordinary portrait of an extraordinary man” who accomplished much yet never sought attention or acclaim (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette).One of January Magazine’s Best Books of the YearHe fought for General Washington, served with Abraham Lincoln, witnessed Bunker Hill, and sounded the clarion against slavery on the eve of the Civil War. He negotiated an end to the War of 1812, engineered the annexation of Florida, and won the Supreme Court decision that freed the African captives of the Amistad. He served his nation as minister to six countries, secretary of state, senator, congressman, and president.John Quincy Adams was all of these things and more. This “captivating” biography (Sacramento Bee) reveals Quincy Adams as a towering figure in the nation’s formative years and one of the most courageous figures in American history—the first entry in John F. Kennedy’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Profiles in Courage.A magisterial biography and a sweeping panorama of American history from the Washington to Lincoln eras, John Quincy Adams follows one of the nation’s most important yet least-known figures.“First-class history from cover-to-cover . . . Nobody is better-equipped to write this biography, and we’re lucky that Unger has told the story of this underrated American icon, legendary diplomat, and tireless advocate of everything that is just and righteous in our country.” —Louisville Courier-Journal“In the best tradition of David McCullough’s biographies, the pace and plotting pull readers forward even though they may know the ending . . . Masterful.” —Library Journal

Commemorating its 2oth year in print with a new Introduction and updated content, Shifting explores the many identities Black women must adopt in various spaces to succeed in America. Based on the African American Women's Voices Project, Shifting reveals that a large number of Black women feel pressure to compromise their true selves as they navigate America's racial and gender bigotry. Black women "shift" by altering the expectations they have for themselves or their outer appearance. They modify their speech. They shift "white" as they head to work in the morning and "Black" as they come back home each night. They shift inward, internalizing the searing pain of the negative stereotypes that they encounter daily. And sometimes they shift by fighting back. In commemoration of its twentieth year in print with a new Introduction and updated content throughout Shifting is a much-needed, clear, and comprehensive portrait of the reality of Black women's lives today.

“A stunning achievement of research and storytelling” that weaves together the major fronts of WWI into a single, sweeping narrative (Publishers Weekly, starred review).   It was to be the war to end all wars, and it began at 11:15 on the morning of June 28, 1914, in an outpost of the Austro-Hungarian Empire called Sarajevo. It would officially end nearly five years later. Unofficially, however, it has never ended: Many of the horrors we live with today are rooted in the First World War.   The Great War left millions of civilians and soldiers maimed or dead. It also saw the creation of new technologies of destruction: tanks, planes, and submarines; machine guns and field artillery; poison gas and chemical warfare. It introduced U-boat packs and strategic bombing, unrestricted war on civilians and mistreatment of prisoners. But the war changed our world in far more fundamental ways than these.   In its wake, empires toppled, monarchies fell, and whole populations lost their national identities. As political systems and geographic boundaries were realigned, the social order shifted seismically. Manners and cultural norms; literature and the arts; education and class distinctions; all underwent a vast sea change.   As historian Martin Gilbert demonstrates in this “majestic opus” of historical synthesis, the twentieth century can be said to have been born on that fateful morning in June of 1914 (Publishers Weekly, starred review).  “One of the first books that anyone should read . . . to try to understand this war and this century.” —The New York Times Book Review