Most Popular Books by Nigel Hamilton

Chronicles the historical evolution of the biography genre from ancient times to the early twenty-first century, considering questions about the purpose of biographies, their audience, the challenges of writing biographies, and their role in Western culture.

Encompasses the early years of Kennedy''s career, his youth and Harvard education, the story of PT-109, his affair with a suspected Nazi spy, and more.

An in-depth analysis of FDR''s leadership during the Second World War reveals how he assumed control over key decisions to launch a successful trial landing in North Africa to shift the war in favor of Allied forces.

A decade-and-a-half after President William Jefferson Clinton first took the oath of office, biographer Nigel Hamilton tells the riveting story of what was possibly the greatest self-reinvention of a president in office in modern times. The Clinton presidency began disastrously -- kicking off with the worst transition in living memory and deteriorating through a series of fiascos, from gays in the military to Hillary Clinton''s failed health care reform. How Bill Clinton faced up to his failures and refashioned himself in the White House thereafter is an epic, hitherto unwritten story -- a story that climaxes with the trouncing of Bob Dole in the landslide presidential election in 1996. Clinton began his second term as the undisputed and tremendously popular leader of the Western world. In vivid prose, Hamilton charts Clinton''s dramatic reversal of fortune and his ultimate triumph over himself -- and his foes. Bill Clinton: Mastering the Presidency is a riveting narrative of American politics, an incisive character portrait, and powerful reminder of what a great president can accomplish.

Bill Clinton, forty-second president of the United States, is the quintessential baby boomer: on the one hand blessed with a near-genius IQ, on the other, beset by character flaws that made his presidency a veritable soap opera of high ideals, distressing incompetence, model financial stewardship, and domestic misbehavior. In an era of cultural civil war, the Clinton administration fed the public an almost daily diet of scandal and misfortune. Who is Bill Clinton, though, and how did this baby-boom saga begin? Clinton’s upbringing in Arkansas and his student years at Georgetown, Oxford, and Yale universities help us to see his life not only as a personal story but as the story of modern America. Behind the closed doors of the house on the hill above Park Avenue in Hot Springs, the struggle between Clinton’s stepfather and mother became ultimately unbearable, causing Virginia to move out and divorce Roger Clinton. Dreading confrontation, Bill Clinton excelled in almost every field save athletics. But the fabled success of the scholarship boy would be marred by the decisions he came to make regarding Vietnam and military service—choices that haunt him to this day. We watch with a mixture of alarm, fascination, and awe as Bill Clinton does so much that is right—and so much that is wrong. He sets his cap for the star student at Yale, young Hillary Rodham, seducing her with his dreams of a better America and an aw-shucks grin. Wherever he goes, he charms and disarms—young and old, men and women...and more women. He becomes a law professor straight out of college; he contests a congressional election in his twenties—and almost wins it. He becomes attorney general of his state and within two years is set to become the youngest-ever governor of Arkansas, at only thirty-two. Yet, always, there is a curse, a drive toward personal self-destruction—and with that the destruction of all those who are helping him on his legendary path. His affair with Gennifer Flowers strains his marriage and later nearly scuttles his bid for the presidency. He is thrown out of the governor’s office after only one term and suffers a life-shaking crisis of confidence. Though with the stalwart help of a female chief of staff he regains his crown, it is clear that Bill Clinton’s charismatic career is a ceaseless tightrope walk above the forces that threaten to pull him down—the most potent of them residing in his own being. Imbued with sympathy, deep intelligence, and the storyteller’s art, this extraordinary biography helps us, at last, to understand the real Bill Clinton as he stumbles and withdraws from the 1988 presidential nomination race but enters it four years later, to make one of the most astonishing bids for the presidency in the twentieth century: the climax of this gripping political, social, and scandalous journey.

In the much-anticipated conclusion to his masterful trilogy chronicling the wartime career of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, renowned military and political biographer Nigel Hamilton aligns triumph with tragedy to show how FDR was the architect of a victorious peace that he would not live to witness. Providing the definitive account of the events in Normandy on 6 June 1944, Hamilton also reveals the fraught nature of the relationship between the greatest wartime leaders of the Allied forces. Using hitherto unpublished documents and interviews to counter the famous narrative of World War II strategy given by Winston Churchill in his memoirs, Hamilton highlights the true significance of FDR''s leadership. Seventy-five years after the D-Day landings, we finally see, close up and in dramatic detail, who was responsible for rescuing – and insisting upon – the great American-led invasion of France in June 1944, and exactly why that invasion was orchestrated by Eisenhower. War and Peace is the rousing final installment in one of the most important historical biographies of the twenty-first century, which demonstrates how FDR''s failing health only spurred him on in his efforts to build a US-backed post-war world order. In this stirring account of the life of one of the most celebrated political leaders of our time, Hamilton hails the President as the sole person capable of anticipating the requirements of peace in order to bring an end to the war.

This fascinating study of military leadership follows British general Bernard Law Montgomery''s military career from his cadet days and service in World War I to his great victories of World War II, including his defeat of the great German panzer commander, Erwin Rommel, at Alamein. Nigel Hamilton presents a brilliant, arrogant Montgomery, who refused to bow to authority and skated on the edge of dismissal like his American counterpart, George S. Patton. Though very different in their command styles, Montgomery and Patton became the two most successful Allied field generals in World War II. From North Africa through the invasion of Sicily, they routed the Germans in battle, with Patton as a thrusting cavalryman and Montgomery as an infantry commander devoted to applying massive force at a vital point. The author contends that Montgomery''s planning and leadership transformed Operation Overlord from a Second Front project doomed to fail into a successful Allied invasion plan. Allied operations after Normandy foundered in bitter arguments and failure, for Montgomery at Arnhem and Patton at Metz. Had Montgomery and Patton been ordered to fight in the same direction after Normandy, argues Professor Hamilton, the Allies might have ended the war in Europe in 1944. As it was, Montgomery and Patton had to save the Allies from sensational defeat in the Battle of the Bulge in what was to be their last battle together. The war ended for Monty on May 4, 1945, when he accepted the surrender of all German forces in the north.

The astonishing story of FDR’s yearlong, defining battle with Churchill in 1943, as the war raged in Africa and Italy: “Superb.” —Fareed Zakaria, The Washington Post 1943 was the year of Allied military counteroffensives, beating back the forces of the Axis powers in North Africa and the Pacific—the “Hinge of Fate,” as Winston Churchill called it. In Commander in Chief, Nigel Hamilton reveals Franklin D. Roosevelt’s true role in this saga: overruling his own Joint Chiefs of Staff, ordering American airmen on an ambush of the Japanese navy’s Admiral Yamamoto, facing down Churchill when he attempted to abandon Allied D-Day strategy (twice). This FDR is profoundly different from the one Churchill later painted. President Roosevelt’s patience was tested to the limit quelling the prime minister’s “revolt,” as Churchill pressured Congress and senior American leaders to focus Allied energy on disastrous fighting in Italy and the Aegean instead of landings in Normandy. Finally, in a dramatic showdown at Hyde Park, FDR had to stop Churchill from losing the war by making the ultimate threat, setting the Allies on their course to final victory. Hamilton masterfully chronicles the clash of nations—and of two titanic personalities—at a crucial moment in modern history. “The author offers plenty of colorful period detail . . . a solid inside view of the strategic thinking that went into the campaign against Hitler as America laid the groundwork for the D-Day invasion the following year.” —Kirkus Reviews (starred review) “Hamilton combines polished writing, a command of various sources, and broad insight in this account of Franklin Roosevelt’s pivotal WWII year.” —Publishers Weekly Includes maps

An insightful portrait of U.S. presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush. Hamilton examines their unique characters, their paths to Pennsylvania Avenue, their effectiveness as global leaders, and their lessons in governance, both good and bad.

"Field Marshal Bernard Law Montgomery, 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein, KG, GCB, DSO, PC (pron.: /mntmr v ælmen/; 17 November 1887 24 March 1976), nicknamed "Monty" and the "Spartan General", [9] was a British Army officer. He saw action in the First World War, where he was seriously wounded, and during the Second World War he commanded the Eighth Army from August 1942 in the Western Desert until the final Allied victory in Tunisia. This command included the Battle of El Alamein, a turning point in the Western Desert Campaign. He subsequently commanded the Eighth Army in Sicily and Italy before being given responsibility for planning the D-Day invasion in Normandy. He was in command of all Allied ground forces during Operation Overlord from the initial landings until after the Battle of Normandy. He then continued in command of the 21st Army Group for the rest of the campaign in North West Europe. As such he was the principal field commander for the failed airborne attempt to bridge the Rhine at Arnhem and the Allied Rhine crossing. On 4 May 1945 he took the German surrender at Luneburg Heath in northern Germany. After the war he became Commander-in-Chief of the British Army of the Rhine (BAOR) in Germany and then Chief of the Imperial General Staff."--Wikipedia.

From the New York Times bestselling presidential biographer comes the greatest untold story of the Civil War: how two American presidents faced off as the fate of the nation hung in the balance—and how Abraham Lincoln came to embrace emancipation as the last, best chance to save the Union. Of all the books written on Abraham Lincoln, there has been one surprising gap: the drama of how the “railsplitter” from Illinois grew into his critical role as U.S. commander-in-chief, and managed to outwit his formidable opponent, Jefferson Davis, in what remains history''s only military faceoff between rival American presidents. Davis was a trained soldier and war hero; Lincoln a country lawyer who had only briefly served in the militia. Confronted with the most violent and challenging war ever seen on American soil, Lincoln seemed ill-suited to the task: inexperienced, indecisive, and a poor judge of people’s motives, he allowed his administration''s war policies to be sabotaged by fickle, faithless cabinet officials while entrusting command of his army to a preening young officer named George McClellan – whose defeat in battle left Washington, the nation’s capital, at the mercy of General Robert E. Lee, Davis’s star performer. The war almost ended there. But in a Shakespearean twist, Lincoln summoned the courage to make, at last, a climactic decision: issuing as a “military necessity” a proclamation freeing the 3.5 million enslaved Americans without whom the South could not feed or fund their armed insurrection. The new war policy doomed the rebellion—which was in dire need of support from Europe, none of whose governments now would dare to recognize rebel “independence” in a war openly fought over slavery. The fate of President Davis was sealed. With a cast of unforgettable characters, from first ladies to fugitive coachmen to treasonous cabinet officials, Lincoln vs. Davis is a spellbinding dual biography from renowned presidential chronicler Nigel Hamilton: a saga that will surprise, touch, and enthrall.

It is not surprising that biography is one of the most popular literary genres of our day. What is remarkable is that there is no accessible guide for how to write one. Now, following his recent Biography: A Brief History (from Harvard), award-winning biographer and teacher Nigel Hamilton tackles the practicalities of doing biography in this first succinct primer to elucidate the tools of the biographerÕs craft. Hamilton invites the reader to join him on a fascinating journey through the art of biographical composition. Starting with personal motivation, he charts the making of a modern biography from the inside: from conception to fulfillment. He emphasizes the need to know oneÕs audience, rehearses the excitement and perils of modern research, delves into the secrets of good and great biography, and guides the reader through the essential components of life narrative. With examples taken from the finest modern biographies, Hamilton shows how to portray the ages of manÑbirth, childhood, love, lifeÕs work, the evening of life, and death. In addition, he suggests effective ways to start and close a life story. He clarifies the difference between autobiography and memoirÑand addresses the sometimes awkward ethical, legal, and personal consequences of truth-telling in modern life writing. He concludes with the publication and reception of biographyÑits afterlife, so to speak. Written with humor, insight, and compassion, How To Do Biography is the manual that would-be biographers have long been awaiting.

The definitive biography of FDR’s leadership during WWII, presented here in a single volume—”splendid . . . the memoir Roosevelt didn’t get to write” (New York Times Book Review). This groundbreaking, three-volume study of President Roosevelt’s role as Commander in Chief tells the story of World War II from his perspective. Using hitherto unpublished documents and interviews, Hamilton rewrites the famous account of Allied strategy given by Winston Churchill in his memoirs. Hamilton reveals, close-up and in dramatic detail, Roosevelt’s mastery of strategy, his vision, and how he overcame resistance from Churchill and his own generals to set the course for victory. Mantle of Command, Commander in Chief, and War and Peace have been celebrated as “masterly” (The Wall Street Journal). “A first-class, lens-changing work.” —James N. Mattis, former US secretary of defense

Master of the Battlefield charts the biography of Field Marshal Viscount Montgomery from his decisive victory at El Alamein through the Battle of Normandy. It details the most complex, full years of Montgomery''s career, following the time he became a household name after his North African campaign, and including his battles in Sicily and Italy, and the final Allied conquest in France in 1944. Based on Montgomery''s secret diaries, letters and vast collections of private papers, which have remained confidential and inaccessible until now, this is the authorized biography of Montgomery in his most important years as commander. - Jacket flap.

This biography of Field Marshall Viscount Montgomery presents the unknown Montgomery in behind-the-scenes accounts of him as soldier and leader, son, father, and husband.

Most Western approaches to dreams are limited to a psychological paradigm. Building on Jung''s work, which was heavily influenced by the transformative model of alchemy, a new multidimensional approach to the process of human transformation through dreams has been developed which recognises the interrelationship of the psychological and the spiritual, and works with the mirroring body in service of both. In the approach presented here, dreams are seen as a mixture of worldly impressions and expressions of our individual spirit, which is trying to speak to us through the metaphors and narrative of our dreams. In this way, the spiritual comes through the psychological dimension. Though it may seem to be a contradiction, our dreams hold the key to our ''awakening'' and, by actively engaging with them we can unlock their potential for initiating and facilitating our own unfoldment. This book is about recognising this process when it occurs in dreams, and how to work with them in the service of our growth and self-realisation.

In October 1942 one of the most important battles in modern history was fought. For more than three years the Axis armies had seemed invincible. Now, in the Egyptian desert, they had been decisively beaten. The opening phase of the Second World War was over. The architect of this triumph was an almost unknown British general, Bernard Montgomery.

The definitive three-volume history that FDR did not live to write: the story of World War II from his perspective, showing his mastery of strategy, his vision, and how he overcame resistance from Churchill and his own generals to set the course for victory. Mantle of Command, Commander in Chief, and War and Peace have been celebrated as "masterly" (The Wall Street Journal).

Biografieën, we lezen ze graag. Ze vertellen de levensverhalen van meer of minder beroemde mensen en bieden de lezer veelal verrassende inzichten over de plaatsen en de tijd waarin die personen leefden. Biografieën zijn er in vele soorten en maten. Dit boek vertelt daar meer over. Het is onderverdeeld in diverse lemma’s over de hedendaagse biografie. Behandeld worden onder meer genres, invalshoeken, bekende biografen en thema’s. Onder de A vindt de lezer ‘Amerika’, ‘Autobiografie’ en ‘Autoriseren’. Onder de P ‘Psychologiseren’, de R bevat ‘Religie’, etcetera. Bij elk lemma staat een blokje ‘Literatuur’, en achterin het boek bevindt zich een uitgebreid personenregister. ''In 26 prikkelende essays belichten de gezaghebbende biografen Nigel Hamilton en Hans Renders de valkuilen en vergezichten van dit steeds populairder wordende genre. Hoezo zijn geautoriseerde biografieën per definitie waardeloos, en waarom verschijnt er elke maand een boek over John F. Kennedy? De antwoorden staan in dit even erudiete als lichtvoetige ABC van de moderne biografie. Lezen en smullen!'' - Elsbeth Etty, biograaf, columnist en criticus

《肯尼迪传--无悔的青春》是汉密尔顿正在撰写的《肯尼迪传--一个美国总统的生与死》的第一卷.

An insightful portrait of U.S. presidents from Franklin D. Roosevelt to George W. Bush. Hamilton examines their unique characters, their paths to Pennsylvania Avenue, their effectiveness as global leaders, and their lessons in governance, both good and bad.