New Releases by Thomas Fleming

At Yorktown, Virginia, after six and a half years of fighting, General George Washington and his troops and their French allies brought the American Revolution to a victorious end. Here, from New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming is the vivid account of the stunning reversal of British fortunes that led to the surrender of Lord Cornwallis and the birth of the American nation.

Steely determination enabled Eddie Rickenbacker, the World War I ace pilot, to survive twenty-four days drifting across the Pacific in a life raft. Here, in this essay by New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming, is the dramatic story.

In March 1918, the Germans tried to break years of deadlocked trench warfare with new, devastating tactics. One after another, the Allied front lines crumbled under their onslaught. But the success of World War I''s stormtroopers, New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming writes in this essay, brought new problems.

This vivid, deeply moving book begins in London in 1620 as Pilgrim representatives sign a contract to purchase the freighter Mayflower. We accompany them on their harrowing voyage across the Atlantic, through the rigors of the first New England winter and the threat of Indian attack as they desperately search for the home they eventually find at Plymouth. Once there, they must continue the struggle against brutal weather and disease. With masterly skill, New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming gives us life-size portraits of the Pilgrim leaders. The Pilgrims'' unique achievements - the Mayflower Compact, their tolerance of other faiths, the strict separation of church and state - are discussed in the context of the first year''s anxieties and crises. Fleming writes admiringly of the younger men who emerged in that year as the real leaders of the colony - William Bradford and Miles Standish. And he provides new insights into the humanity and tolerance of the Pilgrims'' spiritual shepherd, Elder William Brewster. On the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims are already aware that they are the forerunners of a great nation. It is implicit in William Bradford''s words, "As one small candle may light a thousand, so the light kindled here has shone unto many. . . ."

This vivid, deeply moving book begins in London in 1620 as Pilgrim representatives sign a contract to purchase the freighter Mayflower. We accompany them on their harrowing voyage across the Atlantic, through the rigors of the first New England winter and the threat of Indian attack as they desperately search for the home they eventually find at Plymouth. Once there, they must continue the struggle against brutal weather and disease. With masterly skill, New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming gives us life-size portraits of the Pilgrim leaders. The Pilgrims'' unique achievements - the Mayflower Compact, their tolerance of other faiths, the strict separation of church and state - are discussed in the context of the first year''s anxieties and crises. Fleming writes admiringly of the younger men who emerged in that year as the real leaders of the colony - William Bradford and Miles Standish. And he provides new insights into the humanity and tolerance of the Pilgrims'' spiritual shepherd, Elder William Brewster. On the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims are already aware that they are the forerunners of a great nation. It is implicit in William Bradford''s words, "As one small candle may light a thousand, so the light kindled here has shone unto many. . . ."

The greatest American general of the twentieth century wasn''t Dwight Eisenhower or George Patton or Douglas MacArthur. The honor, according to New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming, belongs to Matthew Ridgway, who led America''s Eighth Army to victory in Korea. Here, in this essay, is his courageous story.

A classic biography of Benjamin Franklin for young readers in a new, illustrated edition. Benjamin Franklin was a true American original -- an accomplished scientist, athlete, inventor, writer, statesman, diplomat, printer, and philosopher. This classic biography by eminent historian and Pulitzer Prize winner Thomas Fleming paints a lively portrait of Franklin, a self-made man blessed with talent and immense curiosity about the world around him. With charm, humor, and a keen understanding of human nature, Franklin guided the American colonies to independence and nationhood. His remarkable career will inspire readers of all ages.

Here, from New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming, is the dramatic story of the Boston Massacre and the subsequent trial of nine British soldiers for murder. Never before in the history of the American colonies, writes Fleming, had a trial aroused such intense, complex, political and personal passion. And into this maelstrom stepped John Adams, waging a mighty defense of the British soldiers despite the risk to his law practice and the possible violence against his wife and young children.

For many Americans, George Washington is just the face on a dollar bill. This book changes that perception. George Washington, Revolutionary War general, Founding Father, and first president of the United States was a warm and fascinating man. He suffered the agony of adolescent passion, fell in love with his best friend''s wife, and married the wealthy widow Martha Custis. He poured out his political and military woes to his brother Jack in the dark days of 1776, and in the midst of a miserable winter camped with his troops in Valley Forge, he wrote a chatty letter to a friend in England. All these incidents are here in Washington''s own words. Only through what Washington called his "letters of friendship" can we fully understand this complex man. They show him joking with his favorite Frenchman, the Marquis de Lafayette, advising his younger relatives on love and marriage, writing with emotion to the unobtainable woman he loved, and reconnecting with her in his old age. Selected and edited by New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming from the thirty-seven volumes of Washington''s collected writings, this book will be a revelation to all.

In 1970, Margaret Truman and bestselling author Thomas Fleming spent eight days with her father, President Harry Truman, as part of their research for a biography of the thirty-third president of the United States. Truman had personally chosen Fleming as Margaret''s collaborator. He had read and admired Fleming''s biography of Thomas Jefferson. In this essay, Fleming recounts that amazing time, during which the elder statesman sets the record straight on Douglas MacArthur, Charles de Gaulle, Lyndon Johnson, John Kennedy, Joseph Stalin, the atomic bomb, and, most important, the American presidency.

Today''s spectacle of an imperial Congress battling the president of the United States is unsettling to many Americans. But it should not come as a surprise. Since the earliest days of the republic, writes New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming in this essay, Congress has sought to seize power for itself and diminish the presidency.

In the early days of the twentieth century, a young American named Homer Lea predicted with uncanny accuracy the rise of Japan''s militarism and its challenge to the United States. An acknowledged military genius who never served in the armed forces, this hunchbacked, nearly blind dwarf worked tirelessly for Sun Yat-sen, the "George Washington of China," in his doomed attempt to turn China into a democracy. Here in this essay from New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming is Lea''s remarkable story.

Here in this essay from New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming is the harrowing account of a true hero of the Korean War, Commander Gene Clark. Without Clark, General Douglas MacArthur''s daring plan to invade South Korea from the sea would almost surely have failed.

In Verdicts of History, New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming highlights six courtroom dramas that changed the future of America. From unexpected verdicts, like the acquittal won by John Adams when he defended British soldiers charged with the Boston Massacre in 1770 to stirred passions when abolitionist John Brown was convicted of murder - a precedent to the Civil War - to the breakthrough in racial relations when Clarence Darrow won a stunning "not guilty" verdict for black physician Ossian Sweet - at a time when black Americans could hardly expect a fair trial. Fleming also includes the trials of Aaron Burr for treason and a well-known congressman for murder. In courtrooms throughout the nation''s history, vivid emotion and heated rhetoric have established consequential precedents and enlarged average men and women to historical dimensions.

Choosing the most important moments in the long history of the American presidency is difficult. But here, New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming vividly recreates many of those hours of crisis - from George Washington''s fight for peace and the night Abraham Lincoln was almost shot to Ronald Reagan''s plea to "tear down this wall" and George W. Bush on September 11, 2001, "the day that changed everything."

"A superb retelling of the story of Valley Forge and its aftermath, demonstrating that reality is far more compelling than myth." - Gordon S. Wood The defining moments of the American Revolution did not occur on the battlefield or at the diplomatic table, writes New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming, but at Valley Forge. Fleming transports us to December 1777. While the British army lives in luxury in conquered Philadelphia, Washington''s troops huddle in the barracks of Valley Forge, fending off starvation and disease even as threats of mutiny swirl through the regiments. Though his army stands on the edge of collapse, George Washington must wage a secondary war, this one against the slander of his reputation as a general and patriot. Washington strategizes not only against the British army but against General Horatio Gates, the victor in the Battle of Saratoga, who has attracted a coterie of ambitious generals devising ways to humiliate and embarrass Washington into resignation. Using diaries and letters, Fleming creates an unforgettable portrait of an embattled Washington. Far from the long-suffering stoic of historical myth, Washington responds to attacks from Gates and his allies with the skill of a master politician. He parries the thrusts of his covert enemies, and, as necessary, strikes back with ferocity and guile. While many histories portray Washington as a man who has transcended politics, Fleming''s Washington is exceedingly complex, a man whose political maneuvering allowed him to retain his command even as he simultaneously struggled to prevent the Continental Army from dissolving into mutiny at Valley Forge. Written with his customary flair and eye for human detail and drama, Thomas Fleming''s gripping narrative develops with the authority of a major historian and the skills of a master storyteller. Washington''s Secret War is not only a revisionist view of the American ordeal at Valley Forge - it calls for a new assessment of the man too often simplified into an American legend. This is narrative history at its best and most vital.

"Written with skill and suspense, it is an inspiring story that Americans can read with pride." - Chicago Tribune Here, from New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming, is the story of that June day in 1775 that made the American Revolution inevitable. Bunker Hill brings alive the stories of the men on both sides who fought on these steep slopes in the blazing heat of June and dispels the myths and distortions which have long clouded the battle. It shows how closely and tragically intertwined were the lives of these men who from this day would call themselves either British or American. The brother of General William Howe, the British commander, had died in Colonel Israel Putnam''s arms near Fort Ticonderoga. Colonel William Prescott had fought beside General William Howe at the siege of Louisburg and had been offered a commission in the Royal Army for his valor. Now, only fifteen years after their joint victories as comrades in arms, Prescott and Putnam steadied their raw American troops with harsh advice to withhold their fire on the advancing British ranks until "you can see their buttons," or "the whites of their eyes." After the British forces came ashore, the battle opened with a deftly launched flanking movement by the British right. John Stark arrived with his New Hampshire men in time to predict the point at which Howe would first attack and to seal that gap with British dead - "I never saw sheep lie as thick in the fold." Howe did not pause to maneuver but assaulted the American fortifications along the whole front. The young farmers did not give way, and the British reeled back. "There was a moment," Howe, a veteran and victor of many battles against the French in Europe and North America, recalled later, "that I never felt before." But the British doggedly advanced again up the murderous hill in the ninety-degree heat. The forces that impelled these men to that terrible moment of battle and the courage of both sides are the powerful substance of Bunker Hill.

In this swift, insightful book, New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming brings vividly to life the remarkable youth of Thomas Jefferson, one of America''s greatest presidents. Here are all of Jefferson''s early triumphs and tragedies - from his inspired design and construction of Monticello and election as Virginia''s second governor to his achievement as the author of the Declaration of Independence and the devastating loss of his wife.

In the months after her husband''s death, Martha Washington told several friends that the two worst days of her life were the day George died -- and the day Thomas Jefferson came to Mount Vernon to offer his condolences. What could elicit such a strong reaction from the nation''s original first lady? Though history tends to cast the early years of America in a glow of camaraderie, there were, in fact, many conflicts among the Founding Fathers -- none more important than the one between George Washington and Thomas Jefferson. The chief disagreement between these former friends centered on the highest, most original public office created by the Constitutional Convention -- the presidency. They also argued violently about the nation''s foreign policy, the role of merchants and farmers in a republic, and the durability of the union itself. At the root of all these disagreements were two sharply different visions for the nation''s future. Acclaimed historian Thomas Fleming examines how the differing temperaments and leadership styles of Washington and Jefferson shaped two opposing views of the presidency -- and the nation. The clash between these two gifted men, both of whom cared deeply about the United States of America, profoundly influenced the next two centuries of America''s history and resonates in the present day.

With the eye of a novelist and the rigor of a historian, New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming delivers a fascinating and vivid account of the Siege of Yorktown. Along with French General Jean-Baptiste Rochambeau, George Washington made an astonishing march through New Jersey and trapped British General Charles Cornwallis and his forces in Yorktown, Virginia, where they unleashed a tremendous artillery assault, with the support of the French navy. But victory was never certain - both sides made a series of dramatic attacks and counterattacks. Using the diaries and letters of participants in the siege, Fleming creates a moving and exciting depiction of the days in October 1781 that ended the American Revolution and changed the world.

New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming tells a haunting love story set against of the more perplexing and least explored chapters of World War II. In Berlin, Berthe von Hoffman dreams of an angel in the depths, embracing her husband''s submarine – and remembers Kristallnacht, when Hitler declared all-out war on the Jews. The stench of evil in that memory draws her to the headquarters of Admiral Wilhelm Canaris, enigmatic head of the German secret service – and guiding spirit of the Schwarze Kapelle, the circle of courageous men and women who comprise the secret dangerous resistance to Nazism. Aboard the USS Spencer Lewis off Iceland, Lieutenant Commander Jonathan Trumbull Talbot is denouncing President Franklin D. Roosevelt''s unconstitutional undeclared war against Germany when a torpedo fired by Berthe''s husband, Kapitanleutnant Ernst von Hoffmann, cut the destroyer in half. Out of this conjunction grows a tormented tangle of love and jealousy and patriotic deceit when the three meet in Spain after Pearl Harbor has catapulted American into the war. By that time, Talbot''s criticism of the president has wrecked both his naval career and his marriage to Annie Richman, daughter of a congressman whose power depends on FDR''s political wizardry. When Talbot returns from Spain to urge negotiations with Canaris and other leaders of the German resistance, Annie, now a powerful journalist, becomes a player in the struggle for the mind of the intransigent, mortally ill president. At its gripping climax, Loyalties draws everyone into an anguished confrontation with the limits of patriotism and God''s baffling role in the middle of human destiny. From murderous contests between rival intelligence agencies in Spain to the labyrinthine political machinations in Washington, London, and Berlin to warfare beneath the North Atlantic, Loyalties is a dazzling mosaic of men and women caught in the crossfire of history – yet finding in the midst of destruction and chaos inexplicable glimpse of meaning and hope.

Liberty! brings to life one of the most important and compelling stories in America''s history: the struggle for independence and the birth of the nation. New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming''s gripping narrative captures the high drama of the revolutionary war years and the unyielding courage and political genius of the men and women who imagined a new set of political possibilities for humankind - laying the foundation for the identity and character of the American people in the process. The companion volume to the PBS television series of the same name, Liberty! traces the evolution of the ideals that inspired a generation of Americans to struggle against Britain - then the most powerful country in the world - to establish the free society and democratic system that is so inherently and uniquely American.

World War II was roaring to a climax. Harry Truman was meeting with the speaker of the House of Representatives and his old friend Sam Rayburn when he was called to the White House: Franklin Roosevelt was dead. Truman was now faced with more problems and decisions than any other leader in American history. While American, British, and Russian armies were smashing into the heart of Nazi Germany and American troops were fighting a ferocious battle with the Japanese in the Pacific, Harry Truman took the oath of office, swearing to “protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.” Suddenly – in the middle of a global war – he had become president of the most powerful nation in the world. Raised in Missouri, the son of a farmer, Truman was destined to make history. After distinguishing himself as an Army captain in World War I, Truman went on to become a judge, a senator, and the vice president before assuming the office of the thirty-third president of the United States. After a forceful victory in the war that raged almost five years, he then served the nation in the tumultuous years that followed: implementing the Marshall Plan, helping to create NATO, ordering the Berlin airlift, and courageously defending freedom in Korea. New York Times bestselling historian and novelist Thomas Fleming, an intimate of Truman and his family, provides a rare glimpse into the life and spirit of a leader often ridiculed for his “just folks” style and modesty but who surprised his critics with his direct and tenacious decision making – and in the process became one of America’s greatest presidents.

The most famous collision in American Navy history took place on a hot, starless, moonless night in 1943. PT109 was idling off the South Pacific island of Kolombangara. With virtually no warning, a Japanese destroyer smashed into the boat, slicing it in half and igniting its thousands of gallons of gasoline. PT109''s commander and surviving crew were flung or leaped into the blazing water, beginning an ordeal that writers, relatives, and friends would use to create a drama that propelled John F. Kennedy to the presidency of the United States. Here, in this essay from New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming, is the story of what really happened that night.

The Heart of Liberty, a New York Times bestselling novel by Thomas Fleming, has been hailed as "The Gone with the Wind of the American Revolution." Told from the perspective of James, "Jemmy" Kemble, writing for his grandchildren, the opening of the book reads, "Let me caution in strictest terms against publishing what I write. The nation is not ready to face the truth about itself that an honest story of the Revolution must mirror." Kemble thus recalls the great event of his life - the upheaval that created the United States of America. His honest story unflinchingly depicts the panic and cowardice, the greed and brutality that were part of the war for independence. It also celebrates the Americans who struggled to cope with the chaos of a war most of them never wanted. Fleming expertly blends his fictional characters with the great men of the Revolution - George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Sir William Howe - as well as a host of other vivid characters. With a historian''s insight and a novelist''s skill, Fleming has produced a panorama that vividly recreates and matches the complexity and drama of America''s first war.

By the time John Brown hung from the gallows for his crimes at Harper''s Ferry, Northern abolitionists had made him a “holy martyr” in their campaign against Southern slave owners. This Northern hatred for Southerners long predated their objections to slavery. They were convinced that New England, whose spokesmen had begun the American Revolution, should have been the leader of the new nation. Instead, they had been displaced by Southern “slavocrats” like Thomas Jefferson. This malevolent envy exacerbated the South''s greatest fear: a race war. Jefferson''s cry, “We are truly to be pitied,” summed up their dread. For decades, extremists in both regions flung insults and threats, creating intractable enmities. By 1861, only a civil war that would kill a million men could save the Union.

Catalyntie is a Dutch woman living in pre-Revolutionary America, struggling to come to terms with the conflicts created by growing up captive in a Seneca Indian village. She shared her captivity with Clara Flowers, an extraordinarily gifted black woman who remains deeply involved in her life. They also share a love for the same man, a brooding giant who, with their help, will slowly discover his American identity. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

A compelling, intimate look at the founders—George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison—and the women who played essential roles in their lives With his usual storytelling flair and unparalleled research, Tom Fleming examines the women who were at the center of the lives of the founding fathers. From hot-tempered Mary Ball Washington to promiscuous Rachel Lavien Hamilton, the founding fathers'' mothers powerfully shaped their sons'' visions of domestic life. But lovers and wives played more critical roles as friends and often partners in fame. We learn of the youthful Washington''s tortured love for the coquettish Sarah Fairfax, wife of his close friend; of Franklin''s two "wives," one in London and one in Philadelphia; of Adams''s long absences, which required a lonely, deeply unhappy Abigail to keep home and family together for years on end; of Hamilton''s adulterous betrayal of his wife and then their reconciliation; of how the brilliant Madison was jilted by a flirtatious fifteen-year-old and went on to marry the effervescent Dolley, who helped make this shy man into a popular president. Jefferson''s controversial relationship to Sally Hemings is also examined, with a different vision of where his heart lay. Fleming nimbly takes us through a great deal of early American history, as his founding fathers strove to reconcile the private and public, often beset by a media every bit as gossip seeking and inflammatory as ours today. He offers a powerful look at the challenges women faced in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. While often brilliant and articulate, the wives of the founding fathers all struggled with the distractions and dangers of frequent childbearing and searing anxiety about infant mortality—Jefferson''s wife, Martha, died from complications following labor, as did his daughter. All the more remarkable, then, that these women loomed so large in the lives of their husbands—and, in some cases, their country.

The political history of the American experience in World War I is a story of conflict and bungled intentions that begins in an era dedicated to progressive social reform and ends in the Red Scare and Prohibition. Thomas Fleming tells this story through the complex figure of Woodrow Wilson, the contradictory president who wept after declaring war, devastated because he knew it would destroy the tolerance of the American people, but who then suppressed freedom of speech and used propaganda to excite America into a Hun-hating mob. This is tragic history: inexperienced American military leaders drove their troops into gruesome slaughters; progressive politics were put on hold in America; an idealistic president''s dreams were crushed because of his own negligence. Wilson''s inability to convince Congress to ratify U.S. membership in the League of Nations was one of the most poignant failures in the history of the American presidency, but even more heartrending were Wilson''s concessions to his bitter allies in the Treaty of Versailles. In exchange for Allied support of the League of Nations, he allowed an unfair peace treaty to be signed, a treaty that played no small role in the rise of National Socialism and the outbreak of World War II. Thomas Fleming has once again created a masterpiece of narrative American history. This incomparable portrait shows how Wilson sacrificed his noble vision to megalomania and single-mindedness, while paying homage to him as a visionary whose honorable spirit continues to influence Western politics.

A son comes of age in a fiercely political world "Thomas Fleming gives us an unforgettable story about an immigrant family—his family—as it struggles to find a place in the American century. He shares with us the dreams and heartaches of his parents, and, in the end, he reminds us of the mysterious and forgiving power of love." —Terry Golway, author of The Irish in America "A truly moving story of a lifelong duel between father and son, Mysteries of My Father also vibrates with the great good humor that grows out of ward politics, and pulses with the heartfelt drama of a family just getting by. There were some bad times in the Fleming family story, but Tom Fleming prevails to the good times, and the best time is left to the reader. What a wonderful time I had reading this book." —Dennis Smith, author of the Report from Engine Co. 82 and Report from Ground Zero "A well-written, fascinating political history." —Margaret Truman, author of Murder at Union Station "With a historian''s fidelity and a poet''s empathy, Tom Fleming has created a textured study of three generations of Irish-Americans, whose clashing spiritual values inform their integration into New Jersey''s social and political hierarchy. Mysteries of My Father is an American classic achieved by a master storyteller''s talents for exploring the tensions and bonds between a father and his sons. Among the literary wonders of this brisk and moving memoir is the father''s emergence as a seminal American character—brusque and pragmatic, yet capable of expected tenderness to his sons." —Sidney Offit, author of Memoir of the Bookie''s Son "If you care about what it means to be an Irish-American, or about New Jersey political history, or about the relationships between fathers and sons, or about wonderful writing, run—don''t walk—out to buy Tom Fleming''s Mysteries of My Father." —Nick Acocella, publisher of Politifax