Fame-Dropping is a bit like name-dropping, but when your guide is historian James C. Humes, you can expect something more than just trivial details about celebrities. A former White House speechwriter and Pennsylvania state legislator, the author commands powers of persuasion that have opened doors into the lives of the world's most influential men and women. Fame-Dropping zooms in for a close-up while offering you a front-row seat for viewing history's big picture. Rich with insight, and told in a lively, self-deprecating style, this book contains tales of a gregarious ghostwriter who has met countless notables - from star performers to those who wield power behind the scenes, in Hollywood, Washington, and beyond. Learn, laugh, and enjoy with a "well-traveled political junkie" and Churchill biographer as he witnesses Richard Nixon's informal side, dances with a young and radiant Queen Elizabeth II, and watches Margaret Thatcher tear up a speech he'd just written. Come and join Sir John Gielgud at the bar for cocktails, dine in Washington with McGovern's Hollywood supporter Shirley MacLaine, and find out what the guests found hanging in Pamela Harriman's powder room. At once intimate and grounded in a historian's wider perspectives, Fame-Dropping invites you to come closer and listen in, as you take a whirlwind tour of world events with the man who was welcomed everywhere.

President Bill Clinton has been more than generous, Blaney and Benoit point out, in providing fodder for examination of image restoration in politics. His accusers have also done their part in making the public aware of the president's real and perceived shortcomings. As the authors detail, Bill Clinton has been the subject of a tremendous, if not unprecedented, amount of scrutiny by his personal and political enemies.

Blaney and Benoit systematically review the background of the various scandals that have marred the Clinton presidency. They concentrate on the techniques used to advance the various accusations and the approaches taken by the president and his supporters to deflect the attacks. All scholars and researchers interested in political communication and rhetoric in contemporary American politics and the presidency will find this to be essential reading.

When Hissene Habre, the deposed dictator of Chad, was found guilty of crimes against humanity in 2016, it was described as 'a watershed for human rights justice in Africa and beyond'. For the first time, an African war criminal had been convicted on African soil. Having followed the trial from the very beginning and interviewed many of those involved, journalist Celeste Hicks tells the remarkable story of how Habre was brought to justice. His conviction followed a heroic 25 year campaign by activists and survivors of Habre's atrocities, which succeeded despite international indifference, opposition from Habre's allies, and several failed attempts to bring him to trial in Europe and elsewhere. In the face of such overwhelming odds, the conviction of a once untouchable tyrant represents a major turning point, with profound implications for African justice and the future of human rights activism globally.

This book provides a broad analysis of the legacy of the Obama presidency, representing multiple perspectives across the partisan and disciplinary divides. The chapters in this book are grouped into three major legacy categories: domestic policy, foreign policy, and rhetoric. Domestically, the contributors examine the "Obama coalition" and its staying power in the age of Trump, President Obama's legacy regarding the use of executive power, his impact on intergovernmental relations, and his impact on the welfare state and education. On the foreign policy front, the central focus is on whether Obama was in fact much different from his predecessor, what impact he had on the Middle East and Afghanistan, and whether his pivot to Asia yielded the hoped-for results. The contributions in this book also aim to (re-)assess the Obama legacy in light of the subsequent efforts by his successor to undo many of the policies embraced and implemented during the Obama years.

Lt. Governor Bill Ratliff is an engineer, a widely respected senator, and according to Caroline Kennedy he is "an inspiration to all who serve in government, and to all Americans." Senator Ratliff, nicknamed "Obi Wan Kenobi" by his colleagues, was a revered and much loved leader in Texas for more than a decade. He singularly wrote the Texas Robin-Hood school finance law, a major Ethics reform law, a Texas tort reform law, and held a great disdain for narrow partisanship and politics. This is the inspirational story of a great man doing good work in a time when many are cynical about political leadership and government. His courageous stand on principle brought him to a showdown with powerful forces in the Bush White House and earned him the public vitriol of right-wing billionaires.

In the late nineteenth century Britain was one of the most urbanised societies in the world, yet land reform remained an important element in its politics. This book explores this paradox through an examination of the Liberal Party's increasing interest in the English dimension of the land question. Most historians have dismissed this phenomenon as a product of romantic views about the English countryside and Liberalism's failure to engage with the problems of urban society. In contrast, the author argues that English land reform was important to Liberals because it both expressed their deeply-held hostility to landowners and functioned as a variety of strategies to win electoral support and deal with pressing political issues. Moreover, while Liberals did not always benefit from their association with the land question, it became a matter of crucial significance in 1909-14, when Lloyd George unlocked its potential as an election-winning asset and used it to form a bridge between traditional radicalism and the New Liberalism.Dr IAN PACKER teaches in the School of Modern History at the Queen's University, Belfast.

Lincoln's incredible ascent to power in a world of chaos is newly revealed in this "compelling, original, and elegantly written" (Michael Beschloss, New York Times bestselling author) third volume of the "magisterial" (The New York Times Book Review) Political Life of Abraham Lincoln series, following A Self-Made Man and Wrestling with His Angel. After a period of depression that he would ever find his way to greatness, Lincoln takes on the most powerful demagogue in the country, Stephen Douglas, in the debates for a senate seat. He sidelines the frontrunner William Seward, a former governor and senator for New York, to cinch the new Republican Party's nomination. All the Powers of Earth is the political story of all time. Lincoln achieves the presidency by force of strategy, of political savvy and determination. This is Abraham Lincoln, who indisputably becomes the greatest president and moral leader in the nation's history. But he must first build a new political party, brilliantly state the anti-slavery case and overcome shattering defeat to win the presidency. In the years of civil war to follow, he will show mightily that the nation was right to bet on him. He was its preserver, a politician of moral integrity. All the Powers of Earth is "as essential as any political biography is likely to be" and Sidney Bluementhal is "the definitive chronicler of Lincoln's political career" (Kirkus Reviews, starred review).

With 140 photographs, inspiring quotes and excerpts from five historic speeches, this gorgeous volume pays tribute to Michelle Obama. Although it primarily focuses on 2007 to 2016, this book also covers the pre-White House years: Michelle Obama's childhood; her time in college and law school; her work as a young professional; her marriage to Barack; and her experiences during his first campaign.

John Dunlop assumed the office of secretary of labor with a stern warning about the creeping menace of over-regulation. A mounting tide of red tape was creating a backlash among the people who were on the receiving end of all of these rules, breeding a climate of hostility that would make it all but impossible to solve the nation's most pressing problems. Dunlop's cautionary words, delivered nearly five decades ago, seem eerily prescient today as resentment against elites fuels a right-wing populist rebellion in the US and beyond. Yet even as he feared for the future, Dunlop was intent on demonstrating that it was possible to craft lasting solutions to seemingly intractable problems: soaring health-care costs; racial inequity in the workplace and higher education; the lack of basic labor protections for whole categories of workers; and the loss of manufacturing jobs to globalization and automation. Whatever the specific problem he was called upon to help solve, Dunlop began with the view that no matter the intensity of the divide, getting people talking was absolutely key to crafting an enduring solution. In our own era of discord and fracture, Dunlop's insights into the vital importance of talking, listening and persuading as a means of working through complicated social issues are more relevant than ever. Drawing on Dunlop's personal diary and extensive interviews with his colleagues and co-workers, this volume reconstructs key examples of Dunlop's problem-solving work. A portrayal of his work and legacy, the book functions as a how-to guide for applying Dunlop's approach to problem solving to the urgent challenges that confront us today.

Born in a farmhouse in the Texas Hill Country, Lyndon Baines Johnson brought a western sensibility to the White House. Building on recent studies that have delved into Johnson's Texas roots, Kevin J. Fernlund has written a brief, lively biography of the thirty-sixth president that better shows how his home state molded his early years--and how the one-time Houston schoolteacher eventually became a Texas tornado twisting across the state's and soon the nation's political landscape.

"Lyndon B. Johnson and Modern America" offers a concise look at LBJ that shows how his career coincided with the ascendancy of American liberalism within a Cold War context. In particular, Fernlund extends recent observations regarding Johnson's important role in regional transformation at a time when the South and West became full partners in the American economy. In examining LBJ's promotion of the space program and his disastrous decision to escalate the war in Vietnam, Fernlund shows how these and other Johnson administration policies affected the American West. He describes how Johnson's liberal agenda for the West became subverted by illiberal wars with enemies foreign and domestic, exposing the limits of liberalism and fostering the region's nascent conservatism. He also compares Johnson's commitment to social justice with that of his arch nemesis Ho Chi Minh, providing new insight for readers and an intriguing springboard for classroom discussion.

Although subsequent presidents also hailed from the West, Fernlund argues that Johnson was our last truly western chief executive. This new approach to LBJ offers a novel reading of an important Texan, his huge circles of influence, and his lasting impact on the American scene.

My Journey in Politics: Practical Lessons in Leadership shares the author's journey in Singapore politics from 1991 to 2011. Tracing what he and different groups of people he worked with across the government ministries and agencies, grassroots organisations and charitable groups - both volunteers and staff - did together to make Singapore a better and safer place, it also shares his leadership style in action.

Lt. Governor Bill Ratliff is an engineer, a widely respected senator, and according to Caroline Kennedy he is "an inspiration to all who serve in government, and to all Americans." Senator Ratliff, nicknamed "Obi Wan Kenobi" by his colleagues, was a revered and much loved leader in Texas for more than a decade. He singularly wrote the Texas Robin-Hood school finance law, a major Ethics reform law, a Texas tort reform law, and held a great disdain for narrow partisanship and politics. This is the inspirational story of a great man doing good work in a time when many are cynical about political leadership and government. His courageous stand on principle brought him to a showdown with powerful forces in the Bush White House and earned him the public vitriol of right-wing billionaires.

My Journey in Politics: Practical Lessons in Leadership shares the author's journey in Singapore politics from 1991 to 2011. Tracing what he and different groups of people he worked with across the government ministries and agencies, grassroots organisations and charitable groups - both volunteers and staff - did together to make Singapore a better and safer place, it also shares his leadership style in action.

The book reappraises Neil Kinnock's policies, impact, legacy and leadership of the Labour Party 30 years on from his defeat in the 1992 general election. It offers comprehensively fresh perspectives and some first-hand accounts - some friendly, others more critical - from leading academics, journalists, politicians and advisors on various aspects of ideas, policy, elections and party management, including an interview with the man himself as he looks back on his experiences. This timely book will resonate widely with the current challenges to Labour's leadership and the enduring uncertainties on the future of the party. This book will be of key interest to researchers and students in the fields of political studies and contemporary history as well as the interested general reader.

1. While there is an increasingly cluttered market for books on Trump, from journalistic exposes to political memoirs to psychological analyses, this is the first book to offer a criminological perspective on the former president. 2. The book focuses on Trump's character, his crimes and the social and political contexts of his rise to power; as such it has a market across criminology, sociology, law, political science and social and political history. 3. This book offers new perspectives on a range of topical issues such as Black Lives Matter, the QAnon phenomenon, white nationalism and right-wing extremism, Robert Mueller's investigation of Russian collusion, the Impeachment trials, and tax evasion.

Making use of a unique data set that includes more than 1000 leadership elections from over 100 parties in 14 countries over an almost 50 year period, this volume provides the first comprehensive, comparative examination of how parties choose their leaders and the impact of the different decisions they make in this regard. Among the issues examined are how leaders are chosen, the factors that result in parties changing their selection rules, how the rules affect the competitiveness of leadership elections, the types of leaders chosen, the impact of leadership transition on electoral outcomes, the factors affecting the length of leadership tenures, and how leadership tenures come to an end. This volume is situated in the literature on intra-party decision making and party organizational reform and makes unique and important contributions to our understanding of these areas. The analysis includes parties in Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Norway, and the United Kingdom. Comparative Politics is a series for students, teachers, and researchers of political science that deals with contemporary government and politics. Global in scope, books in the series are characterised by a stress on comparative analysis and strong methodological rigour. The series is published in association with the European Consortium for Political Research. For more information visit: www.ecprnet.eu.

The Trump presidency has been one of the most eventful and controversial in American history, with consequences for the governance and policy of the US and beyond. While Trump left office claiming a long list of 'Trump Administration Accomplishments', his time in office was also marked by a hailstorm of criticism. But beyond the sensationalist tweets and news stories, what policy effects did he bring? This volume provides an extensive and authoritative set of studies evaluating Donald Trump's impact on American society and beyond. It provides a new layered framework for assessing the policy impact of leaders, which can be used for understanding presidential and prime ministerial leadership more widely. Chapters explore his impact on American democracy, Congress, the Supreme Court, the economy, the COVID-19 pandemic, the environment, American soft power, the international system and more. The chapters in this book were originally published as a special issue of the journal Policy Studies.

The book reappraises Neil Kinnock's policies, impact, legacy and leadership of the Labour Party 30 years on from his defeat in the 1992 general election. It offers comprehensively fresh perspectives and some first-hand accounts - some friendly, others more critical - from leading academics, journalists, politicians and advisors on various aspects of ideas, policy, elections and party management, including an interview with the man himself as he looks back on his experiences. This timely book will resonate widely with the current challenges to Labour's leadership and the enduring uncertainties on the future of the party. This book will be of key interest to researchers and students in the fields of political studies and contemporary history as well as the interested general reader.

This book considers the current striking rise of 'outsider' political leaders, catapulted, apparently, from nowhere, to take charge of a nation. Arguing that such leaders can be better understood with the help of the anthropologically based concept of 'the trickster', it offers studies of contemporary political figures from the world stage - including Presidents Macron, Tsipras, Orban and Bolsonaro, among others - to examine the ways in which charismatic and trickster modalities can become intertwined, especially under the impact of theatrical public media. Looking beyond the commonly invoked notion of 'charisma' to revisit the question of political leadership in light of the recent rise of new type of 'outsider' leaders, Modern Leaders: Between Charisma and Trickery offers an account of leadership informed by social and anthropological theory. As such, it will appeal to scholars across the social sciences with interests in political thought and the problem of political leadership.

'Years have passed since the Scottish Independence Referendum was held and the political landscape has changed. Big Nellie Nellis has been voted First Minister, and things are about to get interesting as all the political parties are given the benefit of her very unparliamentary sound bites!'

Popular interest in Cromwell has often exceeded the originality of what has been written about him. Barclay's study comes out of meticulous research on a huge range of newly discovered primary sources, transforming our understanding of the life and career of Oliver Cromwell during the period from his birth in 1599 until 1642.

Lady Hale is an inspirational figure admired for her historic achievements and for the causes she has championed. Spider Woman is her story. As 'a little girl from a little school in a little village in North Yorkshire', she only went into the law because her headteacher told her she wasn't clever enough to study history. She became the most senior judge in the country but it was an unconventional path to the top. How does a self-professed 'girly swot' get ahead in a profession dominated by men? Was it a surprise that the perspectives of women and other disadvantaged groups had been overlooked, or that children's interests were marginalised? A lifelong smasher of glass-ceilings, who took as her motto 'women are equal to everything', her landmark rulings in areas including domestic violence, divorce, mental health and equality were her attempt to correct that. As President of the Supreme Court, Lady Hale won global attention in finding the 2019 prorogation of Parliament to be unlawful. Yet that dramatic moment was merely the pinnacle of a career throughout which she was hailed as a pioneering reformer. Wise, warm and inspiring, Spider Woman shows how the law shapes our world and supports us in crisis. It is the story of how Lady Hale found that she could overcome the odds, which shows that anyone from similar beginnings will find that they can cope too.

Riccards and Flagg examine in detail the development of Franklin Delano Roosevelt from a young politician in Albany to assistant secretary of the Navy to governor of the state of New York. The volume shows how Roosevelt developed his rhetorical skills, his art of manipulation and coalition building, and his incredible bond to the American people through the Depression and World War II. As commander in chief, he mastered the leadership skills that made him a great military leader and a political leader who established himself as a paramount figure using control of the Democratic party. In the process, he solidified the party as a long-lasting coalition that set the United States as a world empire.

* Places Nixon in broad economic, political, cultural/social, and foreign policy contexts in which he operated * Take a thematic approach to the presidency * Examines Nixon's legacy * Synthesizes existing literature o the topic * Contains primary source documents including speeches and signing statements from Nixon himself

This book is a biography of Eisaku Sato (1901-75), who served as prime minister of Japan from 1964 to 1972, before Prime Minister Abe the longest uninterrupted premiership in Japanese history. The book focuses on Sato's management of Japan's relations with the United States and Japan's neighbours in East Asia, where Sato worked to normalize relations with South Korea and China. It also covers domestic Japanese politics, particularly factional politics within the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), where Sato, as the founder of what would become the largest LDP faction, was at the centre of LDP politics for decades. The book highlights Sato's greatest achievement - the return of Okinawa from United States occupation - for which, together with the establishment of the non-nuclear principles, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, the only Japanese to receive the Prize.