Presidents of War: The Epic Story, from 1807 to Modern Times

From a preeminent presidential historian comes a groundbreaking and often surprising saga of America’s wartime chief executives
 
Ten years in the research and writing, Presidents of War is a fresh, magisterial, intimate look at a procession of American leaders as they took the nation into conflict and mobilized their country for victory. It brings us into the room as they make the most difficult decisions that face any President, at times sending hundreds of thousands of American men and women to their deaths. 
 
From James Madison and the War of 1812 to recent times, we see them struggling with Congress, the courts, the press, their own advisors and antiwar protesters; seeking comfort from their spouses, families and friends; and dropping to their knees in prayer. We come to understand how these Presidents were able to withstand the pressures of war—both physically and emotionally—or were broken by them.
 
Beschloss’s interviews with surviving participants in the drama and his findings in original letters, diaries, once-classified national security documents, and other sources help him to tell this story in a way it has not been told before. Presidents of War combines the sense of being there with the overarching context of two centuries of American history. This important book shows how far we have traveled from the time of our Founders, who tried to constrain presidential power, to our modern day, when a single leader has the potential to launch nuclear weapons that can destroy much of the human race.

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• The Soul of America: The Battle for Our Better Angels
• Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America 1789-1989
• Ghost Soldiers: The Epic Account of World War II's Greatest Rescue Mission
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• The Forgotten 500: The Untold Story of the Men Who Risked All for the Greatest Rescue Mission of World War II
• Churchill: Walking with Destiny
• The Indian World of George Washington: The First President, the First Americans, and the Birth of the Nation
• The Pioneers: The Heroic Story of the Settlers Who Brought the American Ideal West
• The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s