White House History

For decades, the specter of homosexuality haunted Washington. The mere suggestion that a person might be gay destroyed reputations, ended careers, and ruined lives. At the height of the Cold War, fear of homosexuality became intertwined with the growing threat of international communism, leading to a purge of gay men and lesbians from the federal government. In the fevered atmosphere of political Washington, the secret “too loathsome to mention” held enormous, terrifying power.

From George Washington to Gerald Ford, many of America's presidents have been linked to the secretive world of Freemasonry. Despite the enduring curiosity surrounding the topic, few have attempted to examine the once intimate connection between the world's oldest fraternity and the American presidency...until now. The White House & The Freemasons examines the long and enduring relationship between the American presidency and the world's oldest fraternity.

One of the New York Times's 100 Notable Books of 2016 One of NPR's 10 Best Books of 2016 "Heartachingly relevant...the Eleanor Roosevelt who inhabits these meticulously crafted pages transcends both first-lady history and the marriage around which Roosevelt scholarship has traditionally pivoted...

It’s amateur hour at the White House. So says New York Times best-selling author Edward Klein in his political exposé The Amateur. Tapping into the public’s growing sentiment that President Obama is in over his head, The Amateur argues that Obama’s toxic combination of incompetence and arrogance has run our nation and his presidency off the rails.

One of NPR's Best Books of the Year A finalist of the for the 2022 Edgar Award for Best Fact Crime The inside story of how a courageous FBI informant helped to bring down the KKK organization responsible for a brutal civil rights–era killing. By early 1966, the work of Vernon Dahmer was well...

Miss Julia, a recently bereaved and newly wealthy widow, is only slightly bemused when one Hazel Marie Puckett appears at her door with a youngster in tow and unceremoniously announces that the child is the bastard son of Miss Julia's late husband. Suddenly, this longtime church member and...

From the moment he took office as governor in 1928 to the day an assassin’s bullet cut him down in 1935, Huey Long wielded all but dictatorial control over the state of Louisiana. A man of shameless ambition and ruthless vindictiveness, Long orchestrated elections, hired and fired thousands at...

WINNER OF THE LINCOLN FORUM BOOK PRIZE “A Lincoln classic...superb.” ­—The Washington Post “A book for our time.”—Doris Kearns Goodwin Lincoln on the Verge tells the dramatic story of America’s greatest president discovering his own strength to save the Republic. As a divided...

Paul Jennings was born into slavery on the plantation of James and Dolley Madison in Virginia, later becoming part of the Madison household staff at the White House. Once finally emancipated by Senator Daniel Webster later in life, he would give an aged and impoverished Dolley Madison, his former owner, money from his own pocket, write the first White House memoir, and see his sons fight with the Union Army in the Civil War.

Barbara Olson was a trenchant critic of the Clinton White House, which she considered to be the home of two of the slickest kleptocrats ever to disgrace the Oval Office. In THE FINAL DAYS, Olson depicted the excesses and outright crimes she claims took place as the Clintons prepared to leave...

THE TIES THAT BIND Rezsia was a city girl, unequipped to face the dangers of the wilderness. Although she was a wolfwalker, her telepathic link with the wolves was too new to give her the strength and experience she needed to survive in the forest. Then the elders asked her to investigate a...

The People’s House is an anthology comprised primarily of first-person accounts, from the eighteenth century to the present, detailing the Black experience in the White House—in turn illustrating how African Americans have influenced the presidency and policy over America’s 250-year history.

In Monticello on the Potomac, James B. Conroy, author of the award-winning Lincoln’s White House offers a vivid, highly listenable account of how life was lived in Jefferson’s White House and the young nation’s rustic capital.

The unvarnished and unbiased inside story of President Donald Trump and his White House by New York Times bestselling author Ronald Kessler Based on exclusive interviews with the president and his staff, The Trump White House: Changing the Rules of the Game tells the real story of what...

As a wolfwalker, Dion made an ideal border scout. She could experience the woods and mountains through the senses of her companion, the wolf Gray Hishn; even the wild wolves fed her their impressions. And that was how she knew that in the beleaguered lands across the border, something...

The White House has undergone many changes through the years—some by blueprint, some by chance. Yet the building has always stood solid, each alteration becoming a part of its life experience. As office and residence of the president of the United States, the White House is uniquely tied to both the life of the nation and the private lives of the building’s occupants. Americans have approached its grounds for celebrations and demonstrations, for Easter Egg Rolls and the right to vote.

Combining the dark intrigue of a Cold War thriller and the propulsive writing of a novel, Kennedy’s Coup is a landmark work that will change your understanding of America’s involvement in one of the most controversial and consequential wars in our history. Based on a decade of research and...

“Newton's contribution is as cogent an inventory of Eisenhower's White House years as I've ever read. He blends masterful writing with historic detail and provides the value-added of Ike as the man and the leader.” —Chuck Hagel, Distinguished Professor, Georgetown University; U.S. Senator...

Project President is a hilarious romp through American electoral history. From short, fat, bald John Adams' wig-throwing tantrums during the 1800 election to Abraham Lincoln's decision to grow a beard in 1860; from John F. Kennedy's choice to forgo the fedora at his inauguration to John Kerry's...

Plain Speaking is a book based on conversations between Merle Miller and the thirty-third President of the United States, Harry S. Truman. From these interviews, as well as others who knew him over the years, Miller transcribes Truman’s feisty takes on everything from his personal life, military service, and political career to the challenges he faced in taking the office during the final days of World War II and the beginning of the Cold War.