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Full of sharp portraits and humorous, telling descriptions of the many statesmen and financiers Peterson has known over the years, "The Education of an American Dreamer" is a richly satisfying journey through a fascinating man's life--beginning in Kearney, Nebraska, as an eight-year-old manning the cash register, to Secretary of Commerce in Nixon's paranoid White House, to the tumultuous days of Lehman Brothers, and on to the creation of The Blackstone Group, one of the great financial enterprises in recent times.
With insight and refreshing candor, Peter G. Peterson describes his remarkable life story beginning in Kearney, Nebraska as an eight-year-old manning the cash register at his father's Greek diner through his "Mad Men" advertising days, to Secretary of Commerce in Nixon's paranoid White House, to the tumultuous days of Lehman Brothers, and to the creation of The Blackstone Group, one of the great financial enterprises in recent times. In The Education of the American Dreamer, Peterson chronicles the progress of this journey with irony, humor and, sometimes, painful honesty. Within these pages are stories of marriage and family hardship; lessons in political gamesmanship; thoughts on his obsessive desire to succeed; and, finally, learning the meaning of "enough." From his advertising days in Chicago in the 1950's to becoming the youngest CEO of a Fortune 300 Company, he shares with us his rise to the top and the price paid along the way. As the youngest Cabinet member in the Nixon administration, he describes his survival techniques in a hubris-driven and paranoid White House, including his turbulent turf wars with Treasury Secretary John Connally leading to Peterson's abrupt and highly publicized firing. His stewardship of Lehman Brothers is a Shakespearian tale of a CEO who struggled to deal with partners who were plotting his demise and, at the same time, turning an institution on the brink of bankruptcy to one with 5 straight years of record profits. His life's story is about doing well by doing good. In the wake of Blackstone's highly successful public offering, Peterson found himself an 80-year old instant billionaire, on the verge of retirement. And like many lifetime workers and over-achievers, he suddenly confronts an unexpected, depressing identity crisis. His solution? Committing a great bulk of his net proceeds to establish the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, his philanthropic endeavor to do something about America's politically untouchable challenges that threaten America's future, among them massive entitlement obligations, ballooning health care costs, and our energy gluttony. Ultimately, this is a man's account of his legendary successes, humiliating failures, and personal tragedies - a testament to a remarkable life and, indeed, to the American Dream itself.
The great politician, agriculturalist, economist, author, and businessman—loved and reviled, and finally now revealed. The great politician, agriculturalist, economist, author, and businessman—loved and reviled, and finally now revealed. The first full biography of Henry A. Wallace, a visionary intellectual and one of this century's most important and controversial figures. Henry Agard Wallace was a geneticist of international renown, a prolific author, a groundbreaking economist, and a businessman whose company paved the way for a worldwide agricultural revolution. He also held two cabinet posts, served four tumultuous years as America's wartime vice president under FDR, and waged a quixotic campaign for president in 1948. Wallace was a figure of Sphinx-like paradox: a shy man, uncomfortable in the world of politics, who only narrowly missed becoming president of the United States; the scion of prominent Midwestern Republicans and the philosophical voice of New Deal liberalism; loved by millions as the Prophet of the Common Man, and reviled by millions more as a dangerous, misguided radical. John C. Culver and John Hyde have combed through thousands of document pages and family papers, from Wallace's letters and diaries to previously unavailable files sealed within the archives of the Soviet Union. Here is the remarkable story of an authentic American dreamer. A Washington Post Best Book of the Year. 32 pages of b/w photographs. "A careful, readable, sympathetic but commendably dispassionate biography."—Arthur Schlesinger, Jr., Los Angeles Times Book Review "In this masterly work, Culver and Hyde have captured one of the more fascinating figures in American history."—Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of No Ordinary Time "Wonderfully researched and very well written...an indispensable document on both the man and the time."—John Kenneth Galbraith "A fascinating, thoughtful, incisive, and well-researched life of the mysterious and complicated figure who might have become president..."—Michael Beschloss, author of Taking Charge: The Johnson White House Tapes, 1963-1964 "This is a great book about a great man. I can't recall when—if ever—I've read a better biography."—George McGovern "[A] lucid and sympathetic portrait of a fascinating character. Wallace's life reminds us of a time when ideas really mattered."—Evan Thomas, author of The Very Best Men: The Early Years of the CIA "Everyone interested in twentieth-century American history will want to read this book."—Robert Dallek, author of Flawed Giant "[T]he most balanced, complete, and readable account..."—Walter LaFeber, author of Inevitable Revolutions "At long last a lucid, balanced and judicious narrative of Henry Wallace...a first-rate biography."—Douglas Brinkley, author of The Unfinished Presidency "A fine contribution to twentieth-century American history."—James MacGregor Burns, author of Dead Center: Clinton-Gore Leadership and the Perils of Moderation "[E]minently readable...a captivating chronicle of American politics from the Depression through the 1960s."—Senator Edward M. Kennedy "A formidable achievement....[an] engrossing account."—Kai Bird, author of The Color of Truth: McGeorge Bundy & William Bundy, Brothers in Arms "Many perceptions of Henry Wallace, not always favorable, will forever be changed."—Dale Bumpers, former US Senator, Arkansas
"Oregon history is rich with stories of courageous individuals who overcame tremendous odds. Few stories are more compelling and inspirational, however, than that of Tim Tran. In "American Dreamer," Tim shares the remarkable journey that brought him from communist Vietnam to personal and professional success in Oregon. It should be required reading for anyone who doubts that the American dream is alive and well." -- Kerry Tymchuk, Executive Director, Oregon Historical Society
Describes the life and character of F. Scott Fitzgerald and how his writings had an impact on the Jazz Age.
*Updated edition with a new foreword on the Trump administration's trade policy* The vast benefits promised by the supporters of globalization, and by their own government, have never materialized for many Americans. In Failure to Adjust Edward Alden provides a compelling history of the last four decades of US economic and trade policies that have left too many Americans unable to adapt to or compete in the current global marketplace. He tells the story of what went wrong and how to correct the course. Originally published on the eve of the 2016 presidential election, Alden’s book captured the zeitgeist that would propel Donald J. Trump to the presidency. In a new introduction to the paperback edition, Alden addresses the economic challenges now facing the Trump administration, and warns that economic disruption will continue to be among the most pressing issues facing the United States. If the failure to adjust continues, Alden predicts, the political disruptions of the future will be larger still.
On July 30, 2014, shortly after completing this autobiography, Robert Halmi, the prolific producer of television movies and miniseries, died at the age of 90. Hailed by Variety as “A Gulliver Among TV Movie Producers,” he had a hand in more than 200 long-form narrative television projects from 1989’s Lonesome Dove, starring Robert Duvall, to 2000’s “Don Quixote” starring John Lithgow. Filled with so much of the marquee talent of the past century, his life story—from fighting against the Nazis to becoming a photographer for Life and Sports Illustrated to his television work—is truly amazing. Robert Halmi was born in Hungary to a father who served as official photographer to the Vatican and the last Habsburg court. When the Nazis invaded, he fought in the resistance, and like many of his countrymen he was captured and condemned to death. But the advancing Red Army freed him before the Germans could carry out the execution. Seeing the dangers of the expanding Soviet empire, which also took hold of his homeland in a military dictatorship, he turned heel and joined the OSS to fight the fall of the Iron Curtain. In 1951, with $5 in his pocket and a Leica around his neck, he made his way to America. As a photographer for Life and Sports Illustrated, he again showcased his Bond-like talents for chasing adventure and cheating death by dangling from helicopters, hunting big game in Africa with dictators, blowing himself up, marooning himself on a glacier for three weeks, and even painting Marilyn Monroe’s naked body for a photo shoot. In the third act of his rollicking life, as a TV mogul, he received an astonishing 448 Emmy nods while befriending a Who’s Who of Hollywood and working with the great boldface actors of our time: Jimmy Cagney gave him his last performance. He chased George C. Scott (on a bender) through a hotel. Omar Sharif did the Twist for him. He watched Patrick Stewart nearly drown on the back of an animatronic whale, and Isabella Rossellini braved a herd of rampaging elephants for him. He has lived the American dream to the hilt. A fast-paced look back at a life always in progress, his extraordinary story reveals nearly a century of daring and boundless optimism even in the face of terrible odds. It’s a story of war, love, and ambition, the quintessential American tale of a life lived large.
A man navigates the deep divisions in America today and discovers that sometimes change can start by finding common ground with your neighbors in this immersive account by the Pulitzer Prize–winning author of Thank You for Your Service and The Good Soldiers. “Finkel’s account is poetic, profound, and irresistibly page-turning.”—Geraldine Brooks, author of Horse As this powerful book begins, Brent Cummings finds himself coping with the feeling that the country he loves is fracturing in front of his eyes. An Iraq war veteran, raised to believe in a vision of America that values fairness, honesty, and respect for others, Cummings is increasingly surprised by the behavior and beliefs of others, and engulfed by the fear, anger, and confusion that is sweeping through his beloved country as he tries to hold on to his values and his hope for America’s future. David Finkel, known for his unique, in-depth reporting, spent fourteen years deep inside Brent Cummings’s world to create this intimate and vivid portrait of a man’s life, his work, family, community, his thoughts, and his quest for connection, as America becomes ever more divided. Cummings was one of the unforgettable figures in Finkel’s The Good Soldiers, a book about which The New York Times stated, “Finkel has made art out of a defining moment in history. You will be able to take this book down from the shelf years from now, and say: This is what happened. This is what it felt like.” An American Dreamer illuminates, with the deepest empathy, the feelings and lives of many people in America today, and it is a brilliant chronicle of one person’s everyday experiences of frustration, confusion, and hope.
Introduction : prosperity lost -- Coming up short -- The great divide -- The trouble with markets -- How America got rich -- "An established and useful reality" -- American amnesia -- We're not in Camelot anymore -- This is not your father's party -- The modern robber barons -- A crisis of authority -- Conclusion : the positive-sum society.
Synergetics can be defined as the exploratory strategy of starting with the whole. It was in the 1940s that Buckminster Fuller developed a series of spherical models which embodied the synergetic theory within geometry. This study of Fuller's sacredgeometry describes with vigour and in detail how his spherical figures relate both to Nature and to the tenets of synergetics. The author assesses the legacy of Fuller, a scientist-artist-engineer extraordinaire whose visions were inspired by the American Dream, and portrays with enthusiasm and sympathy the creative and individual science of a man whose character was as multifaceted as the domes he created. Discover the theory behind the idea that the straight lines and boxes of science and maths are inadequate for representing Nature's spherical and cyclical patterns of growth. The ways in which Fulleris synergetics can be seen in the ancient iconographies of the past are also revealed with fresh insight. In addition, Eastham looks to thefuture artistic applications of Fuller's wholes, with the aim of inspiring the reader to think outside of the box themselves. 'We sought for years to bring out a brief alternative geometry textbook. [...] It's not easy to produce a round thing ina square world...' Extract from the Introduction.