Robert Dallek

Nationally best-selling author Robert Dallek is one of the most respected historians in America. He has won the American Book Award and the Bancroft Prize for his excellent biographies of U.S. presidents. In An Unfinished Life, Dallek offers the first authoritative, single-volume story of the life of John F. Kennedy. Drawing from an archive of the previously unavailable information, Dallek paints a brilliant portrait of a legendary president who...

With the publication of his magisterial biography of John F. Kennedy, An Unfinished Life, Robert Dallek cemented his reputation as one of the greatest historians of our time. Now, in this epic joint biography, he offers a provocative, groundbreaking portrait of a pair of outsize leaders whose unlikely partnership dominated the world stage and changed the course of history. More than thirty years after working side-by-side in the White House, Richard...

"Robert Dallek brings to this majestic work a profound understanding of history, a deep engagement in foreign policy, and a lifetime of studying leadership. The story of what went wrong during the postwar period…has never been more intelligently explored." -Doris Kearns Goodwin, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning Team of Rivals Robert Dalleck follows his bestselling Nixon and Kissenger: Partners in Power and An Unfinished Life: John F. Kennedy,...

The 20th-century American Presidency is something of a mystery. Some Presidents performed exceptionally well in office, displaying strong leadership and winning the respect of the American people as well as the rest of the world. Others fell short of expectations and are remembered at best as marginal chief executives. What was it that allowed some to rise to greatness while others failed? What elusive mix of character traits, circumstance, and determination...

From personal correspondence to presidential speeches and documents, “Monument: Four Presidents Who Sculpted America” explores the written words of the men forever remembered on the face of Mount Rushmore National Memorial in South Dakota. Originally a project to boost tourism, the sculpture received congressional approval in 1925, and construction was completed in 1941, shortly after the death of sculptor Gutzon Borglum. Canterbury Classics has...

The plainspoken man from Missouri who never expected to be president yet rose to become one of the greatest leaders of the twentieth century… In April 1945, after the death of Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the presidency fell to a former haberdasher and clubhouse politician from Independence, Missouri. Many believed he would be overmatched by the job, but Harry S. Truman would surprise them all. Few chief executives have had so lasting an impact. Truman...

Dallek takes us through Johnson's tumultuous years in the White House, his unprecedented accomplishments there, and the tragic war that would be his downfall. Drawing on hundreds of newly released tapes and extensive interviews with those closest to LBJ - including fresh insights from Lady Bird and his press secretary Bill Moyers - Dallek takes us behind the scenes to give us a portrait of Johnson that is at once even-handed and completely engrossing....

In Hail to the Chief, Robert Dallek, award-winning historian and acclaimed biographer of Lyndon Johnson, offers an unprecedented and engaging examination of presidential excellence - and its less distinguished counterpart. Dallek addresses five themes that have been typically manifested in successful administrations - vision, pragmatism, consensus, charisma, and trust - and traces how they have been played out by the forty-one men who have attained...

An analysis of the 1952 race in which Kennedy, an inexperienced Congressman, used campaign tactics includint television that would serve him well in 1960. Kennedy's victory marked the beginning of the Democratic Party's predominance in Massachusetts politics.