Kirjahaku

For fans of The Residence and The Presidents Club, and inspired by Wondery's long-running hit podcast American History Tellers, The Hidden History of the White House shares the untold stories of some of the most dramatic events in American history in the rooms where they happened.For more than two centuries, the White House in Washington, DC, has been the stage for some of the most dramatic scenes in American history. Its walls and portraits have witnessed fierce power struggles, world-altering decisions, shocking scandals, and unforgettable meetings.In the signature style of the popular American History Tellers podcast, The Hidden History of the White House places readers in the point of view of the historical figures--power brokers and everyday Americans, alike--who lived through such pivotal events as: Andrew Jackson's disastrous 1829 inauguration, when a populist mob overran and trashed the White House.Woodrow Wilson's stroke, which led to his wife Edith serving as a shadow president during the final months of his administrationAbraham Lincoln's clandestine journey to Washington to dodge an assassination plot on the eve of the Civil WarWinston Churchill's wartime sojourn at the White House, during which he and FDR developed plans to defeat GermanyBarack Obama's decision to green-light the daring Navy SEAL raid that killed Osama bin Ladenand so much more.Equal parts social, political, and cultural history--written and presented in the entertaining and engaging style for which American History Tellers is famous--The Hidden History of the White House offers readers a rare opportunity to walk the halls of an iconic American landmark and discover the hidden moments that took place there, moments that changed the course of history.

"Fascinating, insightful, and, best of all, great fun...with spirited charm, Mead weaves history, music, science, and medicine into the story" (The Washington Post) of Ben Franklin's favorite invention: the glass armonica.Benjamin Franklin is renowned for his landmark inventions, including bifocals, the Franklin stove, and the lightning rod. Yet his own favorite invention--the one he said gave him the "greatest personal satisfaction"--is unknown to the general public. The glass armonica, the first musical instrument invented by an American, was constructed of stacked glass bowls and played by rubbing one's fingers on the rims. It was so popular in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries that Mozart, Beethoven, Handel, and Strauss composed for it; Marie Antoinette and numerous monarchs played it; Goethe and Thomas Jefferson praised it; Dr. Franz Mesmer used it for his Mesmerism sessions. Franklin played it for Washington and Jefferson. In Angelic Music, Corey Mead describes how Franklin's instrument fell out of popular favor, partly due to claims that its haunting sounds could drive musicians out of their minds. Audiences were also susceptible; a child died during a performance in Germany. Some thought its ethereal tones summoned spirits or had magical powers. It was banned in some places. "Charming and fascinating...part musicology and part cultural history...Mead's lively storytelling opens a window into a (as it were) mesmerizing chapter of music history" (Publishers Weekly). The armonica has in recent years enjoyed a revival. Composers are again writing pieces for it in genres ranging from chamber music and opera to electronic and popular music. Mead brings this instrument back to the public eye in Angelic Music, "a highly readable and informative...from a genial historical guide" (Kirkus Reviews).

The Sahara Desert, February 1962: the wreckage of a plane emerges from the sands revealing, too, the body of the plane’s long-dead pilot. But who was he? And what had happened to him?Baker Street, London, June 1927: twenty-five-year-old Jessie Miller had fled a loveless marriage in Australia, longing for adventure in the London of the Bright Young Things. At a gin-soaked party, she met Bill Lancaster, fresh from the Royal Air force, his head full of a scheme that would make him as famous as Charles Lindbergh, who has just crossed the Atlantic. Lancaster wanted to fly three times as far – from London to Melbourne – and in Jessie Miller he knew he had found the perfect co-pilot. By the time they landed in Melbourne, the daring aviators were a global sensation – and, despite still being married to other people, deeply in love. Keeping their affair a secret, they toured the world until the Wall Street Crash changed everything; Bill and Jessie – like so many others – were broke. And it was then, holed up in a run-down mansion on the outskirts of Miami and desperate for cash, that Jessie agreed to write a memoir. When a dashing ghostwriter Haden Clark was despatched from New York, the toxic combination of the handsome interloper, bootleg booze and jealousy led to a shocking crime. The trial that followed put Jessie and Bill back on the front pages and drove him to a reckless act of abandon to win it all back. The Lost Pilots is their extraordinary story, brought to vivid life by Corey Mead. Based on years of research and startling new evidence, and full of adventure, forbidden passion, crime, scandal and tragedy, it is a masterwork of narrative nonfiction that firmly restores one of aviation’s leading female pioneers to her rightful place in history.

A gripping, untold saga of love, betrayal and scandal at the height of the Roaring Twenties.

The terrifying true story of a woman at war with a violent stalker who eluded the police for years—until they found the truth in the last place anyone would have dared to look.From 1977 to 1981, Ruth Finley, an ordinary wife and mother from Kansas, was tormented by an elusive maniac known as The Poet. The police, already on edge from BTK’s reign of terror, spent years searching for the stalker. Meanwhile, his cryptic letters in rhymed verse grew more disturbing and violent, spilling into deeds like stabbing and kidnapping.In this propulsive nonfiction account, as Ruth is surveilled from all sides, her nightmare takes a chilling turn: the stalker is no stranger at all. It’s someone the police have been close to for years, someone nearer to home than Ruth dared to admit. The revelation recasts what seemed like a cruel twist of fate as something far more disturbing.The Pursued is not just a gripping true-crime story. It’s also a darkly textured portrait of the deceptions that drive us and the explosive reckonings that occur when they finally tumble down.

The terrifying true story of a woman at war with a violent stalker who eluded the police for years—until they found the truth in the last place anyone would have dared to look.From 1977 to 1981, Ruth Finley, an ordinary wife and mother from Kansas, was tormented by an elusive maniac known as The Poet. The police, already on edge from BTK’s reign of terror, spent years searching for the stalker. Meanwhile, his cryptic letters in rhymed verse grew more disturbing and violent, spilling into deeds like stabbing and kidnapping.In this propulsive nonfiction account, as Ruth is surveilled from all sides, her nightmare takes a chilling turn: the stalker is no stranger at all. It’s someone the police have been close to for years, someone nearer to home than Ruth dared to admit. The revelation recasts what seemed like a cruel twist of fate as something far more disturbing.The Pursued is not just a gripping true-crime story. It’s also a darkly textured portrait of the deceptions that drive us and the explosive reckonings that occur when they finally tumble down.