Books by Douglas Brinkley

Douglas Brinkley has written a sweeping, blow-by-blow account of the struggle to preserve the last great remnants of American wilderness. An engaging appraisal of the crucial skirmishes in the battle over wild Alaska,The Quiet Worldis populated not only by the requisite luminaries like John Muir and Ansel Adams, but also by a cast of quirky, unexpected characters.The Quiet Worldis a fascinating and important read. Jon KrakauerIn this follow-up to hisNew York TimesbestsellerWilderness Warrior, acclaimed historian Douglas Brinkley offers a riveting, expansive look at the past and present battle to preserve Alaskas wilderness.Brinkley explores the colorful diversity of Alaskas wildlife, arrays the forces that have wreaked havoc on its primeval arctic refugefrom Klondike Gold Rush prospectors to environmental disasters like the Exxon-Valdez oil spilland documents environmental heroes from Theodore Roosevelt to Dwight Eisenhower and beyond. Not merely a record of Alaskas past,TheQuiet Worldis a compelling call-to-arms for sustainability, conservationism, and conscientious environmental stewardshipa warning that the land once called Sewards Folly may go down in history as Americas Greatest Mistake.

"e;Father McGivney's vision remains as relevant as ever in the changed circumstances of today's church and society."e;Pope John Paul IIIs now the time for an American parish priest to be declared a Catholic saint?In Father Michael McGivney (1852-1890), born and raised in a Connecticut factory town, the modern era's ideal of the priesthood hit its zenith. The son of Irish immigrants, he was a man to whom "e;family values"e; represented more than mere rhetoric. And he left a legacy of hope still celebrated around the world. In the late 1800s, discrimination against American Catholics was widespread. Many Catholics struggled to find work and ended up in infernolike mills. An injury or the death of the wage earner would leave a family penniless. The grim threat of chronic homelessness and even starvation could fast become realities. Called to action in 1882 by his sympathy for these suffering people, Father McGivney founded the Knights of Columbus, an organization that has helped to save countless families from the indignity of destitution. From its uncertain beginnings, when Father McGivney was the only person willing to work toward its success, it has grown to an international membership of 1.7 million men.At heart, though, Father McGivney was never anything more than an American parish priest, and nothing less than that, eitherbeloved by children, trusted by young adults, and regarded as a "e;positive saint"e; by the elderly in his New Haven parish.In an incredible work of academic research, Douglas Brinkley (The Boys of Pointe Du Hoc, Tour of Duty) and Julie M. Fenster (Race of the Century, Ether Day) re-create the life of Father McGivney, a fiercely dynamic yet tenderhearted man. Though he was only thirty-eight when he died, Father McGivney has never been forgotten. He remains a true "e;people's priest,"e; a genuinely holy manand perhaps the most beloved parish priest in U.S. history. Moving and inspirational, Parish Priest chronicles the process of canonization that may well make Father McGivney the first American-born parish priest to be declared a saint by the Vatican.

Originally published in 1952 and long out of print, South of Freedom is a first-rate account of what it was like to live as a second-class citizen, to experience the segregation, humiliation, danger, stereotypes, economic exploitation, and taboos that were all part of life for African Americans in the 1940s and 1950s.

Acheson was President Harry Truman's secretary of state, the American father of NATO and active in US foreign policy after World War II. He was also a Democratic Party activist in Eisenhower's presidency and an advisor in the Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon eras. This charts his post-secretarial career.