The true story of a friendship between two very different men: Founding Father Ben Franklin and famed preacher of the Great Awakening George Whitefield.
They were the most famous men in America. They came from separate countries, followed different philosophies, and led dissimilar lives. But they were fast friends. No two people did more to shape America in the mid-1700s.
Benjamin Franklin was the American prototype: hard-working, inventive,...

Borowitz argues that over the past fifty years, American politicians have grown increasingly allergic to knowledge. Mass media has encouraged the election of ignoramuses by elevating candidates who are better at performing than thinking. Starting with Ronald Reagan's first campaign for governor of California in 1966 and culminating with the election of Donald J. Trump to the White House, he covers a host of congresspersons, senators, and governors...

"On Compromise is an argument against contemporary liberal society's tendency to view compromise as an unalloyed good--politically, ethically, and artistically. In a series of clear, convincing essays, Rachel Greenwald Smith discusses the dangers of thinking about compromise as an end, rather than as a means. To illustrate her points, she recounts her stint in a band as a bass player, fighting with her bandmates about 'what the song wants,' and then...

Culling the best of his monthly column "Stuff I've Been Reading" in The Believer magazine, the bestselling author presents hilarious observations on a vast array of topics, and provides a wide-ranging reader list that serves as a reminder as to why we read.

"Essays about 1990s popular culture, politics, sports, literature, music"--

"Follow in the footsteps of much loved authors, discover the landscapes that sparked their imaginations, and learn behind-the-scenes stories in this expanded and completely updated second edition of Novel Destinations. Across more than 500 literary locales in the United States, Europe, and elsewhere, experience famous authors' homes, book festivals, literary walking tours, lodgings, restaurants, bars for bibliophiles, and much more."--page 4 of cover...

"At the start of the 1860 presidential campaign, a handful of fired-up young Northerners appeared as bodyguards to defend anti-slavery stump speakers from frequent attacks. The group called themselves the Wide Awakes. Soon, hundreds of thousands of young White and Black men, and a number of women, were organizing boisterous, uniformed, torch-bearing brigades of their own. These Wide Awakes--mostly working-class Americans in their twenties--became...