A new intellectual biography of Ernest Rutherford, the twentieth century’s greatest experimental physicist.
Ernest Rutherford, who grew up in colonial New Zealand and came to Cambridge on a scholarship, made numerous revolutionary discoveries, among them the orbital structure of the atom and the concept of the “half-life” of radioactive materials, which led to a massive re-evaluation of the age of the earth―previously judged just 100 million years old. Above all, perhaps, Rutherford and the young men working under him were the first to split the atom, unlocking tremendous forces―forces, as Rutherford himself predicted, that would bring us the atomic bomb.
Rutherford, awarded a Nobel Prize and made Baron Rutherford by the queen of England, was also a great ambassador of science, coming to the aid of colleagues caught in the Nazi and Soviet regimes. Under Rutherford’s rigorous and boisterous direction, a whole new generation of remarkable physicists emerged. In Richard Reeves’s hands, Rutherford leaps off the page, a ruddy, genial man and a towering figure in scientific history.
Bestselling author Richard Reeves provides an authoritative account of the internment of more than 120,000 Japanese-Americans and Japanese aliens during World War II Less than three months after Japan bombed Pearl Harbor and inflamed the nation, President Roosevelt signed an executive order declaring parts of four western states to be a war zone operating under military rule. The U.S. Army immediately began rounding up thousands of Japanese-Americans, sometimes giving them less than 24 hours to vacate their houses and farms. For the rest of the war, these victims of war hysteria were imprisoned in primitive camps. In Infamy, the story of this appalling chapter in American history is told more powerfully than ever before. Acclaimed historian Richard Reeves has interviewed survivors, read numerous private letters and memoirs, and combed through archives to deliver a sweeping narrative of this atrocity. Men we usually consider heroes--FDR, Earl Warren, Edward R. Murrow--were in this case villains, but we also learn of many Americans who took great risks to defend the rights of the internees. Most especially, we hear the poignant stories of those who spent years in "war relocation camps," many of whom suffered this terrible injustice with remarkable grace. Racism, greed, xenophobia, and a thirst for revenge: a dark strand in the American character underlies this story of one of the most shameful episodes in our history. But by recovering the past, Infamy has given voice to those who ultimately helped the nation better understand the true meaning of patriotism.
From bestselling presidential biographer Richard Reeves, a stirring tale of the heroic and resolute young men who defied the Soviet blockade intended to drive the Western powers out of Berlin and risked their lives to keep a city alive.
From acclaimed presidential historian and best-selling author Richard Reeves comes an enlightening and informative biography of Americas 40th president, Ronald Reagan. Drawing from extensive notes, records, and letters, Reeves captures eight years in the Oval Office with this remarkably intimate portrait. Reagan was a bold president whose vision included a new world order and a fresh definition of the office he held. He sought to reduce taxes, destroy communism, and restore American patriotism in an increasingly troubled world.
A man who advocated smaller government, Reagan also expanded the power of the Executive Office and scholars still disagree about how he used this new power. Ultimately, Reagan emerged as a dynamic and crafty politician whose legacy will long be felt. Bolstered by authoritative research and the authors personal knowledge of his subject, President Reagan will stand the test of time as the definitive biography of Ronald Reagan.
