Ocean State Libraries

Just two months into his presidency, Ronald Reagan lay near death after a gunman's bullet came within inches of his heart. His recovery was nothing short of remarkable -- or so it seemed. But Reagan was grievously injured, forcing him to encounter a challenge that few men ever face. Could he silently overcome his traumatic experience while at the same time carrying out the duties of the most powerful man in the world? Killing Reagan reaches back to...

A magnificent personal history of a time when two great political opponents -- President Ronald Reagan and Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill -- served together from 1980-1986 for the benefit of the country. A personal history of a time when two great political opponents served together for the benefit of the country. Matthews was a top aide to Speaker of the House Tip O'Neill, who waged a principled war of political ideals with President Reagan from...

"From master storyteller and New York Times bestselling biographer H. W. Brands, twice a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize, comes the first full life of Ronald Reagan since his death. Ronald Reagan today is a conservative icon, celebrated for transforming the American domestic agenda and playing a crucial part in ending communism in the Soviet Union. In his masterful new biography, H. W. Brands argues that Reagan, along with FDR, was the most consequential...

"Points out the evils apparent in everything from the White House to the behavior of television evangelists." --

"Co-authored by the Chief White House correspondent at The New York Times and the Washington columnist at the The New Yorker, this is a biography any would-be power broker must own: the story of legendary White House chief of staff and secretary of state James A. Baker III, the man who ran Washington when Washington ran the world. In the latter half of the twentieth century, no Republican won the presidency without his help, and the men he counseled...

"From New York Times bestselling author Sarah Kendzior comes the bitingly honest examination of the calculated rise to power of Donald Trump since the 1980s and the erosion of American liberty. The story of Donald Trump's rise to power is the story of a buried American history - buried because people in power liked it that way. It was visible without being seen, influential without being named, ubiquitous without being overt. Sarah Kendzior's Hiding...

Hailed by the New Yorker as "a superlative study of a president and his presidency," Lou Cannon's President Reagan remains the definitive account of our most significant presidency in the last fifty years. Ronald Wilson Reagan, the first actor to be elected president, turned in the performance of a lifetime. But that performance concealed the complexities of the man, baffling most who came in contact with him. Who was the man behind the makeup? Only...

In an series of private interviews, conducted over sixteen years with the stipulation that they not be released until after his death, the 38th President of the United States reveals a profoundly different side of himself: funny, reflective, gossipy, strikingly candid. In 1974, journalist DeFrank, then a young correspondent for Newsweek, was interviewing Vice President Gerald R. Ford when Ford blurted out something indiscreet, came around his desk,...