New Releases by Thomas Fleming

In "On Yacht Sailing," Thomas Fleming Day intricately examines the art and science of sailing, seamlessly blending practical advice with a lyrical appreciation for the maritime experience. Written in the early 20th century, a time marked by a burgeoning interest in yachting as both a recreational pursuit and an embodiment of the American spirit, Day''s style is characterized by its clarity, enthusiasm, and a hint of poetic reverence for the sea. Through engaging prose and detailed instructions, he demystifies the complex aspects of yacht operation and navigation, appealing to both novice sailors and seasoned mariners seeking to refine their skills. Thomas Fleming Day was not merely an author; he was a passionate sailor and a dedicated advocate for the sport of yachting. His deep connection to the sea and extensive experience as an avid yachtsman profoundly informed his writing. Additionally, Day was a prominent figure in the yachting community, contributing to various maritime publications, which allowed him to articulate the nuances of sailing in a manner that was accessible yet intellectually stimulating. His insights reflect a desire to promote the sport as a means of fostering camaraderie and adventure. This book is highly recommended for anyone yearning to embark on a maritime journey, whether you aspire to sail competitively or simply wish to appreciate the serene beauty of the open water. Day''s expertise and passion are infectious, making "On Yacht Sailing" an invaluable resource for those eager to navigate the waves with confidence and joy. In this enriched edition, we have carefully created added value for your reading experience: - Hand‐picked Memorable Quotes shine a spotlight on moments of literary brilliance. - Interactive footnotes clarify unusual references, historical allusions, and archaic phrases for an effortless, more informed read.

The Ripple Effect: Memoirs from the Inside takes you on journey of one man''s choices and the consequences that resulted in years of living in a dark world. Only forgiveness from the most unlikely source would bring Thomas back into the light. The lessons of forgiveness, overcoming addiction, racism, low self-esteem, and violence are very powerful. It is a close look into the inside of a dark heart and mind and what it takes to survive over three decades in a bleak and dreary maximum-security prison. Thomas was dubbed one of the most dangerous inmates in the system''s history. How does he change the minds and hearts of those that never want to see him released or succeed within the prison system? He must first change his own mind and heart.

All school children know the story of the fatal duel between Hamilton and Burr - but do they really? In this remarkable retelling, Thomas Fleming takes the reader into the post-revolutionary world of 1804, a chaotic and fragile time in the young country as well as a time of tremendous global instability. The success of the French Revolution and the proclamation of Napoleon as First Consul for Life had enormous impact on men like Hamilton and Burr, feeding their own political fantasies at a time of perceived Federal government weakness and corrosion. Their hunger for fame spawned antagonisms that wreaked havoc on themselves and their families and threatened to destabilize the fragile young American republic. From that poisonous brew came the tangle of regret and anger and ambition that drove the two to their murderous confrontation in Weehawken, New Jersey. Readers will find this is popular narrative history at its most authoritative, and authoritative history at its most readable.

Few writers have told the story of the American Revolution with more grace, clarity, or emotional power than New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming. Here, collected for the first time and posthumously, are Fleming''s favorite works. He takes us back to the days of the founders, detailing the surprising facts of American life in 1776, including its resemblance to today. He tells the seldom-told tale of the Loyalists, supporters of England who acted on their political convictions with impressive courage during the Revolution, and reveals little-known facets of men ranging from Franklin to Lafayette, Howe to Washington. He concludes with the Constitutional Convention of 1787 when fifty-five men from twelve virtually autonomous states came to Philadelphia in a brave - some thought foolhardy - attempt to replace a loose and fragile confederation with a strong national government. Their astonishing achievement became a standard of enlightenment the world over.

With the War for Independence not long past, the United States found itself battling Native Americans in the West. With the encouragement of the British, the Indians were brutally massacring settlers and soldiers by the thousands. Enter "Mad" Anthony Wayne, a highly disciplined leader who was anything but mad. Here, in this short-form book, New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming provides a fascinating look at the battle that opened the American West to peaceful settlement.

Without George Washington''s brilliance at espionage, writes New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming, the American Revolution could not have been won. Here''s the little-told story of America''s spymaster-in-chief.

1865. The Civil War is over, and the South lies in ruins. But for some people, former slaveholders have not been punished enough. A cabal of powerful men, led by Charles A. Dana, the assistant secretary of war, plot to break the spirit of the South once and for all - by convicting General Robert E. Lee of treason and hanging him like a common criminal. To this end, they have convened a secret military tribunal in Lee''s former home in Arlington, Virginia. Jeremiah O''Brien of the New-York Tribune, a long-time protégé of Dana''s, is the only reporter allowed to attend the trial. His exclusive reports on this momentous event, and the book he intends to write, will surely make his fortune. Yet as the trial proceeds, pitting the general against his accusers, O''Brien finds himself torn between his loyalty to Dana, his love for a Confederate spy, and his growing respect and compassion for Lee himself. The young reporter is supposed to be only an observer, but, in the end, it is O''Brien who must evaluate the evidence and determine the true meaning of honor. Written by New York Times bestselling author and historian Thomas Fleming, The Secret Trial of Robert E. Lee brings to life a fascinating chapter in American history that might well have happened - and perhaps truly did.

They called themselves Loyalists. The rebels called them Tories. This derogatory term had previously been reserved for the supporters of the predominantly Catholic line of Stuart kings, whose reign ended in England''s bloodless revolution of 1688. For well over 100 years, it was the fashion among American historians to accept Thomas Paine''s 1776 declaration that "Every Tory is a coward . . . fear is the foundation of Toryism." But more recent historical research has revealed many New England Loyalists acted on their political convictions with impressive courage during the American Revolution. Here, in this short-form book by New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming, is their story.

A biography of the surveyor, militia major, and aide to the British General Braddock, who became leader of the American forces during the Revolution and first President of the new nation.

A sweeping and insightful grand strategic overview of the American Revolution, highlighting Washington''s role in orchestrating victory and creating the US Army Led by the Continental Congress, the Americans almost lost the war for independence because their military thinking was badly muddled. Following the victory in 1775 at Bunker Hill, patriot leaders were convinced that the key to victory was the home-grown militia -- local men defending their families and homes. But the flush of early victory soon turned into a bitter reality as the British routed Americans fleeing New York. General George Washington knew that having and maintaining an army of professional soldiers was the only way to win independence. As he fought bitterly with the leaders in Congress over the creation of a regular army, he patiently waited until his new army was ready for pitched battle. His first opportunity came late in 1776, following his surprise crossing of the Delaware River. In New Jersey, the strategy of victory was about to unfold. In The Strategy of Victory, preeminent historian Thomas Fleming examines the battles that created American independence, revealing how the creation of a professional army worked on the battlefield to secure victory, independence, and a lasting peace for the young nation.

On April 19, 1775, thirty-eight Americans formed two uneven lines on the wet grass of the two-acre common in Lexington, Massachusetts. They were summoned by the rolling beat of sixteen-year-old William Diamond''s brightly painted drum. The order to sound the call to arms had been given by Lexington''s militia captain, John Parker. A British column had been reported just fifteen minutes away. This is one of the vivid scenes New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming sets in First Stroke, his award-winning history of the opening days of the American Revolution, beginning with the Boston Tea Party.

What were the French up to in the Ohio Valley in 1753? Setting out in search of an answer, a bold young major from Virginia named George Washington soon found himself skirting catastrophe, writes New York Times bestselling author and historian Thomas Fleming.

Steely determination enabled Eddie Rickenbacker, the World War I ace pilot, to survive twenty-four days drifting across the Pacific in a life raft. Here, in this essay by New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming, is the dramatic story.

The charge of treason pitted President Thomas Jefferson against his former vice president, Aaron Burr, and the chief justice of the United States, John Marshall. Here, in this essay by New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming, is the dramatic story of one of the most famous trials in American history.

This vivid, deeply moving book begins in London in 1620 as Pilgrim representatives sign a contract to purchase the freighter Mayflower. We accompany them on their harrowing voyage across the Atlantic, through the rigors of the first New England winter and the threat of Indian attack as they desperately search for the home they eventually find at Plymouth. Once there, they must continue the struggle against brutal weather and disease. With masterly skill, New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming gives us life-size portraits of the Pilgrim leaders. The Pilgrims'' unique achievements - the Mayflower Compact, their tolerance of other faiths, the strict separation of church and state - are discussed in the context of the first year''s anxieties and crises. Fleming writes admiringly of the younger men who emerged in that year as the real leaders of the colony - William Bradford and Miles Standish. And he provides new insights into the humanity and tolerance of the Pilgrims'' spiritual shepherd, Elder William Brewster. On the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims are already aware that they are the forerunners of a great nation. It is implicit in William Bradford''s words, "As one small candle may light a thousand, so the light kindled here has shone unto many. . . ."

This vivid, deeply moving book begins in London in 1620 as Pilgrim representatives sign a contract to purchase the freighter Mayflower. We accompany them on their harrowing voyage across the Atlantic, through the rigors of the first New England winter and the threat of Indian attack as they desperately search for the home they eventually find at Plymouth. Once there, they must continue the struggle against brutal weather and disease. With masterly skill, New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming gives us life-size portraits of the Pilgrim leaders. The Pilgrims'' unique achievements - the Mayflower Compact, their tolerance of other faiths, the strict separation of church and state - are discussed in the context of the first year''s anxieties and crises. Fleming writes admiringly of the younger men who emerged in that year as the real leaders of the colony - William Bradford and Miles Standish. And he provides new insights into the humanity and tolerance of the Pilgrims'' spiritual shepherd, Elder William Brewster. On the first Thanksgiving, the Pilgrims are already aware that they are the forerunners of a great nation. It is implicit in William Bradford''s words, "As one small candle may light a thousand, so the light kindled here has shone unto many. . . ."

New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming brings his extraordinary biographical talents to bear upon Benjamin Franklin, perhaps the least understood of America''s revolutionary giants. For this reappraisal, Fleming concentrates on the mature Franklin, the man who lived nearly thirty years beyond the point where he ended his famous Autobiography. The poor boy, the miserly young printer, has become a decidedly more complex and cultured man. In scene after vivid scene, Fleming shows us how Franklin''s unique blend of faith and courage, humor and wisdom presided over the birth of the American nation. Interwoven in this political history is a moving, almost forgotten personal drama - the conflict between Franklin and his son William, the royal governor of New Jersey, the "thorough courtier," as Franklin called him. Year by year, we watch the two men drift apart as the quarrel between America and England deepens - yet always reaching across the gulf with words of personal affection. Finally comes the climactic confrontation, when a fully disillusioned Franklin returns from eleven years in England to confront the son for whom independence is a hated word. With him, Franklin brings William''s son Temple, educated in England. The bitter political quarrel soon forces father and grandfather to fight for the boy''s loyalty. This personalization of history is Thomas Fleming''s hallmark. Almost as revealing as the dramatization of Franklin''s battle with his son is the chronicle of Franklin''s years in England before the Revolution. We see the network of friendships he created, the deep feeling with which he and William visited the ancestral village of Ecton, the fascinating blend of emotion and reason in his crucial testimony before Parliament at the height of the Stamp Act furor in 1766. Then we see this innate passion for England slowly fade during the next eight years as Franklin struggles to defend America from Parliament''s greedy prejudice and - another forgotten story - simultaneously to establish a fourteenth colony on the Ohio. As always, Fleming combines colorful anecdote and shrewd analysis of men and motives. And Franklin being Franklin, there is also the constant spice of humor. We see him stopping at a country inn and emptying the chairs by the fire by booming: "Boy, get my horse a quart of oysters." Solemnly, he informs historian Edward Gibbon that he would provide him with "ample materials" on the decline and fall of the British Empire. The war won, he cheerfully assures English friends that their only hope now was to dissolve Parliament for good and "send delegates to Congress." We see him using humor to cope with the egotism and paranoia of other Americans in Paris. Finally, we witness him as mon cher papa, the friend and aspiring lover of two beautiful French women, wooing them with the wittiest essays ever written by a seventy-six-year-old suitor. But in all the byplay, personal and political, one theme dominates: Franklin''s dedication to America - a commitment that transcended all others in his life and inspired him to dare the political lightning. It is what makes this book important reading now and in the future.

Today''s spectacle of an imperial Congress battling the president of the United States is unsettling to many Americans. But it should not come as a surprise. Since the earliest days of the republic, writes New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming in this essay, Congress has sought to seize power for itself and diminish the presidency.

For many Americans, George Washington is just the face on a dollar bill. This book changes that perception. George Washington, Revolutionary War general, Founding Father, and first president of the United States was a warm and fascinating man. He suffered the agony of adolescent passion, fell in love with his best friend''s wife, and married the wealthy widow Martha Custis. He poured out his political and military woes to his brother Jack in the dark days of 1776, and in the midst of a miserable winter camped with his troops in Valley Forge, he wrote a chatty letter to a friend in England. All these incidents are here in Washington''s own words. Only through what Washington called his "letters of friendship" can we fully understand this complex man. They show him joking with his favorite Frenchman, the Marquis de Lafayette, advising his younger relatives on love and marriage, writing with emotion to the unobtainable woman he loved, and reconnecting with her in his old age. Selected and edited by New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming from the thirty-seven volumes of Washington''s collected writings, this book will be a revelation to all.

Here in this essay from New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming is the harrowing account of a true hero of the Korean War, Commander Gene Clark. Without Clark, General Douglas MacArthur''s daring plan to invade South Korea from the sea would almost surely have failed.

In Verdicts of History, New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming highlights six courtroom dramas that changed the future of America. From unexpected verdicts, like the acquittal won by John Adams when he defended British soldiers charged with the Boston Massacre in 1770 to stirred passions when abolitionist John Brown was convicted of murder - a precedent to the Civil War - to the breakthrough in racial relations when Clarence Darrow won a stunning "not guilty" verdict for black physician Ossian Sweet - at a time when black Americans could hardly expect a fair trial. Fleming also includes the trials of Aaron Burr for treason and a well-known congressman for murder. In courtrooms throughout the nation''s history, vivid emotion and heated rhetoric have established consequential precedents and enlarged average men and women to historical dimensions.

Choosing the most important moments in the long history of the American presidency is difficult. But here, New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming vividly recreates many of those hours of crisis - from George Washington''s fight for peace and the night Abraham Lincoln was almost shot to Ronald Reagan''s plea to "tear down this wall" and George W. Bush on September 11, 2001, "the day that changed everything."

"A superb retelling of the story of Valley Forge and its aftermath, demonstrating that reality is far more compelling than myth." - Gordon S. Wood The defining moments of the American Revolution did not occur on the battlefield or at the diplomatic table, writes New York Times bestselling author Thomas Fleming, but at Valley Forge. Fleming transports us to December 1777. While the British army lives in luxury in conquered Philadelphia, Washington''s troops huddle in the barracks of Valley Forge, fending off starvation and disease even as threats of mutiny swirl through the regiments. Though his army stands on the edge of collapse, George Washington must wage a secondary war, this one against the slander of his reputation as a general and patriot. Washington strategizes not only against the British army but against General Horatio Gates, the victor in the Battle of Saratoga, who has attracted a coterie of ambitious generals devising ways to humiliate and embarrass Washington into resignation. Using diaries and letters, Fleming creates an unforgettable portrait of an embattled Washington. Far from the long-suffering stoic of historical myth, Washington responds to attacks from Gates and his allies with the skill of a master politician. He parries the thrusts of his covert enemies, and, as necessary, strikes back with ferocity and guile. While many histories portray Washington as a man who has transcended politics, Fleming''s Washington is exceedingly complex, a man whose political maneuvering allowed him to retain his command even as he simultaneously struggled to prevent the Continental Army from dissolving into mutiny at Valley Forge. Written with his customary flair and eye for human detail and drama, Thomas Fleming''s gripping narrative develops with the authority of a major historian and the skills of a master storyteller. Washington''s Secret War is not only a revisionist view of the American ordeal at Valley Forge - it calls for a new assessment of the man too often simplified into an American legend. This is narrative history at its best and most vital.

A fresh look at the nation’s formative years through the lens of the clash between Washington and Jefferson.

The most famous collision in American Navy history took place on a hot, starless, moonless night in 1943. PT109 was idling off the South Pacific island of Kolombangara. With virtually no warning, a Japanese destroyer smashed into the boat, slicing it in half and igniting its thousands of gallons of gasoline. PT109''s commander and surviving crew were flung or leaped into the blazing water, beginning an ordeal that writers, relatives, and friends would use to create a drama that propelled John F. Kennedy to the presidency of the United States. Here, in this essay from New York Times bestselling historian Thomas Fleming, is the story of what really happened that night.

A compelling, intimate look at the founders—George Washington, Ben Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, Alexander Hamilton, and James Madison—and the women who played essential roles in their lives With his usual storytelling flair and unparalleled research, Tom Fleming examines the women who were at the center of the lives of the founding fathers. From hot-tempered Mary Ball Washington to promiscuous Rachel Lavien Hamilton, the founding fathers'' mothers powerfully shaped their sons'' visions of domestic life. But lovers and wives played more critical roles as friends and often partners in fame. We learn of the youthful Washington''s tortured love for the coquettish Sarah Fairfax, wife of his close friend; of Franklin''s two "wives," one in London and one in Philadelphia; of Adams''s long absences, which required a lonely, deeply unhappy Abigail to keep home and family together for years on end; of Hamilton''s adulterous betrayal of his wife and then their reconciliation; of how the brilliant Madison was jilted by a flirtatious fifteen-year-old and went on to marry the effervescent Dolley, who helped make this shy man into a popular president. Jefferson''s controversial relationship to Sally Hemings is also examined, with a different vision of where his heart lay. Fleming nimbly takes us through a great deal of early American history, as his founding fathers strove to reconcile the private and public, often beset by a media every bit as gossip seeking and inflammatory as ours today. He offers a powerful look at the challenges women faced in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. While often brilliant and articulate, the wives of the founding fathers all struggled with the distractions and dangers of frequent childbearing and searing anxiety about infant mortality—Jefferson''s wife, Martha, died from complications following labor, as did his daughter. All the more remarkable, then, that these women loomed so large in the lives of their husbands—and, in some cases, their country.

The acclaimed historian presents a "captivating account of a surprisingly little-known period" at the close of the American Revolution ( Kirkus, starred review). On October 19, 1781, Great Britain''s best army surrendered to General George Washington at Yorktown. But the future of the thirteen former colonies was far from clear. 13,000 British troops still occupied New York City, and another 13,000 regulars and armed loyalists were scattered from Canada to Georgia. Meanwhile, the American army had not been paid for years and was on the brink of mutiny. In Europe, America''s only ally, France, teetered on the verge of bankruptcy and was soon reeling from a disastrous naval defeat in the Caribbean. A stubborn George III dismissed Yorktown as a minor defeat and refused to yield an acre of "my dominions" in America. In Paris, Ambassador Benjamin Franklin confronted violent hostility toward France among his fellow members of the American peace delegation. In The Perils of Peace, Thomas Fleming moves between the key players in this drama and shows that the outcome we take for granted was far from certain. With fresh research and masterful storytelling, Fleming breathes new life into this tumultuous but little known period in America''s history.

Beautiful, rebellious Bess Fitzmaurice is mesmerized by Dan McCaffrey, an American of Irish descent who has come to Ireland to aid the Fenian revolt against British tyranny. He appears in her home on May Eve 1865, fleeing British forces. To Bess, Dan is the mythical Donal Ogue, the hero of a famous Irish poem, returned to rescue Ireland---but right now, he is an American Civil War veteran on the run. Bess and her brother, Michael, get Dan to a ship, and they flee to America. In 1865, America is a nation ravaged by four years of Civil War. Bess discovers that among the Irish-American Fenians money and power and patriotism are entangled in bewildering and demoralizing ways, while Dan McCaffrey surrenders to the corruption of New York City politics. The Fenians'' invasion of Canada and their goal of holding the English colony hostage for a free Ireland become a pawn in a power struggle between Democrats and Republicans. When the American federal government double-crosses the Fenians, forcing thousands of Irish Civil War veterans to abandon the Canadian invasion after winning the first battle, acrimony engulfs the movement, leading to feuds, name-calling--and murder. In despair, Bess quits the Fenians and finds love in the arms of former Union General Jonathan Stapleton. Their idyll, however, is soon interrupted by Dan McCaffrey, who forces her to choose between him and her new lover. A Passionate Girl is a riveting novel that takes the reader into a forgotten chapter in Irish-American history and provides an eye-opening look at the devastating impact of America''s Civil War. At the Publisher''s request, this title is being sold without Digital Rights Management Software (DRM) applied.

Acclaimed historian Thomas Fleming brings to life the flawed and troubled FDR who struggled to manage WWII. Starting with the leak to the press of Roosevelt''s famous Rainbow Plan, then spiraling back to FDR''s inept prewar diplomacy with Japan, and his various attempts to lure Japan into an attack on the U.S. Fleet in the Pacific, Fleming takes the reader inside the incredibly fractious struggles and debates that went on in Washington, the nation, and the world as the New Dealers, led by FDR, strove to impose their will on the conduct of the War. Unlike the familiar yet idealized FDR of Doris Kearns Goodwin''s No Ordinary Time, the reader encounters a Roosevelt in remorseless decline, battered by ideological forces and primitive hatreds which he could not handle-and frequently failed to understand-some of them leading to unimaginable catastrophe. Among FDR''s most dismaying policies, Fleming argues, were an insistence on "unconditional surrender" for Germany (a policy that perhaps prolonged the war by as many as two years, leaving millions more dead) and his often uncritical embrace of and acquiescence to Stalin and the Soviets as an ally. For many Americans, Franklin Delano Roosevelt is a beloved, heroic, almost mythic figure, if not for the "big government" that was spawned under his New Deal, then certainly for his leadership through the War. The New Dealers'' War paints a very different portrait of this leadership. It is sure to spark debate.

The political history of the American experience in World War I is a story of conflict and bungled intentions that begins in an era dedicated to progressive social reform and ends in the Red Scare and Prohibition. Thomas Fleming tells this story through the complex figure of Woodrow Wilson, the contradictory president who wept after declaring war, devastated because he knew it would destroy the tolerance of the American people, but who then suppressed freedom of speech and used propaganda to excite America into a Hun-hating mob. This is tragic history: inexperienced American military leaders drove their troops into gruesome slaughters; progressive politics were put on hold in America; an idealistic president''s dreams were crushed because of his own negligence. Wilson''s inability to convince Congress to ratify U.S. membership in the League of Nations was one of the most poignant failures in the history of the American presidency, but even more heartrending were Wilson''s concessions to his bitter allies in the Treaty of Versailles. In exchange for Allied support of the League of Nations, he allowed an unfair peace treaty to be signed, a treaty that played no small role in the rise of National Socialism and the outbreak of World War II. Thomas Fleming has once again created a masterpiece of narrative American history. This incomparable portrait shows how Wilson sacrificed his noble vision to megalomania and single-mindedness, while paying homage to him as a visionary whose honorable spirit continues to influence Western politics.