Thursday, May 6, 2010

Audio Book Giveaway: The War Lovers by Evan Thomas

Anna and Hatchette Book Group are sponsoring this audio book giveaway!



About the Book:
On February 15, 1898, the USS Maine exploded in the Havana Harbor. Although there was no evidence that the Spanish were responsible, yellow newspapers such as William Randolph Hearst's New York Journal whipped Americans into frenzy by claiming that Spain's "secret infernal machine" had destroyed the battleship. Soon after, the blandly handsome and easily influenced President McKinley declared war, sending troops not only to Cuba but also to the Philippines, Spain's sprawling colony on the other side of the world.

As Evan Thomas reveals in his rip-roaring history of those times, the hunger for war had begun years earlier. Depressed by the "closing" of the Western frontier and embracing theories of social Darwinism, a group of warmongers that included a young Teddy Roosevelt and Henry Cabot Lodge agitated loudly and incessantly that the United States exert its influence across the seas. These hawks would transform American foreign policy and, when Teddy ascended to the presidency, commence with a devastating war without reason, concocted within the White House--a bloody conflict that would come at tremendous cost.

Thrillingly written and brilliantly researched, THE WAR LOVERS is the story of six men at the center of a transforming event in U.S. history: Roosevelt, Lodge, Hearst, McKinley, William James, and Thomas Reed, and confirms once more than Evan Thomas is a popular historian of the first rank.

About the Author:
Evan Thomas has been the Assistant Managing Editor of Newsweek since 1991. He is the bestselling author of six works of nonfiction: Sea of Thunder, John Paul Jones, Robert Kennedy, The Very Best Men, The Man to See, and The Wise Men. He lives with his wife and children in Washington, D.C.

Listen to an excerpt.

CONTEST DETAILS:

To enter, recommend a book on history that you particularly enjoyed. Name the author, title, and tell us a bit about the book.

Rules:
1. Please include your email address, so that I can contact you if you win. No email address, no entry.
2. You must be a follower to join the contest.

The contest is limited to US and Canada only. No P.O. boxes. The contest ends at noon on June 1, 2010.

Thank you so much Anna and Hatchette for sponsoring this giveaway!

16 comments:

  1. One of my favorite British history authors is Alison Weir. My favorite of her nonfiction books is The Princes in The Tower which is about the end reign of the Plantagenets (especially regarding the two young princes that were locked away in the Tower of London by their uncle Richard). Richard took over the crown that should have gone to the eldest prince and the boys "mysteriously" dissapeared from the tower never to be seen from again. Ms. Weir gives loads of evidence of what probably happened and it reads like a novel it is so good!
    candc320@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  2. I am a follower.

    I loved reading Bury My Heart at Wounded Knee by Dee Brown. It is about the history of the systematic destruction of the American Indian during the second half of the 19th century. Her words made me feel like I was actually there.

    Thank you,

    Christine
    womackcm@sbcglobal.net

    ReplyDelete
  3. I am a follower.
    A book on history I recommend is Night by Elie Wiesel. It's about the holocaust.
    caliblue7@gmail.com

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  4. If you have not yet read or listened to it, you need to get a copy of IMPERIAL CRUISE by James Bradley. It will give you an entirely different view of our history and especially Teddy Roosevelt.
    I am a Follower.

    librarypat AT comcast DOT net

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  5. True Compass was great. It covered the life of Sen. Edward Kennedy.

    I'm a follower.

    bgcchs(at)yahoo(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  6. I really liked Blood and Thunder by Hampton Sides. It is about the exploration of the West, and in particular, about Kit Carson. I never thought I would like it, but my husband raved about it, and to my surprise I found it as exciting as he did! Please enter me! I follow on Google Reader.

    nbmars AT yahoo DOT com

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  7. A Different Mirror. Talks about the history of multicultural America. Learned about wars, immigration of different cultures, etc.
    johnnystruckwash at gmail dot com

    ReplyDelete
  8. Ragtime by EL Doctorow, he weaves together fictional characters with real ones seamlessly and it's a wonderful novel. and basis for a good movie and incredible musical.

    misusedinnocence@aol.com

    ReplyDelete
  9. Well, I think that "enjoyed" is the wrong word, but a book that fascinated, horrified and infuriated me was The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang.

    I follow

    nfmgirl AT gmail DOT com

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  10. Oh I love books on Teddy Roosevelt. He is such an interesting character. I'd recommend River of Doubt - about Roosevelt's trip down the Amazon River.

    I follow your blog, thanks!

    nycbookgirl at gmail dot com

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  11. A book I highly recommend is Night by Elie Wiesel.

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  12. My favorite is Cherokee Strip Fever by Zola Sample. It's a book about the author's family who took part in the Oklahoma land runs.

    Thanks!
    librarygrinch at gmail dot com

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  13. This is at the top of my absolutely must read and boy would I love to have it in audio - my favorite format.

    I'm a long time follower.

    tbranco(at) hughes (dot) net

    ReplyDelete
  14. I love the book, Thomas Jefferson and Sally Hemings: An American Controversy by Annette Gordon-Reed. It explores the possibility that Thomas Jefferson had an affair with Sally Hemings and that they had children together.
    dmkayes@gmail.com

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  15. Just finished listening to "The Map That Changed The World," by Simon Winchester, a fascinating account of William Smith and his establishment of the science of geology.

    denny(dot)gill(at)gmail(dot)com

    ReplyDelete
  16. I loved The Devil in the White City. It's set in Chicago at the time of the World's Fair. It touches on architecture, the development of Chicago as the entry point of goods and trade to the Midwest, scientific and technological developments, while also covering a serial killer in the city.

    Thanks for the entry!

    r_lapus at yahoo.com

    ReplyDelete