Adult

THE DUKE, THE LONGHORNS, AND CHAIRMAN MAO is a fly-on-the-wall exploration of a wild weekend and an immersion into the John Wayne mythology: his politics, his inspirations, the plots to assassinate him, his connections to Stalin, Khrushchev and Chairman Mao, and the death of the Western.

When Pulitzer Prize–winning journalist Bill Dedman noticed in 2009 a grand home for sale, unoccupied for nearly 60 years, he stumbled through a surprising portal into American history. EMPTY MANSIONS is a rich mystery of wealth and loss, connecting the Gilded Age opulence of the 19th century with a 21st-century battle over a $300 million inheritance. At its heart is a reclusive heiress named Huguette Clark, a woman so secretive that, at the time of her death at age 104, no new photograph of her had been seen in decades.

Frederick Brown explores the tumultuous forces unleashed in France by the Dreyfus Affair and its aftermath, and examines how the clashing ideologies --- the swarm of ’isms --- and their blood-soaked political scandals and artistic movements following the horrors of World War I resulted in the country’s era of militant authoritarianism, rioting, violent racism and nationalistic fervor. We see how these forces overtook the country’s sense of reason, sealing the fate of an entire nation, and led to the fall of France and the rise of the Vichy government.

THE DEADLY SISTERHOOD is an epic tale of eight women whose lives --- marked by fortune and poverty, power and powerlessness --- encompass the spectacle, opportunity and depravity of Italy’s Renaissance. Lucrezia Turnabuoni, Clarice Orsini, Beatrice d’Este, Isabella d’Este, Caterina Sforza, Giulia Farnese, Isabella d’Aragona and Lucrezia Borgia shared the riches of their birthright: wealth, political influence and friendship, but none were not exempt from personal tragedies, exile and poverty. 

Part biography, part cultural history, THE CREATION OF ANNE BOLEYN is a reconstruction of Anne Boleyn’s life and an illuminating look at her very active afterlife in the popular imagination. With recent novels, movies and television shows, Anne has been having a 21st-century moment, but Susan Bordo shows how many generations of polemicists, biographers, novelists and filmmakers have imagined and reimagined her: whore, martyr, cautionary tale, proto-“mean girl,” feminist icon, and everything in between.

The startling truth behind one of the most notorious dynasties in history is revealed in a remarkable new account by the acclaimed author of THE TUDORS and A WORLD UNDONE. Sweeping aside the gossip, slander and distortion that have shrouded the Borgias for centuries, G. J. Meyer offers an unprecedented portrait of the infamous Renaissance family and their storied milieu.

Drawing on a wealth of primary documents, Marie Arana vividly captures the early 19th-century South America that made Simon Bolívar the man he became: fearless general, brilliant strategist, consummate diplomat, dedicated abolitionist, gifted writer, and flawed politician. A major work of history, BOLIVAR not only portrays a dramatic life in all its glory, but is also a stirring declaration of what it means to be South American.

In the spring of 1864, Robert E. Lee faced a new adversary: Lieutenant General Ulysses S. Grant. Named commander of all Union armies in March, Grant quickly went on the offensive against Lee in Virginia. On May 4, Grant’s army struck hard across the Rapidan River into north-central Virginia, with Lee’s army contesting every mile. They fought for 40 days until, finally, the Union army crossed the James River and began the siege of Petersburg.

The Civil Rights Act of 1964 was the single most important piece of legislation passed by Congress in American history. The bill's passage often has been credited to the political leadership of President Lyndon Johnson, or the moral force of Martin Luther King. Yet, as Clay Risen shows, the battle for the Civil Rights Act was a story much bigger than those two men. It was a broad, epic struggle, a sweeping tale of unceasing grassroots activism, ringing speeches, backroom deal-making and hand-to-hand legislative combat.

When America wakes up with personable and charming hosts like Matt Lauer, Robin Roberts and George Stephanopoulos, it's hard to imagine their show bookers having to guard a guest's hotel room all night to prevent rival shows from poaching. But that is just part of the intense reality Brian Stelter reveals in TOP OF THE MORNING --- a gripping look at the most competitive time slot in television, complete with Machiavellian booking wars and manic behavior by the producers, executives and stars.