Doug West: 49 books

A “long-shot” or “underdog” would best describe the former governor of Tennessee, James Knox Polk, who had lost two reelection bids and now sought his party’s vice-presidential nomination. Events unfolded rapidly at the Democratic convention in the warm summer of 1844. James Polk had hoped...

Born into a wealthy family from New York, Franklin Delano Roosevelt entered political life as a member of the Democratic Party and rose to prominence quickly due to his strong leadership skills, money, and family connections. During his first term as president of the United States, he introduced his...

The separation from his mother at an early age appears to have left a permanent scar on young Isaac Newton that seemed to have followed him through the rest of his life. He never married or had any children and had but a few close friends. He would work frantically for days on end, seemingly without...

Whether you are talking on your cell phone, watching your favorite television program, surfing the web, or using your GPS to guide you on a trip, these are all modern conveniences that were made possible by the foundational work of the nineteenth-century Scottish physicist James Clerk Maxwell. Though...

John Tyler holds the distinction of being the first president to take office due to the death of a sitting president. Tyler was thrust into office on the death of President William Henry Harrison in 1841 after being vice president for only a month. He was at home in Richmond when he got word of Harrison’s...

Serving the shortest presidential term in American history, William Henry Harrison never had the opportunity to demonstrate his skills as the chief executive. Like Andrew Jackson, Harrison was elected largely on the basis of his reputation as an Indian fighter and a successful major general in the...

A fierce personality with an iron will, Andrew Jackson was an important statesman who left a historic mark on the expansion and consolidation of the United States. Known among both his friends and his enemies as “Old Hickory,” after the hardwood tree, he rose to fame during the War of 1812, where...

John Adams was in some form of service to America for most of his adult life - serving as a representative to the Continental Congress, envoy to European nations, vice president and, finally, ending his political career as the second President of the United States. At only five foot seven, nearly...

In the movies we often see a scientist portrayed as a quiet and pious man or woman dressed in a white lab coat engrossed in deep thought. This image surely fits some; however, not the twentieth-century New Zealander Ernest Rutherford, or Lord Rutherford as he would be known later in life. He was born...

During his long career, the English chemist and entrepreneur, Sir William Crookes, was able to make significant contributions to photography, chemistry, physics, agricultural science, public health, and scientific journalism. Historians of science have recognized Crookes for his brilliance as an experimental...

John Quincy Adams was taught at an early age by his parents to be a public servant, and indeed he was, serving as the secretary to the American envoy to Russia at age fourteen, and literally dying on the floor of the House of Representatives well into his eighties. As the eldest son of the prominent...

The fifth manned mission of NASA’s Apollo space program, Apollo 11 took the first human beings to the moon and on an adventure that surpassed even the wildest imagination. 600 million people from all over the world watched as astronaut Neil Armstrong stepped onto the surface of the celestial body...

During the War of 1812, or the “second war of independence,” the United States, which consisted of eighteen loosely joined states, took on Great Britain, the greatest naval power in the world, in a conflict that would have a lasting impact on the nation’s future. The causes of the war, which...

The definitive resource on silver investing. The point that is stressed in this eBook is that silver is a commodity that enjoys an increasing demand while having a limited supply. Because the world’s remaining silver deposits lying deep in the earth silver is becoming more expensive to process and...