Doug West: 49 books

Harlow Shapley was an astronomer, humanitarian, and public figure in his day. Born in the hills of the Ozarks in Missouri he went on to become the Director of the Harvard College Observatory and discovered our place in the Galaxy. Because of the painstaking work of this tireless American astronomer,...

Alexander Hamilton, born in the British West Indies, was an outsider from the very beginning. His illegitimate birth drove him to prove his worthiness to others throughout his life. His quest for honor was one of the defining characteristics that colored his decisions. Hamilton was a small man with...

Mike Pence is an American politician who has been serving as the fiftieth governor of Indiana since January 2013. He is currently the vice president-elect of the United States and will take office in January 2017, entering history as the forty-eighth vice president of the United States. In 2008, Esquire...

At first glance, John Forbes Nash Jr. seemed to have it all: a Ph.D. from Princeton, a beautiful wife, and a fantastic job teaching mathematics at MIT. He had no idea that at the age of thirty-one, his entire life would fall apart, and it would take decades of hospitalization before his brilliant...

Both Jesse Owens and Adolf Hitler grew up in poverty, and each of the two men struggled to find their footing later in life. Owens represented the United States in the 1936 Olympics, after which he found it difficult to sustain a well-paying job. In turn, Adolf Hitler moved to Vienna as a teenager,...

Born of humble beginnings, Ronald Reagan came into the world as the son of working class parents in Illinois. During his youth, he wasn’t a particularly gifted student, but he did graduate from college. A Hollywood actor and union leader turned politician, he served as the thirty-third governor...

Benjamin Franklin was first and foremost a public servant, but he was also a prolific writer, humorist, musician, inventor, businessman, and scientist. He was always working to improve civic society. Among many other things, he organized the first volunteer fire department and established the first...

There are many theories about what caused the Great Depression, and the truth is that there is no simple answer. Rather, a perfect storm of events came together and changed the lives of millions of people. One of the first signs of this dark period was the stock market crash in October 1929. In the...

Few people don’t have an opinion of President Donald Trump; either you love him or hate him. No matter your political stripes, President Trump is a force to be reckoned with. Growing up in a wealthy New York family, Donald Trump took over his father’s real estate business and turning it into a...

Dr. Robert Goddard was the first scientist who not only realized the potential for rockets for space flight but also contributed directly in making them a reality. His rare talent in both creative science and practical engineering placed Goddard well above the European rocket pioneers. The dedicated...

Jimmy Carter’s political career peaked in 1977 when he became the 39th president of the United States. During his time in the Oval Office, he was confronted with a battered economy, soaring oil prices, American hostages in Iran, and the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan.A Democrat and Baptist...

Thomas Jefferson is known by most as the third president of the United States, but his legacy extends much further than that. Born to a wealthy plantation owner, Thomas was the third of nine children. When he was just fourteen, his father died, leaving him half his land, slaves, and wealth. These...

Maybe you have never heard of Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin; if not, now is your chance to find out about the interesting woman that had a huge impact on the world of science and advanced the cause of women. Her discovery that hydrogen is the most abundant element in the universe was a fundamental breakthrough....

Joe Biden was interested in politics at an early age. By age 29 he had already won a seat in the United States Senate becoming one of the youngest Senators in history. His life would meet with tragedy as his wife and daughter were killed in a car accident during a Christmas shopping outing. Biden,...