Over the course of a career that stretched from the early 1920s through the late 1970s, David Eli Lilienthal (1899-1981) became a larger-than-life symbol of American liberalism. Born in Morton, Illinois to Jewish immigrants from what later became Czechoslovakia, Lilienthal attended DePauw University and Harvard Law School. After practicing labor and public utility law in Chicago, Governor Philip La Follette appointed him to the Wisconsin Public Service Commission in 1931. In 1933, President Roosevelt appointed Lilienthal as one of three founding directors of the Tennessee Valley Authority. In 1946, President Truman appointed him as the first chairman of the Atomic Energy Commission. Lilienthal left public service in 1950 but continued applying the TVA concept of coordinated development, including dams, irrigation, flood control and electric generation via his consulting firm, Development and Research Corporation, which operated internationally, including in Iran under the Shah. “This biography is a study of a fascinating man who, in his long career, embodied the achievements and tragedy of mid-century American liberalism. The author has mastered his sources and produced a wonderful portrait of a man and his times.” —Erwin C. Hargrove, Vanderbilt University “Steven Neuse’s biography of David Lilienthal fills an important gap in the history of twentieth-century American liberalism. It is a perceptive analysis of a complex character.” — William Bruce Wheeler, University of Tennessee “[A] well-written, exhaustively researched, and balanced perspective of [Lilienthal]... Steven Neuse has written one of the best studies to date on a prominent twentieth-century American and one that will be cited for many years to come.” — Michael V. Namorato, University of Mississippi, Journal of American History “In this exemplary biography, [Neuse] illuminates Lilienthal’s road to influence... This book merits the attention of all serious students of 20th-century American democracy.” — M. J. Birkner, Gettysburg College, Choice “Neuse offers a superbly crafted discussion of Lilienthal’s time as TVA commissioner... [and] traces the evolving controversies and achievements of TVA with exemplary clarity... [A] wise and wide ranging book. Based on an enviable command of private papers, personal interviews, and government documents, it is incomparably the finest existing study of this complicated and remarkable American and of absorbing interest to anyone interested in the New Deal, atomic politics, or the travails of American liberalism at home and abroad in the late twentieth century.” — Georgia Historical Quarterly “[A] splendidly perceptive analysis of this consummate bureaucratic politician and liberal who managed constructive programs in a destructive world.” — Journal of East Tennessee History “[A] quite readable biography based on enormous research... [this] book is important and deserves a wide readership.” — Howard P. Segal, University of Maine, Nature “Neuse has performed a very important service in providing scholars with a ‘life and times’ chronicle of Lilienthal... Neuse’s account is impressively researched, his prose admirably lucid... Neuse’s study stands as proof that narrative biography is still a vibrant scholarly enterprise.” — Gregory Field, University of Michigan, Technology and Culture “This is a well-written, extensively documented, informative narrative on a fascinating man...” — John Minton, Western Kentucky University, Tennessee Historical Quarterly “Steven Neuse’s exhaustive study of David Lilienthal is the much-needed and definitive biography of a highly significant figure, the very personification of American liberalism and grassroots democracy. All twentieth-century scholars must master it, and the general reader will be fascinated by this sensitive tale of a tortured crusader who dreamed so expansively and felt so deeply.” — Roy Talbert, Jr., Coastal Carolina University

Indianapolis Monthly is the Circle City’s essential chronicle and guide, an indispensable authority on what’s new and what’s news. Through coverage of politics, crime, dining, style, business, sports, and arts and entertainment, each issue offers compelling narrative stories and lively, urbane coverage of Indy’s cultural landscape.

A heartbreaking and powerful story about a black boy killed by a police officer, drawing connections through history, from award-winning author Jewell Parker Rhodes. Only the living can make the world better. Live and make it better. Twelve-year-old Jerome is shot by a police officer who mistakes his toy gun for a real threat. As a ghost, he observes the devastation that's been unleashed on his family and community in the wake of what they see as an unjust and brutal killing. Soon Jerome meets another ghost: Emmett Till, a boy from a very different time but similar circumstances. Emmett helps Jerome process what has happened, on a journey towards recognizing how historical racism may have led to the events that ended his life. Jerome also meets Sarah, the daughter of the police officer, who grapples with her father's actions. Once again Jewell Parker Rhodes deftly weaves historical and socio-political layers into a gripping and poignant story about how children and families face the complexities of today's world, and how one boy grows to understand American blackness in the aftermath of his own death.

'The best American political biography since Obama's Dreams from My Father' Guardian NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER A mayor's inspirational story of a Midwest city that has become nothing less than a blueprint for the future of American renewal. Once described by the Washington Post as "the most interesting mayor you've never heard of," Pete Buttigieg, the thirty-seven-year-old mayor of South Bend, Indiana, has now emerged as one of America's most visionary politicians. With soaring prose that celebrates a resurgent American Midwest, Shortest Way Home narrates the heroic transformation of a "dying city" (Newsweek) into nothing less than a shining model of urban reinvention. Elected at twenty-nine as the nation's youngest mayor, Pete Buttigieg immediately recognized that "great cities, and even great nations, are built through attention to the everyday." As Shortest Way Home recalls, the challenges were daunting: whether confronting gun violence, renaming a street in honour of Martin Luther King Jr., or attracting tech companies to a city that had appealed more to junk bond scavengers than serious investors. None of this is underscored more than Buttigieg's audacious campaign to reclaim 1,000 houses, many of them abandoned, in 1,000 days and then, even as a sitting mayor, deploying to serve in Afghanistan as a Navy officer. Yet the most personal challenge still awaited Buttigieg, who came out in a South Bend Tribune editorial, just before being re-elected with 78 percent of the vote, and then finding Chasten Glezman, a middle-school teacher, who would become his partner for life. While Washington reels with scandal, Shortest Way Home, with its graceful, often humorous, language, challenges our perception of the typical American politician. In chronicling two once-unthinkable stories, that of an Afghanistan veteran who came out and found love and acceptance, all while in office, and that of a revitalized Rust Belt city no longer regarded as "flyover country" Buttigieg provides a new vision for America's shortest way home.

My Amazing Journey From Uganda to USA The Legacy Book is a poignant and inspiring autobiography that delves deep into the remarkable life of the enigmatic Surendra Patel. From humble beginnings in Uganda to soaring triumphs in the USA, this captivating memoir takes readers on an emotional rollercoaster through the highs and lows of an extraordinary existence. With unflinching honesty, the author bares his soul, recounting personal struggles and triumphs, heartaches, and moments of sheer joy. From overcoming adversity and defying odds to embracing love and self-discovery, the journey is one of resilience and transformation. This introspective narrative not only reveals the author's innermost thoughts but also offers invaluable life lessons that will resonate with readers of all backgrounds. The Legacy Book is a testament which proves that the most compelling and beautiful story is the one lived authentically.