Jim Scripps' widow and her two young sons established the Scripps League Newspapers and started purchasing newspapers in small towns, establishing a chain that stretches from Massachusetts to Hawaii.

Newspaper publisher and GOP kingmaker Nackey Scripps Loeb headed the Union Leader Corporation, one of the most unusual—and influential—local newspaper companies in the United States. Her unapologetic conservatism and powerful perch in the home of the first-in-the-nation presidential primary elicited fear and respect while her leadership of New Hampshire’s Union Leader gave her an outsized role in American politics. In Political Godmother Meg Heckman looks at Loeb’s rough-and-tumble political life against the backdrop of the right-wing media landscape of the late twentieth century. Heckman reveals Loeb as a force of nature, more than willing to wield her tremendous clout and able to convince the likes of Pat Buchanan to challenge a sitting president. Although Loeb initially had no interest in the newspaper business, she eventually penned more than a thousand front-page editorials, drew political cartoons, and became a regular on C-SPAN. A fascinating look at power politics in action, Political Godmother reveals how one woman ignited conservatism’s transformation of the contemporary Republican Party.

This is the seventh volume of Dr. Justin Glenn’s comprehensive history that traces the “Presidential line” of the Washingtons. Volume one began with the immigrant John Washington, who settled in Westmoreland Co., Va., in 1657, married Anne Pope, and became the great-grandfather of President George Washington. It continued the record of their descendants for a total of seven generations. Volume two highlighted notable members of the next eight generations, including such luminaries as General George S. Patton, the author Shelby Foote, and the actor Lee Marvin. Volume three traced the ancestry of the early Virginia members of this “Presidential Branch” back to the royalty and nobility of England and continental Europe. Volumes four, five, and six treated respectively generations eight, nine, and ten. Volume Seven presents generation eleven, comprising more than 10,000 descendants of the immigrant John Washington. Although structured in a genealogical format for the sake of clarity, this is no bare bones genealogy but a true family history with over 1,200 detailed biographical narratives. These strive to convey the greatness of the family that produced not only The Father of His Country but many others, great and humble, who struggled to build that country. Volume Seven, Part One covers the descendants of the immigrant’s children Lawrence and John Washington, Jr. Volume Seven, Part Two covers the descendants of the immigrant’s child Anne (Washington) Wright.

Part of a series filled with “gratifying detail” about the ancestry of the first US President, this volume contains the tenth-generation descendants. (Robert K. Krick, author of The Smoothbore Volley that Doomed the Confederacy, Stonewall Jackson at Cedar Mountain, and Lee’s Colonels) This is the sixth volume of Dr. Justin Glenn’s comprehensive history that traces the “Presidential line” of the Washingtons, the vast family originated by the immigrant John Washington, who settled in Westmoreland Co., Va., in 1657, married Anne Pope, and became the great-grandfather of President George Washington. This volume contains the late nineteenth and twentieth century born descendants of John Washington’s daughter, Anne (Washington) Wright and as such transports the reader through many of the major historical events of those eras by providing the stories of the family members who lived through them. Although structured in a genealogical format for the sake of clarity, this is no bare bones genealogy but a true family history with over 1,200 detailed biographical narratives. These in turn strive to convey the greatness of the family that produced not only The Father of His Country but many others, great and humble, who struggled to build that country. “It is surprising that no comprehensive family history has been published. Justin M. Glenn’s The Washingtons: A Family History finally fills this void for the branch to which General and President George Washington belonged, identifying some 63,000 descendants.” —John Frederick Dorman, editor of The Virginia Genealogist (1957–2006) and author of Adventurers of Purse and Person

Molly McClain tells the remarkable story of Ellen Browning Scripps (1836-1932), an American newspaperwoman, feminist, suffragist, abolitionist, and social reformer who used her fortune to support women's education, the labor movement, and public access to science, the arts, and education. Born in London, Scripps grew up in rural poverty on the Illinois prairie. She went from rags to riches, living out that cherished American story in which people pull themselves up by their bootstraps with audacity, hard work, and luck. She and her brother E.W. Scripps built America's largest chain of newspapers, linking Midwestern industrial cities with booming towns in the West. Less well known today than the papers started by Joseph Pulitzer and William Randolph Hearst, Scripps newspapers transformed their owners into millionaires almost overnight. By the 1920s Scripps was worth an estimated $30 million, most of which she gave away. She established the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla, California, and appeared on the cover of Time magazine after founding Scripps College in Claremont, California. She also provided major financial support to organizations worldwide that promised to advance democratic principles and public education. In Ellen Browning Scripps McClain brings to life an extraordinary woman who played a vital role in the history of women, California, and the American West. Molly McClain is a professor of history at the University of San Diego. She is the author of Beaufort: The Duke and His Duchess, 1657-1715 and Schaum's Quick Guide to Writing Great Essays. She also coedits the Journal of San Diego History.

This is the second volume of a comprehensive history that traces the “Presidential line” of the Washingtons. Volume one began with the immigrant John Washington who settled in Westmoreland Co., Va., in 1657, married Anne Pope, and was the great-grandfather of President George Washington. It continued the record of their descendants for a total of seven generations. Volume two is a collection of notable descendants of the next eight generations of John and Anne Washington’s descendants, including such luminaries as General George S. Patton, the author Shelby Foote, and the actor Lee Marvin. Future volumes will trace generations eight through fifteen, making a total of over 63,000 descendants. Although structured in a genealogical format for the sake of clarity, this is no bare bones genealogy but a true family history with over 1,200 detailed biographical narratives. These in turn strive to convey the greatness of the family that produced not only The Father of His Country but many others, great and humble, who struggled to build that country. The Washingtons includes the time-honored John Wright line which in recent years has been challenged largely on the basis of DNA evidence. Volumes one and two form a set, with a cumulative bibliography appearing at the end of volume two.