Narratives Of Empire
The ''Narratives of Empire'' series is a heptalogy of historical novels by Gore Vidal, published between 1967 and 2000, which chronicle the dawn-to-decadence history of the "American Empire American imperialism refers to the expansion of American political, economic, cultural, and media influence beyond the boundaries of the United States. Depending on the commentator, it may include imperialism through outright military conquest ..."; the narratives interweave the personal stories of two families with the personages and events of U.S. history. Despite the publisher's preference for the politically neutral series-title "American Chronicles", Vidal preferred the series title "Narratives of Empire". The seven novels can be read in either historical or publication order without losing narrative intelligibility.Vidal, Gore. (2006) ''Point to Point Navigation: a memoir, 1964 to 2000'', p. 123. References {{American-chronicle American historical novels Heptalogies Novel se ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Heptalogy
A heptalogy (; from Greek ἑπτα- ''hepta-'', "seven" and -λογία ''-logia'', "discourse"), also known as a septology, is a compound literary or narrative work that is made up of seven distinct works. While not in wide usage, it has been used to describe such examples as the ''Harry Potter'' series of books, * * and ''The Chronicles of Narnia''. Examples See also * Trilogy * Tetralogy * List of feature film series with seven entries This is a list of film series that have seven entries. B *''Bring It On'' *#''Bring It On'' (2000) *#''Bring It On Again'' (2004) (V) *#'' Bring It On: All or Nothing'' (2006) (V) *#'' Bring It On: In It to Win It'' (2007) (V) *#'' Bring It O ... References Books by type Film series Literary series Musical form Narrative forms Series of books {{Lit-genre-stub ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Andrew Jackson
Andrew Jackson (March 15, 1767 – June 8, 1845) was an American lawyer, planter, general, and statesman who served as the seventh president of the United States from 1829 to 1837. Before being elected to the presidency, he gained fame as a general in the United States Army and served in both houses of the U.S. Congress. Although often praised as an advocate for ordinary Americans and for his work in preserving the union of states, Jackson has also been criticized for his racial policies, particularly his treatment of Native Americans. Jackson was born in the colonial Carolinas before the American Revolutionary War. He became a frontier lawyer and married Rachel Donelson Robards. He served briefly in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, representing Tennessee. After resigning, he served as a justice on the Tennessee Supreme Court from 1798 until 1804. Jackson purchased a property later known as the Hermitage, becoming a wealthy plan ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Elihu Washburne
Elihu Benjamin Washburne (September 23, 1816 – October 22, 1887) was an American politician and diplomat. A member of the Washburn family, which played a prominent role in the early formation of the United States Republican Party, he served as a congressman from Illinois before and during the American Civil War. He was a political ally of President Abraham Lincoln and General (later President) Ulysses S. Grant. During Grant's administration, Washburne was the 25th United States Secretary of State briefly in 1869, and was the United States Minister to France from 1869 to 1877. In his youth, when his family became destitute, Washburne left home in Maine at the age of 14, to support himself and further his education. After working for newspapers in Maine and studying law, Washburne passed the bar and moved to Galena, Illinois, where he became a partner in a successful law firm. Washburne was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives in 1852 and served from 1853 to 1869, which ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John George Nicolay
John George Nicolay (February 26, 1832 – September 26, 1901) was a German-born American author and diplomat who served as private secretary to U.S. President Abraham Lincoln and later co-authored '' Abraham Lincoln: A History'', a biography of the 16th president. He was a member of the German branch of the Nicolay family. Early life He was born Johann Georg Nicolai in Essingen, Kingdom of Bavaria. In 1838, he immigrated to the United States with his father and attended school in Cincinnati. Career Nicolay moved to Illinois, where he edited the ''Pike County Free Press'' at Pittsfield, and became a political power in the state. Then he became assistant to the secretary of state of Illinois. While in this position, he met Abraham Lincoln and became his devoted adherent. In 1861, Lincoln appointed Nicolay as his private secretary, which was the first official act of his new administration. Nicolay served in this capacity until Lincoln's death in 1865. Shortly before his ass ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Hay
John Milton Hay (October 8, 1838July 1, 1905) was an American statesman and official whose career in government stretched over almost half a century. Beginning as a private secretary and assistant to Abraham Lincoln, Hay's highest office was United States Secretary of State under Presidents William McKinley and Theodore Roosevelt. Hay was also an author and biographer, and wrote poetry and other literature throughout much of his life. Born in Indiana to an anti-slavery family that moved to Warsaw, Illinois when he was young, Hay showed great potential, and his family sent him to Brown University. After graduation in 1858, Hay read law in his uncle's office in Springfield, Illinois, adjacent to that of Lincoln. Hay worked for Lincoln's successful presidential campaign and became one of his private secretaries at the White House. Throughout the American Civil War, Hay was close to Lincoln and stood by his deathbed after the President was shot at Ford's Theatre. In addition to hi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states that had seceded. The central cause of the war was the dispute over whether slavery would be permitted to expand into the western territories, leading to more slave states, or be prevented from doing so, which was widely believed would place slavery on a course of ultimate extinction. Decades of political controversy over slavery were brought to a head by the victory in the 1860 U.S. presidential election of Abraham Lincoln, who opposed slavery's expansion into the west. An initial seven southern slave states responded to Lincoln's victory by seceding from the United States and, in 1861, forming the Confederacy. The Confederacy seized U.S. forts and other federal assets within their borders. Led by Confederate President Jefferson Davis, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Abraham Lincoln
Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the American Civil War and succeeded in preserving the Union, abolishing slavery, bolstering the federal government, and modernizing the U.S. economy. Lincoln was born into poverty in a log cabin in Kentucky and was raised on the frontier, primarily in Indiana. He was self-educated and became a lawyer, Whig Party leader, Illinois state legislator, and U.S. Congressman from Illinois. In 1849, he returned to his successful law practice in central Illinois. In 1854, he was angered by the Kansas–Nebraska Act, which opened the territories to slavery, and he re-entered politics. He soon became a leader of the new Republican Party. He reached a national audience in the 1858 Senate campaign debates against Stephen A. Douglas. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lincoln (novel)
''Lincoln: A Novel'' is a 1984 historical novel, part of the ''Narratives of Empire'' series by Gore Vidal. The novel describes the presidency of Abraham Lincoln and extends from the start of the American Civil War until his assassination. Rather than focus on the Civil War itself, the novel is centred on Lincoln's political and personal struggles. Though Lincoln is the focus, the book is never narrated from his point of view (with the exception of several paragraphs describing a dream Lincoln had shortly before his death); Vidal instead writes from the perspective of key historical figures. He draws from contemporary diaries, memoirs, letters, newspaper accounts, the biographical writings of John Hay and John Nicolay (Lincoln's secretaries), and the work of modern historians. Plot, Style and Themes Style The novel is part of Gore Vidal’s ‘Narratives of Empire’ series and joins his other works; Burr (1973), 1876 (1976) and Washington D.C. (1967) as chronicles of Am ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Washington Irving
Washington Irving (April 3, 1783 – November 28, 1859) was an American short-story writer, essayist, biographer, historian, and diplomat of the early 19th century. He is best known for his short stories "Rip Van Winkle" (1819) and " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" (1820), both of which appear in his collection ''The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.'' His historical works include biographies of Oliver Goldsmith, Muhammad and George Washington, as well as several histories of 15th-century Spain that deal with subjects such as Alhambra, Christopher Columbus and the Moors. Irving served as American ambassador to Spain in the 1840s. Born and raised in Manhattan to a merchant family, Irving made his literary debut in 1802 with a series of observational letters to the ''Morning Chronicle'', written under the pseudonym Jonathan Oldstyle. He temporarily moved to England for the family business in 1815 where he achieved fame with the publication of ''The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Cr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Edwin Forrest
Edwin Forrest (March 9, 1806December 12, 1872) was a prominent nineteenth-century American Shakespearean actor. His feud with the British actor William Macready was the cause of the deadly Astor Place Riot of 1849. Early life Forrest was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Rebecca (''née'' Lauman) and William Forrest. His father, a Scottish merchandise peddler, moved from Dumfriesshire to Trenton, New Jersey in 1791. His mother was a member of an affluent German-American family. A business setback led William to relocate to Philadelphia, where he married Rebecca and was able to secure a position with a local branch of the United States Bank. As boys, Forrest and his brother William joined a local juvenile thespian club and participated in theatrical performances staged in a sparsely decorated woodshed. At the age of 11, Forrest made his first appearance on the legitimate stage at Philadelphia's South Street Theatre, playing the female role Rosalia de Borgia in the ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jane Cazneau
Jane Maria Eliza Cazneau (née McManus, widowed Storm; April 6, 1768 – December 12, 1878) was an Irish-American journalist, lobbyist, and publicist who advocated the annexation of all of Mexico during the Mexican–American War. Education and early career She was born on April 6, 1807, in Brunswick, Rensselaer County, New York, the daughter of Congressman William McManus and Catharine (Coons) McManus. She attended Troy Female Seminary, one of the earliest colleges for women, but did not graduate. On August 22, 1825, she married Allen B. Storm. They separated in 1831, and Allen Storm died 1838 in New York City. Their son, William Mont Storm (b. August 2, 1826), became an inventor whose first invention was patented on Feb. 4, 1851 for an "Improved method of obtaining motive power". He had at least 33 patents to his name, with most in firearms, but many other devices as well. In 1832, Jane's father ventured into land speculation, and was one of the founders of the Galveston Bay ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Samuel Swartwout
Samuel Swartwout (November 17, 1783 – November 21, 1856) was an American soldier, merchant, speculator, and politician. He is best known for his role in the Swartwout-Hoyt scandal, in which he was alleged to have embezzled $1,222,705.09 during his tenure as Collector of the Port of New York. Early life Swartwout was born in Poughkeepsie, New York, Poughkeepsie, Dutchess County, New York on November 17, 1783. He was one of seven children born to Abraham Swartwout (1743–1799) and Maria (née North) Swartwout. Along with his brothers John and Brigadier General Robert Swartwout, Samuel was a close ally of Aaron Burr in his early career in New York State politics. He remained close to Burr throughout the latter's life, and was his traveling companion on several long trips. Career Swartwout was an active participant in Burr's venture in the West and in the Burr conspiracy, conspiracy trial that resulted from it. In October 1806, he met with Gen. James Wilkinson at the Sabine ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |