Books about Inauguration from Amazon.com

A close-up on one of American history's most magical events, JFK's inaugural week, and the creation of the speech that inspired a generation and brought hope to a nation "Ask not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country." On the January morning when John F. Kennedy assumed the presidency and stood to speak those words, America was divided, its citizens torn by fears of war. Kennedy's speech-called the finest since Lincoln at Gettysburg and the most memorable of any twentieth-century American politician-did more than reassure: it changed lives, marking the start of a brief, optimistic era of struggle against "tyranny, poverty, disease, and war itself." Ask Not is a beautifully detailed account of the week leading up to the inaugural which stands as one of the most moving spectacles in the history of American politics. At the heart of the narrative is Kennedy's quest to create a speech that would distill American dreams and empower a new generation. Thurston Clarke's portrait of JFK during what intimates called his happiest days is balanced, revealing the President at his most dazzlingly charismatic-and cunningly pragmatic. As the snow covers Washington in a blanket of white, as statesmen and celebrities arrive for candlelit festivities, the perfectionist Kennedy pushes himself to the limit, to find the words that would capture what he most truly believed and which would far outlast his own life. For everyone who seeks to understand the fascination with all things Kennedy, the answer can be found in Ask Not.

Ward H. Lamon’s biography, which first appeared in 1872, presented a rustic portrait of the young Lincoln as he would be depicted in numerous books and later in movies: "He wore flax and tow linen pantaloons—I thought about five inches too short in the legs—and frequently he had but one suspender, no vest or coat." Straightforward in tone, the book was the first challenge to the filiopietistic school of Abraham Lincoln biography.

One of Lincoln’s few close friends, Lamon based his book on materials gathered by Lincoln’s law partner William Herndon. Lamon’s was the first Lincoln biography to be based on this indispensable collection. Joining forces with a politically well-connected ghost writer, Chauncey F. Black, Lamon produced a book controversial for its treatment of Lincoln’s paternity, his courtships and marriage, and its assertion of Lincoln’s lack of Christian faith. The Life of Abraham Lincoln from His Birth to His Inauguration as President was initially rejected by reviewers and the reading public as too invasive of Lincoln’s privacy. Today’s readers can relish the vivid account of Lincoln’s boyhood, his young manhood, and his years in the Illinois legislature. Full accounts of Lincoln’s relationships with Ann Rutledge, Mary Owens, and Mary Todd are equally valuable.