Welcome, history buffs, political junkies, and controversialists. I’m a historian, biographer, and journalist, who writes about everything from today’s headlines to the Constitutional Convention; from the Federalist Party, to the Marijuana Reform Party; from the battle of Saratoga to the Terror War. Here you’ll find out about my books, my journalism, and my public appearances. — Richard Brookhiser

James Madison

Basic Books, 2011

August 24, 1814 began as a typical summer day in Washington: bright and cloudless, promising heat and humidity as the day wore on. For years, James Madison, the president, had fled high summer in Washington and other low-lying cities for the healthier air of his inland home in the Virginia Piedmont. But this August his presence was required in the…[read more]