A new history and evaluation of the "imperial presidency." Recent presidents have exploited the power of the American presidency more fully than their predecessors--and with greater consequence than the framers of the Constitution anticipated. This book, in the tradition of Arthur Schlesinger's 1973 Imperial Presidency, explores how American presidents--especially those of the past three decades--have increased the power of the presidency at the expense...

This meticulously researched account of assaults on democracy by five presidents who imprisoned critics, spread a culture of white supremacy and committed crimes with impunity shows how citizens like Frederick Douglass, Ida B. Wells and Daniel Ellsberg fought back against presidential abuses of power.

"For decades now, America's national security state has grown ever bigger, ever more secretive and powerful, and ever more abusive. Only once did someone manage to put a stop to any of it. Senator Frank Church of Idaho was an unlikely hero. He led congressional opposition to the Vietnam War and had become a scathing, radical critic of what he saw as American imperialism around the world. But he was still politically ambitious, privately yearning for...