One nation under sex: how the private lives of presidents, first ladies and their lovers changed the course of American history

Ben Franklin saved the American revolution by seducing French women. An earlyAmerican sex scandal set the nation on the path to the Civil War. A gay love affair between James Buchanan and Senator William King aided the secession movement. The sex lives of America's most powerful leaders have been so whitewashed by historians that people think George Washington and Abe Lincoln were madeof marble, not flesh and blood. Here, notorious Hustler publisher Larry Flyntand historian David Eisenbach reflect on the sexual mores of eras past and present, and the evolving role of the press as truth seekers and opinion makers,and discuss how America can reform its politics and begin addressing the realproblems that threaten our nation. Along the way, they shed new light on key events like the American Revolution and the Civil War, showing that the root of political moralism is not religious conviction but cynical hypocrisy and revealing how Americans can fulfill the promise of the Pledge of Allegiance and truly secure liberty and justice for all. Did You Know?. * Ben Franklin's well-earned reputation as a ladies' man aided his effort. to secure France's military assistance during the Revolutionary War. * Thomas Jefferson exposed Alexander Hamilton's affair with Maria. Reynolds to foil his plans to modernize the banking system and. industrialize the economy. * James Buchanan's gay love affair with a slave owner made him a. proslavery advocate who encouraged secessionists on the eve of the. Civil War. * During World War I, Warren G. Harding hadan affair with a German . spy who blackmailed the Republican Party when he ran for president. * The FBI believed that John Kennedy had affairs with a Nazi spy during World War II and an East German spy during the Cold War. * During the Lewinsky scandal, Larry Flynt used his sex files to help save Bill Clinton's presidency. . Larry Flynt is the legendary publisher of Hustler magazine and has been a famous crusader for Frst Amendment and privacy rights for over three decades. His landmark Supreme Court case, Hustler Magazine v. Falwell, is taught in lawschools throughout the United States. A former political candidate himself, Flynt remains active in his longstanding campaign to expose sexual hypocrisy inpolitics and transform the national political dialogue. He lives in Los Angeles, California. . David Eisenbach, Ph.D., is a Professor of American History at Columbia University, where he teaches courses on political history and the presidency. He was the creator, writer, and host of the two-hour History Channel special, The Beltway Unbuckled , about how presidential sex shaped American history. His first book, Gay Power: An American Revolution, won the ALA 2007 Stonewall Honor Book award and the Lambda Literary Foundation named it a finalist for the LGBT Studies Award. He lives in New York City. INDICE: Introduction - Founding Flirts and Fornicators - Sex and the CivilWar - Affairs of State - The Ballad of Franklin and Eleanor - America's Sex Czar - The Nude Frontier - Sex, Death and the Kennedys - The Full Bill Clinton - Conclusion: Fulfilling the Pledge -

• ISBN: 978-0-230-10503-4
• Editorial: Palgrave MacM
• Encuadernacion: Cartoné
• Páginas: 304
• Fecha Publicación: 26/05/2011
• Nº Volúmenes: 1
• Idioma: Inglés