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The most photographed American of the nineteenth century
 
As Grant battled relentlessly down the Tennessee River and across Tennessee, defending Shiloh, he was followed by an enterprising group of studio photographers hoping to profit from the public’s demand for images of the rising general from the West. They never stopped because Grant never stopped. Thus far, 307 distinct photographs have been found of Ulysses S. Grant, revealing him to be the most photographed American of the nineteenth century. 
 
Readers of Ulysses S. Grant: A Photographic History travel alongside Grant through the Civil War and his two terms as president, on his unusual two-year journey around the world, and to his final days on Mount McGregor. The sheer volume of exposure shows the toll of duty, war, and command. From every angle, this collection captures Grant’s regard for soldier and family, his disregard of uniform, and his disheveled appearance that reflected his resilience. The reader will look into the eyes of a man who saw the worst and labored for the best. 
 
This curated volume opens the largest collection of Grant photos to the public for the first time. Excerpts from Grant’s personal writings divulge his candid thoughts about the people he posed with and the situations he faced around the time the photographs were taken. An extraordinary addition to Grant scholarship, Ulysses S. Grant: A Photographic History will be the photographic reference work on Grant for decades to come as the simple man from Ohio continues to astonish the world.

Undercurrents recounts the life and career of John Byrne, who started as a geologist at an oil company and retired as president of a major land grant university. He came to Oregon State in 1960 as a faculty member, later becoming department chair, dean, director of the Hatfield Marine Science Center, and vice president for Research and Graduate Studies. Along the way, he took leave from the university to serve the US government, first as a program director for oceanography at the National Science Foundation, and later as the administrator of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, before returning to OSU in 1984 as its twelfth president.

As president of OSU, John Byrne used the lessons learned in industry and government to guide the university through a period of turbulence caused by severe state budget restrictions. During this period of economic contraction, OSU continued under Byrne’s leadership to grow in programs, facilities, and external funding. Byrne was one of the first to introduce Total Quality Management techniques to higher education. He emphasized the importance of international education and was a supporter of significant academic reform in higher education.

While focusing on his professional career, Byrne’s memoir also shares personal stories of a childhood and youth shaped by the Great Depression and World War II. Undercurrents demonstrates on every page the curiosity, intellect, and humanity that made John Byrne successful as a scientist, educator, and administrator. Anyone pursuing a career in science or academia, and anyone interested in the history and legacy of land grant universities will welcome this richly detailed and warmly written account of Byrne’s career.

When Thomas Jefferson struck a deal for the Louisiana Purchase in 1803, he knew he was adding a new national power to those specified in the Constitution, but he also believed his actions were in the nation’s best interest. His successors would follow his example, setting their own constitutional precedents. Tracing the evolution and expansion of the president’s formal power, Untrodden Ground reveals the president to be the nation’s most important law interpreter and examines how our commanders-in-chief have shaped the law through their responses to important issues of their time.
           
Reviewing the processes taken by all forty-four presidents to form new legal precedents and the constitutional conventions that have developed as a result, Harold H. Bruff shows that the president is both more and less powerful than many suppose. He explores how presidents have been guided by both their predecessors’ and their own interpretations of constitutional text, as well as how they implement policies in ways that statutes do not clearly authorize or forbid. But while executive power has expanded far beyond its original conception, Bruff argues that the modern presidency is appropriately limited by the national political process—their actions are legitimized by the assent of Congress and the American people or rejected through debilitating public outcry, judicial invalidation, reactive legislation, or impeachment. Synthesizing over two hundred years of presidential activity and conflict, this timely book casts new light on executive behavior and the American constitutional system.