Books: Leisure reading

'The Genuine Article'

By Edmund Morgan

Norton, $26.95.

This collection of 24 essays is an intellectual autobiography by one of America's greatest historians, Edmund Morgan, a professor of history emeritus at Yale University and author of an acclaimed biography of Benjamin Franklin.

"These pieces," says Morgan, "are thus a statement of what I have thought about early Americans during nearly 70 years in their company."

Morgan's book is divided into four parts — New Englanders, Southerners, Revolutionaries and Questions of Culture. The individual essays range from "the sexiness of the Puritans" to the "secrets of Benjamin Franklin."

Morgan includes in-depth profiles of many of the colonial era's most important figures — including John Adams, James Madison, Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin. In the title essay, "The Genuine Article," Morgan treats George Washington, still seen by many as an enigma. He hints at his interpretation this way — "It is hard for anyone who discovers George Washington not to write about him, perhaps because he is so hard to discover and such a surprise when you do."

Morgan's style is so accessible that the average person with an interest in history will find him thoroughly delightful. — Dennis Lythgoe

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'1912'

By James Chace

Simon & Schuster, $25.95.

As the 2004 presidential election nears, James Chace, a veteran scholar and writer, has focused on the election of 1912, "The Election that Changed the Country," when four extraordinary men sought the presidency.

The major issues concerned the excesses of industrial capitalism. Technically, the election was between Woodrow Wilson, the Democrat, and William Howard Taft, the Republican. But Teddy Roosevelt, the charismatic president who preceded Taft, came out of retirement to oppose him. In addition, Eugene Debs, a perpetual presidential candidate and a man of exceptional ability, represented the Socialist Party.