Chris DeRose Books in Order

James Madison and James Monroe competed for a Virginia congressional seat in 1789, with the new Constitution’s future in the balance. Chris DeRose follows their campaign, its political stakes, and the struggle over the protections that became the Bill of Rights.

This account examines Abraham Lincoln’s two years in Congress and the political experience that helped shape his presidency. His Whig loyalties, opposition to the Mexican War, personal relationships, and strategic calculations reveal a developing leader balancing conviction with political survival.

During the Civil War, Abraham Lincoln governed while five former presidents remained alive. Chris DeRose examines their advice, opposition, divided loyalties, and responses to national crisis, showing how these predecessors influenced debates over war, union, slavery, and presidential power.

Congressman Daniel Sickles’s discovery of his wife’s affair with Philip Barton Key led to a public killing in Washington. Drawing on contemporary accounts, Chris DeRose reconstructs the murder and sensational trial that provoked arguments about fidelity, honor, madness, and justice.

Returning World War II veterans confronted entrenched corruption and election fraud in McMinn County, Tennessee. This history reconstructs the 1946 Battle of Athens, tracing how efforts to restore fair local government escalated into an armed challenge to the ruling political machine.