Speakers of the House recounts how speakers through the centuries have wielded their power in the U.S. House of Representatives. Published by Franklin Watts in 1994 as part of the Democracy in Action series, the book profiles Henry Clay, Thomas Brackett Reed, Joe Cannon, Sam Rayburn, Tip O’Neill, and Tom Foley. Each faced profound decisions about the admission of slave states, civil rights legislation, the procedures of the House, funding of undercover wars, and stemming the national deficit. Their stories of leadership are all part of “a grand experiment in freedom,” as former Speaker Thomas S. Foley says in the foreword.