Drawing on a quarter-century's work, Fred I. Greenstein, one of our keenest observers of the modern presidency, provides a fascinating and instructive account of the qualities that have served well and poorly in the Oval Office from Franklin D. Roosevelt's first hundred days to the beginning of George W. Bush's presidency. Greenstein offers a series of bottom-line judgments on each of his twelve subjects and a bold new explanation of why presidents succeed or fail. Previous analysts have placed their bets on the president's political prowess or personal character. Yet by the first standard, LBJ should have been our greatest president, and by the second the nod would go to Jimmy Carter. Greenstein surveys each president's record in public communication, political skill, vision, cognitive style, and emotional intelligence--and argues that the last is the most important in predicting presidential success.
Leading Minds addresses a crucial and often ignored component of leadership -- the mind. What distinguishes the mind of an effective leader, and what is the mentality of his or her followers? Gardner links the study of creativity with the study of leadership to demonstrate the many similarities between traditional creators (artists and scientists) and leaders in business, politics and the military. He argues that the key to leadership is the creation of an arresting story -- one that grabs the followers' attention and inspires them to greater efforts. In portraits of a wide range of leaders -- from Oppenheimer to Gandhi -- Gardner re-creates each of their stories, shows where each fits in the matrix of "leader archetypes", and reveals the ways in which they ultimately succeed or fail.
(3)Obama, the son of a white American mother and a black African father, writes an elegant and compelling biography that powerfully articulates America's racial battleground and tells of his search for his place in black America. 8 pages of photos.
(1)This great question of Pearl Harbor -- what did we know and when did we know it? -- has been argued for years. But no investigator has ever been able to prove that foreknowledge of the attack existed at the highest levels. Until now. After decades of Freedom of Information Act requests, Robert B. Stinnett has gathered the long-hidden evidence that shatters every shibboleth of Pearl Harbor. Not only was the attack expected, it was deliberately provoked through an eight-step program devised by the Navy. Whereas previous investigators have claimed that our government did not crack Japan's military codes before December 7, 1941. Stinnett offers cable after cable of decryptions. He proves that a Japanese spy on the island transmitted information -- including a map of bombing targets -- beginning on August 21, and that we knew all about it. The evidence is overwhelming. At the highest levels -- on FDR's desk -- America had ample warning of the pending attack. At those same levels, it was understood that the isolationist American public would not support a declaration of war unless we were attacked first. The result was a plan to anger Japan, to keep the loyal officers responsible for Pearl Harbor in the dark, and thus to drag America into the greatest war of her existence. Day of Deceit is the definitive final chapter on America's greatest secret and our worst military disaster.
