u003cbu003eu003ciu003eNEW YORK TIMESu003c/iu003e BESTSELLERu003c/bu003eu003cbru003e u003cbru003eu003cbu003e“After five decades of magisterial output, Doris Kearns Goodwin leads the league of presidential historians. Insight is her imprint.”—u003ciu003eUSA TODAYu003c/iu003eu003c/bu003eu003cbru003e u003cbru003eu003cbu003e“A book like u003ciu003eLeadershipu003c/iu003e should help us raise our expectations of our national leaders, our country and ourselves.”—u003ciu003eThe Washington Postu003c/iu003eu003c/bu003eu003cbru003e u003cbru003eu003cbu003e“We can only hope that a few of Goodwin’s many readers will find in her subjects’ examples a margin of inspiration and a resolve to steer the country to a better place.”—u003ciu003eThe New York Times Book Reviewu003c/iu003eu003c/bu003eu003cbru003e u003cbru003eu003cbu003eIn this culmination of five decades of acclaimed studies in presidential history, Pulitzer Prize-winning author Doris Kearns Goodwin offers an illuminating exploration of the early development, growth, and exercise of leadership.u003c/bu003eu003cbru003eu003cbru003eAre leaders born or made? Where does ambition come from? How does adversity affect the growth of leadership? Does the leader make the times or do the times make the leader?u003cbru003e u003cbru003e In u003ciu003eLeadershipu003c/iu003e, Goodwin draws upon the four presidents she has studied most closely—Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson (in civil rights)—to show how they recognized leadership qualities within themselves and were recognized as leaders by others. By looking back to their first entries into public life, we encounter them at a time when their paths were filled with confusion, fear, and hope.u003cbru003e u003cbru003e u003ciu003eLeadership u003c/iu003etells the story of how they all collided with dramatic reversals that disrupted their lives and threatened to shatter forever their ambitions. Nonetheless, they all emerged fitted to confront the contours and dilemmas of their times.u003cbru003e u003cbru003e No common pattern describes the trajectory of leadership. Although set apart in background, abilities, and temperament, these men shared a fierce ambition and a deep-seated resilience that enabled them to surmount uncommon hardships. At their best, all four were guided by a sense of moral purpose. At moments of great challenge, they were able to summon their talents to enlarge the opportunities and lives of others.u003cbru003e u003cbru003e This seminal work provides an accessible and essential road map for aspiring and established leaders in every field. In today’s polarized world, these stories of authentic leadership in times of apprehension and fracture take on a singular urgency.
