Leadership

The Charismatic Bond: Douglas Madsen; Peter Snow; Here is a book that takes up where Max Weber left off in his study of charisma and extends the theory with insights from other disciplines and new empirical data. Madsen and Snow demonstrate that magnetic personalities must have willing followers, finding support for their argument in the rise of Juan Perón and the Peronistas in Argentina.; Hardcover 1991 / Paperback 1996

Chinese Elites and Political Change: R. Keith Schoppa; Schoppa divides the counties of Zhejiang Province into four zones according to level of political and economic development and scrupulously analyzes the complex processes of remolding society at the local and provincial levels. By delving beneath the heroic figures and large movements of Chinese political life in this century, he reveals the common factors that make China a part of the worldwide story of reconstruction, reform, and developmental change.; Hardcover 1982

Democratic Accountability: Leif Lewin; Political leaders often claim they have no control over negative outcomes, citing that history rushes onward oblivious of human will. Lewin examines this reasoning and finds it unconvincing. In a staunch defense of the possibility for meaningful and profound democratic decision making, Lewin finds that, not only do political leaders exert enough control to be assigned responsibility, but also that the meaning of a functioning democracy requires the people to hold their leaders accountable.; Hardcover 2007

The French Apanages and the Capetian Monarchy, 1224-1328: Charles T. Wood; An analytical study of the French apanages from their creation to the end of the Capetian period, this pioneering book offers an explanation of why the French kings began the practice of granting fiefs to their younger sons, and why they introduced the curious inheritance restrictions which limited succession in an apanage to direct heirs of the original holder. A clear understanding of the relationship of the apanages to the monarchy, Wood maintains, is a large step toward an understanding of how the monarchy gained control of France and, ultimately, made a nation out of her fragmented provinces.; Hardcover 1966

In Command of France: Robert J. Young; In Command of France combines a detailed survey of French foreign policy during the Nazi period with a careful examination of France's corresponding military planning and preparation. France was under control, the author argues, and credits the civilian and military command with more vision, more determination, more competence than hitherto recognized.; Hardcover 1978

Ivan Aksakov, 1823-1886: Stephen Lukashevich; Aksakov began his fiery career as a critic of Slavophilism, which sought to divorce Russia from the West and all Western influence. Circumstances, however, turned Aksakov into the fanatical leader of the Slavophiles, making him a passionate nationalist and Pan-Slavist, and a fierce anti-Semite. Although he accepted the reforms of the 1860's, he feared that their results would lead to the further Westernization of Russia; and, toward the end of his life, disillusioned and despairing, he lent a generous hand to reaction.; Hardcover 1965

The Meiji Unification through the Lens of Ishikawa Prefecture: James C. Baxter; Credit for the swift unification of Japan following the 1868 overthrow of the Tokugawa shogunate is usually given to the national leaders. In this book, James Baxter argues that brilliant leadership at the top is not sufficient to explain how regional separatist tendencies and loyalties to the old lords were overcome in the formation of a nationally unified state.; Hardcover

A Mosaic of the Hundred Days: Luke S. Kwong; This analysis of the interplay among people and of events leading up to the reform acts of 1898--the Hundred Days--and their abrupt termination presents a new interpretation of the late Ch'ing political scene. The Emperor, the Empress-Dowager, and high-court personalities are followed through the maze of motives and relationships that characterized the power structure in Peking.; Hardcover 1984

Overconfidence and War: Dominic D. P. Johnson; Opponents rarely go to war without thinking they can win--and clearly, one side must be wrong. This conundrum lies at the heart of the so-called "war puzzle": rational states should agree on their differences in power and thus not fight. But as Johnson argues, states are no more rational than people, who are susceptible to exaggerated ideas of their own virtue, of their ability to control events, and of the future. By looking at this bias--called "positive illusions"--as it figures in evolutionary biology, psychology, and the politics of international conflict, this book offers compelling insights into why states wage war.; Hardcover 2004

Political Ethics and Public Office: Dennis Thompson; Hardcover 1987 / Paperback 1990

The Politics Presidents Make: Stephen Skowronek; This wholly innovative study demonstrates that presidents are persistent agents of change, continually disrupting and transforming the political landscape. But each president also inherits a particular type of political context, a regime shaped by his predecessors that he either rejects or affirms.; Paperback 1997

Politics and Policy in Traditional Korea: James B. Palais; Palais theorizes in his important book on Korea that the remarkable longevity of the Yi dynasty (1392-1910) was related to the difficulties the country experienced in adapting to the modern world. He suggests that the aristocratic and hierarchical social system, which was the source of stability of the dynasty, was also the cause of its weakness.; Hardcover 1975 / Paperback 1991

Powerful and Brutal Weapons: Stephen P. Randolph; As America confronts an unpredictable war in Iraq, Randolph returns to an earlier conflict that severely tested our civilian and military leaders. In 1972, America sought to withdraw from Vietnam with its credibility intact, with President Nixon and National Security Advisor Kissinger hoping that gains on the battlefield would strengthen their position at the negotiating table. Randolph's intimate chronicle of the commander-in-chief gains us unprecedented access to how these strategic assessments were made and played out.; Hardcover 2007

Private Lives/Public Consequences: William H. Chafe; A political leader's decisions can determine the fate of a nation, but what determines how and why that leader makes certain choices? William H. Chafe, a distinguished historian of twentieth century America, examines eight of the most significant political leaders of the modern era in order to explore the relationship between their personal patterns of behavior and their political decision-making process. The result is a fascinating look at how personal lives and political fortunes have intersected to shape America over the past fifty years.; Hardcover 2005

The Warrior and the Priest: John Milton Cooper; The colossal figures who shaped the politics of industrial America emerge in full scale in this engrossing comparative biography. In both the depth and sophistication of intellect that they brought to politics and in the titanic conflict they waged with each other, Roosevelt and Wilson were, like Hamilton and Jefferson before them, the political architects for an entire century.; Paperback

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