The very best historians in the land consider types of great leadership, popular and surprising, from Washington to Willkie and more.

What made FDR a far more successful leader through the Depression turmoil than Hoover? Why was Eisenhower more effective as supreme commander during World War II than he was as president? Why was Grant one of the best presidents of his day time, if not in every of American history? What drove Bobby Kennedy in to the scrum of electoral politics? Who was Pauli Murray and just why was she probably one of the most decisive numbers in the movement for civil rights?

Find the astonishing and revelatory answers to these questions and more within this assortment of new essays by great historians, including Sean Wilentz, Alan Brinkley, Annette Gordon-Reed, Jean Strouse, Robert Dallek, Frances FitzGerald, while others. Entertaining and insightful individually, taken collectively the essays represent a valuable set of reflections over the enduring ingredients of leadership.