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4.3 AVERAGE
4.3 AVERAGE
I am grateful to the publisher (Simon & Schuster) and the author (Doris Kearns Goodwin, DKG) for the advanced reader’s copy (ARC) which I received via Goodreads Giveaways.
I was particularly excited to receive this book, as it was already at the top of my to-buy list. This certainly did not disappoint.
DKG is a national treasure; I often think of her as our nation’s Historian Emeritus. Her research is incredibly thorough and well-documented. Toward that end, the length of the book intimidated me, until I realized how much of it was devoted to bibliography and research notes. I am glad that she documents everything in appendices, rather than as footnotes which tend to interrupt the flow of reading on each page.
The book is well organized into 4 sections (basically: formative years, early career, leadership in turbulent times, and post-career). Within those sections, we learn about four presidents who led our country through particularly trying times in our history and to their goals for our greatness: Lincoln (Civil War and emancipation), Teddy Roosevelt (Square Deal), Franklin Roosevelt (New Deal), and LBJ (Great Society).
These four men had particularly divergent childhoods and moments of turbulence and seminal change. DKG does a great job of comparing and contrasting. She goes into great detail, including documented conversations and writings from those who knew each of these men. These aren’t just the facts in any given history book. We get to know the mean and how they came into their own, and how they shaped our country’s past and therefore our future.
I found the book particularly comforting, to know that we have had such excellence in leadership before, and someday we will again.
I was particularly excited to receive this book, as it was already at the top of my to-buy list. This certainly did not disappoint.
DKG is a national treasure; I often think of her as our nation’s Historian Emeritus. Her research is incredibly thorough and well-documented. Toward that end, the length of the book intimidated me, until I realized how much of it was devoted to bibliography and research notes. I am glad that she documents everything in appendices, rather than as footnotes which tend to interrupt the flow of reading on each page.
The book is well organized into 4 sections (basically: formative years, early career, leadership in turbulent times, and post-career). Within those sections, we learn about four presidents who led our country through particularly trying times in our history and to their goals for our greatness: Lincoln (Civil War and emancipation), Teddy Roosevelt (Square Deal), Franklin Roosevelt (New Deal), and LBJ (Great Society).
These four men had particularly divergent childhoods and moments of turbulence and seminal change. DKG does a great job of comparing and contrasting. She goes into great detail, including documented conversations and writings from those who knew each of these men. These aren’t just the facts in any given history book. We get to know the mean and how they came into their own, and how they shaped our country’s past and therefore our future.
I found the book particularly comforting, to know that we have had such excellence in leadership before, and someday we will again.
informative
inspiring
slow-paced
I listened to this book as part of the 2020 goals for nonfiction. A special shout out to my kind friend for suggesting the books I have on this list. Two books up and two book downs so far for this goal and both have been excellent.
What I liked.
I loved the writing by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Her ability to put me in the time period and to make me feel like I'm walking alongside these leaders was impressive. That glimpse into the minds of these historical figures made the entire book feel more intimate than I was expecting. Masterfully done.
I also loved feeling admiration for these leaders. I think, when you are in the moment, that can be a lot harder to do. With the lens and weight of history looking back I think it can be a lot easier to do. Especially when you are given a more inside view of the ongoings of their lives. To empathize with these men and feel some measure of what they felt had me invested in their stories and their successes and failures. This was for both in and outside of their careers. The depiction of Teddy Roosevelt's "The light has gone out of my life" diary entry, and the events that led to it, was heartbreaking.
What I did not like.
While I think the structure of this book was well done and allowed for some semblance of cohesion it wasn't enough for me. I am used to fictionally created plot and character arcs with some kind of closure by the end. If a book fails to have that closure I usually mention it in this section of my reviews and this one is no different. This was essentially four different POV arcs that do not intersect much and they certainly do not converge in a big climatic finale. Because of that this book lacked drive. The ending that we get was an end of life summary for each character that offered some closure to our characters but nothing to our main subject matter. Then again, I suppose the author force feeding some sort of conclusions about leadership in the end would have been much worse. I found this to be more of a complaint about my ability to want to pick up the story and move it forward than a poor decision by the author/team.
Overall though, I really liked this book. I found it to be a near perfect balance of conveying the information it wanted to while also being easy to access. The history books of my school days were filled with dates and events that made for a dense reading experience. They lacked the relatable, intimate moments this type of telling had in spades. I will have to look into other books by this author.
What I liked.
I loved the writing by Doris Kearns Goodwin. Her ability to put me in the time period and to make me feel like I'm walking alongside these leaders was impressive. That glimpse into the minds of these historical figures made the entire book feel more intimate than I was expecting. Masterfully done.
I also loved feeling admiration for these leaders. I think, when you are in the moment, that can be a lot harder to do. With the lens and weight of history looking back I think it can be a lot easier to do. Especially when you are given a more inside view of the ongoings of their lives. To empathize with these men and feel some measure of what they felt had me invested in their stories and their successes and failures. This was for both in and outside of their careers. The depiction of Teddy Roosevelt's "The light has gone out of my life" diary entry, and the events that led to it, was heartbreaking.
What I did not like.
While I think the structure of this book was well done and allowed for some semblance of cohesion it wasn't enough for me. I am used to fictionally created plot and character arcs with some kind of closure by the end. If a book fails to have that closure I usually mention it in this section of my reviews and this one is no different. This was essentially four different POV arcs that do not intersect much and they certainly do not converge in a big climatic finale. Because of that this book lacked drive. The ending that we get was an end of life summary for each character that offered some closure to our characters but nothing to our main subject matter. Then again, I suppose the author force feeding some sort of conclusions about leadership in the end would have been much worse. I found this to be more of a complaint about my ability to want to pick up the story and move it forward than a poor decision by the author/team.
Overall though, I really liked this book. I found it to be a near perfect balance of conveying the information it wanted to while also being easy to access. The history books of my school days were filled with dates and events that made for a dense reading experience. They lacked the relatable, intimate moments this type of telling had in spades. I will have to look into other books by this author.
Hot take: Overall, this book was captivating and dense with valuable information and insights. The first 2/3 are a compelling, succinct look at the development of each of these great leaders. The last 1/3 is a weaker set of conclusions about leadership based on these presidents’s lives, which felt a bit forced (slightly erring on the side of a business leadership book at times). It didn’t work for me mainly because it’s devoid of the context of less successful leaders, or of instances where similarly styled leaders failed, or of leadership in other areas of politics outside the presidency (e.g. must leadership in turbulent times come from the president?). The lone exception however was the final chapter about LBJ, which felt less forced, and instead deeply personal and absolutely scintillating.
An interesting combination of the skills, choices, and ideologies present in four of America’s presidents. The audio features four different readers, making each philosophy come alive.
Ever since I read Team of Rivals back in 2005, I have been a big fan of Doris Kearns Goodwin. She is not only a masterful historian but also an incredible storyteller. So when I saw Leadership: In Turbulent Times come out in 2018, I knew that I had to read it.
Goodwin poses some very interesting questions at the beginning of Leadership. "Are leaders born or made? Does the leader make the times or do the times make the leader?" To answer these questions, Goodwin looked to four presidents: Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson. I have to be honest, I was dubious about her selection of Johnson. I assumed that her own personal bias (she worked on his memoirs) had made her choose Johnson. However, I was happy to be mistaken as I learned more about Johnson and his leadership in the civil rights movement.
Throughout Leadership, Goodwin looked at each president individually: how they became leaders, how they dealt with adversity in their personal and political lives, and what kind of leadership they practiced as president. I definitely knew the most about Lincoln and the two Roosevelts, as I had read more about them and they are also revered as great presidents. I admired and enjoyed Goodwin's descriptions of Abraham Lincoln's transformational leadership, Theodore Roosevelt's crisis leadership, and FDR's turnaround leadership. But it was the chapters about Johnson and his visionary leadership that really stood out to me. Unfortunately, history has assigned Johnson to the role of bad president for his failures in international policy and the Vietnam War. And while those failures cannot (and should not) be forgotten, Johnson's domestic policies and leadership achieved more for the civil rights movement than any other leader since Lincoln. Goodwin has ensured that Johnson's contributions are remembered; I know that I truly gained an appreciation for his leadership and for the steps he took to ensure that one day all Americans would be free.
Leadership is incredibly well-written and researched. Goodwin showed how four very different presidents were similar in their ability to lead in times of crises. While I always learn a lot from her books, I also truly enjoy reading them. While perhaps not her intention, Goodwin's Leadership is a reminder of how leaders should lead in turbulent times.
Goodwin poses some very interesting questions at the beginning of Leadership. "Are leaders born or made? Does the leader make the times or do the times make the leader?" To answer these questions, Goodwin looked to four presidents: Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and Lyndon B. Johnson. I have to be honest, I was dubious about her selection of Johnson. I assumed that her own personal bias (she worked on his memoirs) had made her choose Johnson. However, I was happy to be mistaken as I learned more about Johnson and his leadership in the civil rights movement.
Throughout Leadership, Goodwin looked at each president individually: how they became leaders, how they dealt with adversity in their personal and political lives, and what kind of leadership they practiced as president. I definitely knew the most about Lincoln and the two Roosevelts, as I had read more about them and they are also revered as great presidents. I admired and enjoyed Goodwin's descriptions of Abraham Lincoln's transformational leadership, Theodore Roosevelt's crisis leadership, and FDR's turnaround leadership. But it was the chapters about Johnson and his visionary leadership that really stood out to me. Unfortunately, history has assigned Johnson to the role of bad president for his failures in international policy and the Vietnam War. And while those failures cannot (and should not) be forgotten, Johnson's domestic policies and leadership achieved more for the civil rights movement than any other leader since Lincoln. Goodwin has ensured that Johnson's contributions are remembered; I know that I truly gained an appreciation for his leadership and for the steps he took to ensure that one day all Americans would be free.
Leadership is incredibly well-written and researched. Goodwin showed how four very different presidents were similar in their ability to lead in times of crises. While I always learn a lot from her books, I also truly enjoy reading them. While perhaps not her intention, Goodwin's Leadership is a reminder of how leaders should lead in turbulent times.
No tenia ni idea de la vida de estos cuatro presidentes asi que ha sido bastante informativo.
No me ha gustado que intentan tomar conclusiones positivas de todo lo que hicieron cuando evidentemente eran humanos y se equivocaron tanto como el que mas.
Pero aparte de esta mirada a la historia con gafas de color de rosa, lo demas esta bastante bien.
No me ha gustado que intentan tomar conclusiones positivas de todo lo que hicieron cuando evidentemente eran humanos y se equivocaron tanto como el que mas.
Pero aparte de esta mirada a la historia con gafas de color de rosa, lo demas esta bastante bien.
This book is phenomenal! It’s four mini-biographies of Lincoln, Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, and LBJ all in one. It’s fascinating to see each President’s development as a leader, and how they responded to set back and challenges.
The next half of the book is equally if not more fascinating. Goodwin uses a major challenger in each President’s tenure to show how to respond to crisis and turbulent times. Each one of these men faced their share of struggles in office, and Goodwin critically analyzes their response to create a “do and do not” list of things leaders ought to follow.
Though rly enjoyed this book, and the fact that Goodwin didn’t pull any punches, especially when it comes to LBJ (who she worked for).
The next half of the book is equally if not more fascinating. Goodwin uses a major challenger in each President’s tenure to show how to respond to crisis and turbulent times. Each one of these men faced their share of struggles in office, and Goodwin critically analyzes their response to create a “do and do not” list of things leaders ought to follow.
Though rly enjoyed this book, and the fact that Goodwin didn’t pull any punches, especially when it comes to LBJ (who she worked for).
When your current prez ain’t shit, it’s nice to be nostalgic. Good book. Went by quickly.
As usual, DKG knocks it out of the ballpark! This is one I have recommended to my leadership students, and will continue to do so. An examination and exploration of the leadership strengths and weaknesses of four prominent U.S. presidents, as they have encountered challenges and obstacles.