Synopses & Reviews
So you've gotten yourself elected president--now what? Help is here in the form of an imaginary memo from your former professor, who integrates the works of the great thinkers (Aristotle, Plato, Machiavelli, etc.) with contemporary scholarship to address the strengths, limitations, and possibilities of presidential leadership. Michael A. Genovese, a highly esteemed presidential scholar, culls numerous nuggets of wisdom about presidential leadership, including past presidents, condensing detailed and academically grounded insights into an engaging and entertaining read. All essential topics are covered, including: presidential character and personality; political institutions and opportunities; power versus leadership; and sources of and limits to presidential power. In-depth coverage of crisis management and wartime decision-making are unique strengths of the book.
Chapters are brief and concise, making Memo to a New President far more interesting than supplements such as case studies or documents. Genovese's presentation allows readers to identify with the various constraints on America's chief executive and gives them an opportunity to apply their knowledge and preconceptions (often misconceptions) to the political realities that presidents routinely face. Students are left to grapple with a central question of the book: Is an effective presidency possible without undermining the essence of a democratic republic?
Review
"To all incumbent presidents, presidential aspirants, and presidency watchers, my advice is to forego Machiavelli. Also Neustadt. And focus instead on Genovese, who offers leadership stratagems grounded in the realities of street-wise politics. Written as a personal memo to the newly elected, Memo to a New President is a compendium of sage advice drawn from scholarly, biographical, and philosophical literatures but conveyed through contemporary stories, age-old parables, witty narratives, and Genovese's finely tuned political sense. This remarkable book is one-of-a-kind, a refreshing departure from the standard textbooks on the American presidency."--Raymond Tatalovich, Loyola University, Chicago
Synopsis
So you've gotten yourself elected president--now what? Help is here in the form of an imaginary memo from your former professor, who integrates the works of the great thinkers (Aristotle, Plato, Machiavelli, etc.) with contemporary scholarship to address the strengths, limitations, and possibilities of presidential leadership. Michael A. Genovese, a highly esteemed presidential scholar, culls numerous nuggets of wisdom about presidential leadership, including past presidents, condensing detailed and academically grounded insights into an engaging and entertaining read. All essential topics are covered, including: presidential character and personality; political institutions and opportunities; power versus leadership; and sources of and limits to presidential power. In-depth coverage of crisis management and wartime decision-making are unique strengths of the book.
Chapters are brief and concise, making Memo to a New President far more interesting than supplements such as case studies or documents. Genovese's presentation allows readers to identify with the various constraints on America's chief executive and gives them an opportunity to apply their knowledge and preconceptions (often misconceptions) to the political realities that presidents routinely face. Students are left to grapple with a central question of the book: Is an effective presidency possible without undermining the essence of a democratic republic?
Table of Contents
Part I. Introduction 1. To the New President
2. The World's Most Exclusive Club: The Modern Presidents
3. Defining Leadership
4. Power and Leadership
5. Presidential Greatness
Part II. Self-Knowledge
6. The Skilled Leader
7. The Personality and Character of the Leader
8. The Uses of Emotion
9. The Moral Universe of Leaders
10. Mistakes Happen . . . and Happen . . . and Happen
11. Vision
12. The Presidential Voice
13. Your Family
Part III. System Knowledge
14. The Paradoxes of the American Presidency
15. Levels of Political Opportunity
16. The Importance of the Transition
17. Political Timing and the Honeymoon
18. You and the People
19. Shaman and Symbol
20. Management
21. Dealing With the Pesky Congress
22. Facing the Courts and the Rule of Law
23. The Media and You
24. Party Leadership
Part IV. World Knowledge
25. Dealing With an Interdependent World
26. Crisis Management
27. War
28. Going Beyond the Law in a Dangerous World
Part V. Conclusion: The Purposive Leader
29. Leading Change
30. The Ends of Good Governance
31. Phronesis
32. Conclusion
Bibliography
Index