An instant national bestseller! Stanley McChrystal, the retired US Army general and bestselling author of Team of Teams, profiles thirteen of history’s great leaders, including Walt Disney, Coco Chanel, and Robert E. Lee, to show that leadership is not what you think it is—and never was. Stan McChrystal served for thirty-four years in the US Army, rising from a second lieutenant in the 82nd Airborne Division to a four-star general, in command of all American and coalition forces in Afghanistan. During those years he worked with countless leaders and pondered an ancient question: “What makes a leader great?” He came to realize that there is no simple answer. McChrystal profiles thirteen famous leaders from a wide range of eras and fields—from corporate CEOs to politicians and revolutionaries. He uses their stories to explore how leadership works in practice and to challenge the myths that complicate our thinking about this critical topic. With Plutarch’s Lives as his model, McChrystal looks at paired sets of leaders who followed unconventional paths to success. For instance. . . · Walt Disney and Coco Chanel built empires in very different ways. Both had public personas that sharply contrasted with how they lived in private. · Maximilien Robespierre helped shape the French Revolution in the eighteenth century; Abu Musab al-Zarqawi led the jihadist insurgency in Iraq in the twenty-first. We can draw surprising lessons from them about motivation and persuasion. · Both Boss Tweed in nineteenth-century New York and Margaret Thatcher in twentieth-century Britain followed unlikely roads to the top of powerful institutions. · Martin Luther and his future namesake Martin Luther King Jr., both local clergymen, emerged from modest backgrounds to lead world-changing movements. Finally, McChrystal explores how his former hero, General Robert E. Lee, could seemingly do everything right in his military career and yet lead the Confederate Army to a devastating defeat in the service of an immoral cause. Leaders will help you take stock of your own leadership, whether you’re part of a small team or responsible for an entire nation.

Do myths and symbols have anything at all to tell us about reality? Or do they simply deserve to be relegated to the realm of fantastic unreality? The essayists in this volume deploy all the critical tools available in the task of taking myth and symbol seriously. They are not willing to consign the use of the symbolic to the logician or to relinquish the mythical to the comparative anthropologist as something of historical interest only. Instead, they strive for that difficult position that is guided by criticism but is still open to wonder in the face of what myth and symbol offer in terms of enrichment, meaning, and self-transcendence.

John Wyclif has alternatively been called hero and heretic, reformer and radical, guardian and gadfly. But the true tale of this most controversial of late-medieval Englishmen is far richer and more complex.In this first major biography of John Wyclif in nearly a century, G. R. Evans employs recent research to present a fresh, focused portrait of this pivotal historical figure. In doing so, she strips away the layers of legend that have obscured our view of the real Wyclif and places him within the features of his actual historical landscape.That landscape is the world of fourteenth-century Oxford, where Wyclif spent the majority of his life. Evans, one of today's leading historians of the era, vividly re-creates the scenery of this great medieval university town with clarity and detail, providing a comprehensive view of life and learning within its walls. It was here that Wyclif earned his reputation as one of the most learned and significant scholars of his day. And it was here that he developed his views regarding the Bible, the sacraments, ecclesiastical authority and political power--views that led to his eventual condemnation by the church.Informative, dramatic and compelling, this masterful biography of John Wyclif is required reading for all lovers of history--student and scholar alike.

New realities are being created every moment. But how really are they taking form? Certainly, an existing reality can't lead to a new one by itself. The genesis of new realities lies in-believe it or not-fiction. It is fictions, myths and legends-our imagination-that has shaped and is shaping our world. This highly evocative and analytical book digs deep into the secrets of consciousness of societies, religions and nations to unravel the myths of reality and reality of myths.

This work, written by an ex-Ambassador to Japan, is a first-hand account and observation of the various aspects of Japanese society ? political, historical, social and economic. It introduces themes such as Japanese religions and the political system, as well as describing and explaining many of the country's rich traditions. The author's personal experiences of Japan are interspersed with historical tales and factual details, providing an insight into Japanese behavior, thinking and way of life. This book will be immensely useful to those who wish to gain a deeper knowledge and understanding of the Japanese mind. It is the result of a four-year stay in Japan by the author, a Singaporean ex-Ambassador and politician.