Analyzing the American presidents from George Washington to George W. Bush

Dr. James David Barber's well-known, provocative examination of who has the potential to be voted into the highest office in the land - and why - is being reissued as the newest addition to the "Longman Classics in Political Science" series. Arguing that patterns in a person's character, world view, and style can allow us to anticipate their performance as president, The Presidential Character offers explanations and predictions of the performance of presidents and presidential candidates. Drawing on historical, biographical, and psychological research, Dr. Barber hoped to help voters make judicious choices in determining the country's highest leaders. Revisiting this classic work in today's important presidential election season begs a reconsideration of Barber's probing and enduring query, "What should we look for in a president?"

This book traces the evolution of White House news management during America’s changing media environment over the past two decades. Comparing and contrasting the communication strategies of Bill Clinton, George W. Bush, Barack Obama, and Donald Trump, it demonstrates the difficulty that all presidents have in controlling their messages despite a seemingly endless array of new media outlets and the great advantages of the office. That difficulty is compounded by new media’s amplification of presidential character traits for good or ill. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube notwithstanding, presidential power still resides in the "power to persuade," and that task remains a steep challenge. More than ever, presidential character matters, and the media presidents now employ report on the messenger as much as the message. The book also looks at the media strategies of candidates during the 2016 presidential campaign, puts presidential media use in global context, and covers the early phase of the Trump administration, the first true Twitter presidency.

How psychology explains why a leader is willing to use military force to protect or salvage reputation In Who Fights for Reputation, Keren Yarhi-Milo provides an original framework, based on insights from psychology, to explain why some political leaders are more willing to use military force to defend their reputation than others. Rather than focusing on a leader's background, beliefs, bargaining skills, or biases, Yarhi-Milo draws a systematic link between a trait called self-monitoring and foreign policy behavior. She examines self-monitoring among national leaders and advisers and shows that while high self-monitors modify their behavior strategically to cultivate image-enhancing status, low self-monitors are less likely to change their behavior in response to reputation concerns. Exploring self-monitoring through case studies of foreign policy crises during the terms of U.S. presidents Carter, Reagan, and Clinton, Yarhi-Milo disproves the notion that hawks are always more likely than doves to fight for reputation. Instead, Yarhi-Milo demonstrates that a decision maker's propensity for impression management is directly associated with the use of force to restore a reputation for resolve on the international stage. Who Fights for Reputation offers a brand-new understanding of the pivotal influence that psychological factors have on political leadership, military engagement, and the protection of public prestige.

What is leadership? Not only has that question been debated since the beginning of human culture and society, but it's a moving target based on the definer, and the epoch. The definition can be thought-provoking and profound: A leader is best when people barely know he exists, not so good when people obey and acclaim him, worse when they despise him, (Lao Tzu, 6th century BC ). Or the profundity may lie shrouded in the prosaic: A leader is one who has followers, (Peter Drucker, 20th century). However you define the concept, today's challenges for leaders of all stripes are monumental, and the need for effective leadership is huge. More than anything, this set travels farther and digs deeper than most leadership books. It takes us from mere explanations of leadership to an understanding of it as part of the human condition. Reading it should be at the top of the to-do list for any leader in any era. In Leadership at the Crossroads, contributors from a wide variety of fields, including management, economics, political science, philosophy, sociology, history, literature, and psychology, explore the many facets of leadership. The set comprises: Volume 1: Leadership and Psychology; Volume 2: Leadership and Politics; Volume 3: Leadership and the Humanities. Collectively, this set showcases traditional and emerging approaches to leadership in both theory and practice and raises new questions brought on by society's new challenges. It also suggests solutions for developing and promoting leadership in the corporate world, politics and diplomacy, religion, education, non-profits, and the arts. Whether identifying qualities that will serve a U.S. president well, or the characteristics of the essential can-do supervisor in today's corporation, Leadership at the Crossroads supplies insights and intelligence that will help leaders make the most of the challenges and opportunities lying before them.

This book, which examines the leadership styles and decisionmaking practices of presidents from Woodrow Wilson to Bill Clinton, reflects the authors interest for over half a century in the impact of personality on the political behavior of our political leaders. Its contents range from the story of the Georges collaboration on their pioneering stud