Leader

Contrary to what the first reveiwer says, I believe "Moses" is excellent and consistent with Swindoll's other titles - warts and all. Indeed, since the Bible does not gloss over a person's sin, then why should books about Biblical characters overlook their flaws? We can learn important lessons from people's failures, specifically: how not to repeat them!

Among the important points Swindoll mentions in his book are:

1. God can use "losers" and "accidents" for His glory.
2. Let God operate His will in your life in His time and way.
3. There are no shortcuts to maturity.
4. God prefers to use broken people instead of the proud and self-sufficient.
5. Be willing to surrender every detail of your life under the authority of Jesus Christ.
6. We do not know how to live until we learn to die.
7. When we try to make things happen, things are forced. When God is in something, things flow smoothly.
8. You cannot scoff at God forever. His judgments may take time, but they are decisive when they happen!

Instead of belittling Swindoll's book, I much prefer to honestly anayze my Christian walk and be ever mindful that should I become too proud or self-sufficient, I stand to experience failures like Moses did.

Why should we always read the Bible or a Christian book with the intention of feeling better about ourselves? Sometimes we have to be convicted by the Holy Spirit before He does a great work in our lives. Indeed, two of the Holy Spirit's roles is to convict us of sin and to keep us from falling into sin. Before we can be used by God, He must first refine our character.

I highly recommend Swindoll's book - be honest in your walk with the Lord and always remember, He can work great things through us not because of ourselves, but in spite of ourselves - a perfect picture of His unmerited grace towards us!

Read the book and be challenged and encouraged!

Moses is like me, and Chuck Swindoll details in this book, how God accepts us 'Just as I Am'. How like Moses, He moulds us to the way He wants us, what a profound lesson. The text is clear and simple, bringing sometimes hard to understand Bible passages into everyday language and interlacing it with experiences that can only make you smile. This book is a must for those still trying to determine where they fit in God's big world and if they are quite good enough. Excellent, page turning reading.

Swindoll's down to earth writing style coupled with this great Bible character really impacted my life. He brings out the good and bad in Moses' life (something we all struggle with), and gives an honest portrayal of God's plan being worked out in God's timing for God's greater purpose. If you struggle with accepting God's role of leadership, question God's chosen leaders in your life, or just enjoy a good character study, you will benefit from reading this book.

This is one of the more comprehensive collections of quality, reliability and managerial techniques and methodologies books that I ever encountered.
You should keep this book at your office, since it's such a good reference book.

This is an amazing compilation of everything about quality. Bluvband has taken ideas, words, concepts and practices and put them together in a unique summary that lists all the information in carefully chosen categories and sections. It is difficult to describe the enormous depth and breadth of this book, not because of its size but because of the thoroughness of the coverage of topics. The book is spilt into six parts, each one covering a different topic - management, tools and techniques, probability and statistics, reliability and risk assessment, software, and audit and inspection. Each part is split into chapters, which include important factors, words of wisdom (both serious and witty) and techniques. The author also provides a complete list of references and an index with authors and subjects. This is not a book for those who want to learn quality, but it could be a resource for a quality methods instructor. It would also be valuable for the practitioners and managers of quality departments. It is a valuable reference tool and memory jogger for all aspects of quality control, quality management and quality assurance and possibly the most unique presentation of quality concepts ever compiled.

This book is a great reminder for how clear and succinct good mangement can be! a great read and a great reference.

Hope. That's what this book is about. It is a book for those who are hurting and who feel hopeless. It's for those who are ready to give up. The Betters' words are spoken with integrity, and from out of the context of their own grief. It's a book about God--how He helps and heals, and shows us how to believe and live. Grace breathes through the pages of this book, but especially in Chapter 10, as the authors poignantly detail God's faithfulness and mercy to Rahab in her choices, actions and circumstances. The final two chapters showcase the taut balance between human "memories, like bricks, [built as a] dyke against time" and the optimism of a timeless "'eternity' set in [the] heart" and realized in God's promise of heaven. And at the end, even people reading from out of their own pain, dare their soulds to "be still," as they begin to believe that these Treasures of faith could indeed be theirs.

My reaction to Treasures of Faith was quite opposite to that of the person who wrote the review "A superficial look at biblical characters of faith" on August 23, 2000. I feel the authors from the beginning with their choice of title are communicating to the reader that this book will be a deep hunt for the treasures, those things not seen on the surface or at a quick glace, of the characters of faith listed in the book of Hebrews. There was anything but a superficial, calvalier and dismissive attitude conveyed about the "heroes of faith" as they are referred to in this book.

The book does hold first that the Bible is the Word of God, infallible and inerrant. The points made are written to challenge the reader to look deeply into what is being said THROUGH the scriptures for the questions of the heart that rise from the challenges of living in this world today. That, as this book illustrates, are challenges that are not much different then those these Biblical characters faced. Struggles, temptations and choices of the "heroes of faith" are analyzed in a way that I believe gives a renewed hope for the Christian of today to persevere by faith in God - His Word, His Sovereignty, His ultimate goodness.

The comment from the review: "Jacob is said to win", suggests a man could win AGAINST God. The Scriptures show that Jacob won WITH God. In his weakness and sinfulness he had won the battle with God's strength to fulfill the task before him. (See Matthew Henry Commentary of the Whole Bible for more details). The person who wrote the review took the verse about Jacob from Genesis, chapter 32, out of context to illistrate a point of the book being flawed. Truely, how can a man win against Almighty God?

This book would serve as an excellent Bible Study book, especially for those who have suffered or are in the midst of a painful trial. May you be encouraged, your hope renewed, and your faith grow through this fine work.

This book has been a joy to read, allowing me to consider the personalities in the Bible as people with limitations, such as myself and all the people I know. It is always interesting to read various interpretations of Bible stories and to see what God shows the author. What a gift to us that people take the time to share these thoughts in a book. Clearly through these chapters the message is to direct us to understand what the meat of faith requires. The Convenant promise is evident in the lives of each present day and biblicial person discussed and is a source of encouragement to me. Is God sovereign? Can I trust Him? What is required of me? While the answer is revealed to the inquirer through their personal relationship with Jesus Christ, and the Word of God; reading through thorough studies such as this one can give a deeper dimension to understanding.

The title “Powerful Conversations: How High-Impact Leaders Communicate” led me to believe that this book was primarily concerned with interpersonal communication. I found, however, that it is largely focussed on the ethics of leadership and the philosophy of emotional intelligence as applied to big business. The book is of high calibre in this respect, and for this reason I gave it 4 stars. But if you are looking for a hands-on manual on communication you will need to look elsewhere.

Anyone who is sufficiently motivated to read this book will no doubt be already aligned with the basic philosophy of trust, openness, honesty, and clarity. The challenge lies in implementing such a philosophy. No doubt Harkins takes a more practical approach in his corporate training programme, and it would be a very large and expensive book if it were to contain such a programme in full. However, I find it frustrating that Harkins spends far more time explaining “why” than he does explaining “how.” Some methodology is woven into the text, but on the whole, the presentation focuses largely on principles and attitudes.

All of these elements, of course, provide a necessary foundation for any system â€" after all, rote behaviours are largely unsustainable â€" but there is also a need for clear directives on the progressive action steps that need to be taken. The book must serve exceedingly well as a door opener for corporate clients, but the owner/operator of a small business will not find definitive steps that he or she could progressively implement from the book alone. I should add that I am not advocating the rigid “paint-by-numbers” formula that some other motivational books follow.

What I most question is Harkins' representation of “trust” as a primary focus, rather than as an outcome of deliberate process. Trust, far from being a subjective quality only, is an objective competency that employees as well as their leaders must progressively develop as well as demonstrate. For example, in his book, “Leadership,” Rudolph Giuliani describes the functioning of his mayoral team with great frankness. In so doing, he demonstrates clearly how trust is not assumed at the beginning; it is developed over time and established through frank and honest appraisal of each team member’s verbal and practical input. I miss this in Harkins' book.

I have nevertheless reserved a place for “Powerful Conversations” on my bookshelves. But to round out Harkins' perspective, I have added books like Rudolph Giuliani’s “Leadership,” Jim Loehr’s & Tony Swartz’s “The Power of Full Engagement,” Dorothy Leeds’ “The 7 Powers of Questions” and Meryl Steinem Runions’ “Power Phrases.” Together, they make a mighty team.

Prior to reading Powerful Conversations: How High-Impact Leaders Communicate, I had anticipated a manual to the proper rules of conversation. However, this book turned out to be much more than a manual of sorts. Harkins not only provides ways to develop excellent communication as well as leadership skills, he also explains what powerful conversations are, how they are structured, and what types of impacts, accomplishments and outcomes they render.
Being able to communicated effectively is critical in today's corporate world. Harkins reminds us of some of the most basic skills that most of us don't even consider to be as important in communication as they actually prove to be. Skills such as the ability to build trusting relationships and listen carefully to others.
However, not all the techniques discussed are as basic. It does indeed take practice to become a master of powerful conversation. Harkins provides six tools which can be used to enhance your communication and leadership skill in order to ensure greater success. I found Tool 1: Planning, Conducting, and Measuring Powerful Conversations, to be an excellent guideline for the preparation and implementation of powerful conversations. This tool also provides a series of simple but very relevant questions that you can ask yourself to determine what type of outcome resulted from your conversation.
Harkins also includes a self-scoring sample of the Leadership Assessment Instrument (LAI) to help you gain insight into your own leadership abilities, which I found to be extremely helpful.
Overall, I found this book to be very beneficial and would recommend it to professionals, students, and anyone looking to enhance their success.

When you talk, do people listen? Communicating effectively is essential in the business world. It is the first step in the path toward leadership. While other business books discuss leadership as a whole, this one focuses in on one of the most basic - and often overlooked - prerequisites to leadership: excellent communication skills. While most of the suggestions presented in Powerful Conversations seem like simple common sense, the book does get you to focus on critical points that you probably take for granted, like building trust, preparing in advance for potentially touchy conversations and actually listening to what other people say. In addition, it offers some helpful conversational strategies and pointers for determining when your meeting is heading south. We [...] recommend this book to executives in leadership positions, who will be reminded to brush up on their conversational style and delivery, and to business people and students looking to talk their way to the top.

Couldn't make it through the book. Mostly common sense. I just needed it for a class. Better books exist on the same subject. Get those instead of this marketing tool.

The guy who recommended this book said he wished he'd had it 20 years earlier in his career. I think he was right. This book is loaded with lists and list of things that you should think about in some situation. Someone has taken the time to itemize the things you should consider in dozens of different situations. Want to improve you customer realations. Take at look at that list and you'll find a lot of things that really make sense. These lists save you the time of trying to figure out what are the attributes if a given situation that you should be looking at. Great book for anyone. You won't use it every day but when you need it, one application of the list can repay you the price of the book many times over.

I work for the wholesale club division of the largest retail chain in America. Needless to say, you don't get a top-notch training course in being a supervisor or hourly manager there. This book was instrumental in my personal development in becoming a good supervisor.

The book is set up like a series of checklists. The advantage is that checklists are EASY to read and refer to. In fact virtually every situation you will face is covered by checklists.

In fact I enjoyed the many Sam Walton trademark management styles they incorporated into the book...it made it easier to connect with.

The book is simply outstanding and for the price you would be, quite frankly, a fool not to get it.

As we all know employee morale is paramount in having them take better care of our customers and/or product/services development/production. This book helps to develop you (if you let it) into a better manager/supervisor.

I would also recommend getting the book titled "Corps Business" by David Freedman (I have a review on this also). The two books should be purchased together and READ. You will get excited about developing yourself into a BETTER manager/supervisor as well as developing your company (both books provide great advice on how to do this). The small investment (we're talking under $40 tops here) will surely pay off (either in promotions or company bonuses!)

Good luck!

Remember David Rosenberg? The guy whose strange, awkward but inaccurate translation of parts of Genesis and Exodus led Harold Bloom to expose his ignorance of both the Hebrew language and the biblical world in THE BOOK OF J? Rosenberg is back and ready to make more trouble for anyone who trusts his view of ancient Israel. This time he plays both translator and literary critic, about equally well.

Here is Rosenberg's translation of the beginning of 2 Samuel 11:

"Here we are: a year was passing, and it is the season best for the wars of kings. David sends out Joab, his own retinue, and all of Israel's army; and they bring the Ammonites to their knees, beseiging Rabbah. Meanwhile David lingered in Jerusalem. It happens one late afternoon that David rises from his bed, takes a walk around the palace roof, and from there, his glance falls upon a woman in her bath. The woman appeared very beautiful in his eyes."

Breathlessly dramatic but the tenses are all wrong, and words like "lingered" and "glance" miss the simplicity of the Hebrew text. Rosenberg subsequently has David try to "uncover more" about the naked woman in her bath, and has his messengers "beseige" Bathsheba, just as Joab is beseiging Rabbah. These coy, leering figures are not in the Hebrew text, either, which presents the affair in eight blunt words: Vayishlach David malachim vayikachah vatavo eilav vayishchav imah (literally "And David sent messengers, and he got her, and she came to him, and he slept with her"). This story is filled with ironies. Why is it necessary to add ones that aren't in the text?

Rosenberg doesn't translate any of the poetry included in 2 Samuel -- David's lament over Saul and Jonathan or the two psalms in chapters 22 and 23--but his translations of other psalms suggest his need to compete with his text, to substitute his own poetic idea for that of his source:

you turn men into dust

and you ask them to return

children of men

for a thousand years

in your eyes

are a single day

yesterday

already passed

into today

a ship in the night

Rosenberg needs to import the cliche of ships that pass in the night. There are no ships in the Hebrew. This is Psalm 90:3-4, which literally runs: "You return mortals to dust and You say: Return, children of earth. For a thousand years are in Your eyes as a day, as yesterday when it has passed, or as a watch in the night." (Tashuv enosh ad-dakah / Vatomer: shuvu, b'nai adam. Ki elef shanim b'einecha ka'yom ethmol ki ya'avor / v'eshmorah ba'laylah.)

(The blurb to Rosenberg's book calls him "the leading translator of biblical poetry... of our time." I hope he isn't starting to believe his own publicity!)

Rosenberg provided the translation for The Book of J, in which the Yale critic Harold Bloom had fantasized that "J" -- the author of those parts of Genesis in which God is called YHWH -- was a princess in Solomon's court or that of his son Rehoboam. For Bloom, "J" and "S" were husband and wife, sharing ideas and developing similar turns of phrase during their pillow talk. Rosenberg evolves a slightly different version of this fantasy. Rosenberg's "S" is a royal prince operating as a scribe and translator in the court of Rehoboam, a son of Solomon or perhaps a cousin. His mother had been a princess of one of the indigenous nations (Moabites, Amorites, Ammonites) whose struggle for autonomy had been quashed by the Israelite monarchy. This for Rosenberg is the key link between David and "S," for he guesses that David too was the son of "a Canaanite princess" who became "Jesse's last and youngest wife." For Rosenberg "J" is an older woman who becomes the companion rather than the wife of "S," and commissions him to write the Succession Narrative because of his similarities to David and their common sympathy for the indigenous nations Israel has displaced. How Rosenberg knows all these things is not clear, unless he too is the son of a Canaanite princess, and consequently has a privileged understanding of his subjects. For the Bible contains not one word about how many wives Jesse had or who David's mother was -- not altogether surprising given how seldom the Hebrew Bible mentions any individual's maternal descent.

Perhaps it is interesting to read the book of Samuel in terms of the conflict between Israel and the Canaanite cultures it displaced, but Rosenberg's ideas about "S" and his vision are undermined by the question whether there ever was an "S" in the sense that there was a "J." "J" has a unique vocabulary, but stylistically, there isn't any real difference between Rosenberg's Book of S and most of the rest of the book of Samuel. And you get the same dramatic ironies from the outset, from the story of Hannah and Eli, in the first chapter.

In my opinion, this book is a full scale disaster, dreadfully misleading to those who trust Rosenberg's translations or ideas about tenth-century Israelite society. Avoid this book, or better, buy Robert Alter's The David Story, with a superb translation of all of Samuel, together with fascinating commentary that is generous to all the scholars that went before him.

There are many reasons to by this book, but two come to mind most clearly...

First, the brilliant modern translations of portions of the story of David from 2 Samuel, and several of the most beautiful Psalms.

Second, the tale of the remarkable relationship between "S", the writer behind much of 2 Samuel, and "J", the writer of the Pentateuch. (The first five books of the bible - the books of the law.) According to Rosenberg, J, the brilliant woman writer and poet of Solomon's court, most likely acted as mentor and mother-figure to the young male prodigy S. Many of the Psalms and stories of David seem to reverberate with this close relationship.

As well, Rosenberg studies the indigenous or "Shamanistic" nature of S's relationship with the land, as reflected in his poetry, which provides new insight into the intense yearning for Israel experienced by Jews through the ages.

I highly recommend this book both for its scholarship and its artistic qualities. Anyone with any interest in David, the Jewish experience, Biblical studies, or poetry in general, will find this book a delight.

What a revelation! It's hard to read a novel or poem again in the same way after the illuminations in The Book of David. I suppose this must be infuriating to some who want things to stay just as they are, but I was glad to see that the Publishers Weekly review had an intelligent response: (Oct.13, 1997) "In this imaginative and provocative work...Rosenberg's interest is in evoking the characters who inhabit the biblical narratives, and his translations and transformations of the text are powerful and moving...It tells David's story in a way that reveals the characters of David, Rosenberg and "S"." What Publishers Weekly leaves out is that this will not only change the way a reader thinks about the Bible but also how we view contemporary writers as well. I always thought there was an element of creative fiction and poetry in the Bible, yet now I can see just how it was transformed by great writers.

There's no doubt that the author has had many strugles in her life and I applaud her courage. However, books like this give the impression that homosexuality is somehow a disseas that can be cured. If one is to read this book closely they will soon discover that nowhere in the book does the auther state that her homosexual feelings have been changed into heterosexual ones. She mearly states how she has been able to supress her feelings and leave the gay lifestyle. In fact, their is not a single case on record were a homosexual person has been completely cured. Books like these do more harm then good.

I have bought more of this book for friends than Chicken Soup! Nowhere have I seen such courage and self revelation. Though not an accomplished writer, Erin's frank and sensitive description of her struggles and emancipation has helped me and countless others get a better insight into the hearts and minds of our friends who are similarly struggling. It gives me greater compassion for all homosexuals.

Erin's story also is a light to those who are looking for courage to follow their deeper knowledge instead of giving in, since she has found more lasting happiness, and found that though same-sex attraction doesn't go away, nourishing deep, true, unmet needs made that attraction insignificant. Very similar to AA, ... which makes sense since science has shown that same-sex attraction is more closely related to alcohol addiction on the DNA, than sexuality.

I found the book to be thoughful, insightful, revealing and touching. Erin Eldridge certainly had a long period of struggle and grief in her life and this book reveals how, through perserverance and faith in God she was able to over come the horrors and pitfalls of same-sex attraction and the ghosts that haunted her past. I would highly reccommend this book to those who either are looking for moral support or would like to understand more about the highly divisive issue of homosexuality.

Post-modern people in the West have gotten used to the trashing of the past's great minds by holding them accountable to twentieth and twenty-first century ideals. What passed as acceptable in the sixteenth century is vilified by superior moralists today. This is as it should be until the whole raft of a past genius' work is suspect or thrown out because he or she is not politically or socially correct by present standards. Thomas Jefferson and his alleged affair with Sally Hemmings, an African-American slave, is a recent case in point.

The reverse is true in Charles C. Manz's book The Leadership Wisdom of Jesus. Manz takes the central figure of Christianity and mines some of his teachings about leadership so that CEOs and business managers might do better on the job. But what Manz does not understand is that Jesus is not about making better business practices. He is a religious figure with a totally different agenda which includes saving a world bent inward on itself so that it might be opened up to a new relationship with God. What Manz does is abuse this purpose of Jesus to satisfy the "self help" needs of some business professionals whose consciences might be bothering them.

It is true that Manz confesses that he is not writing a religious book (page 3), but misusing the writings of Jesus even for a good cause is abuse. It diminishes what Jesus Christ is really about.

I have not read the book, so please ignore my rating which I had to fill in because it's a compulsory field. I disagree with Pr. Gary Nokleberg's viewpoint. As a spiritual person, I believe God can meet us anywhere and everywhere (even in the boardroom). If CEOs and senior managers want Jesus to teach them something about leadership and management, I'm sure God is gracious and flexible enough to meet their needs even if these needs appear to be non-religious. Who can tell after having been inspired by Jesus' teachings, these people will not come to a fuller appreciation of Jesus in a later part of their life's journeys?

You will truly enjoy this book! Bob Briner and Ray Pritchard bring an exciting and refreshing look at how the greatest leader in the world can provide the blueprint to become leaders in our own lives, our communities, our workplace, and especially in our own families. If you are a father, a brother, a coach, a teacher, or someone in a position of influencing another human being, this is a must read! As you read, pray for the gift of wisdom to understand all that is presented on these pages, so that you can apply them in your own lives! God Bless!

The author utterly fails to come anywhere close to writing a serious, thoughtful book on the five men chosen as its subjects or their ideas and impact on American society and politics. This is a shame because the subject is interesting and vital. She absolutely refuses to take the ideas of the five men whose biographies she writes seriously -- I don't mean that she has to agree with their ideas to write a good book, but an author covering this subject at the very least owes it to her readers (and herself) to become familiar with the ideas and guiding principles of men like this. After all, they are serious well-educated thinkers. She absolutely refuses to do so. Instead, this book is an Oprah-ized People magazine level snide personal attack. The author dwells obsessively on the high school and college years (and mistakes and flaws) of her five subjects and attempts cheap dime-store psychoanalysis. She seems to be of the opinion that holding right wing views is pathological and her approach is to try to explain the causes of this pathology -- preaching to the choir at its worst. And that is the central flaw of this book, which skirts the edge of some vitally important topics and political ideas. Her treatment of affirmative action is particularly illustrative and shabby. Is it a good remedy for America's current racial problems? Or does it foster divisiveness between races, violate the Constitution and do more harm than good to its intended beneficiaries? There are serious arguments on both sides of this issue and it is a subject on which reasonable and thoughtful people can sincerely differ. The author describes and attempts to deal with exactly none of theses matters, but just blithely assumes and states that anyone opposed to affirmative action is a racist. From such starting assumptions and biases the book degenerates into a who-called-whom description of political tactics (never a pretty activity on the left or on the right) and personal smears of its subjects. It is tedious and uninformative in the extreme. It is generally a mistake to write a book about people you dislike and cannot begin to understand; this book shows why.

I could not put this book down! This book was very thoughtful, extremely well written, and told a very interesting story. The book details the lives of five conservative activists (Bill Kristol, Ralph Reed, Clint Bolick, Grover Norquist, and David McIntosh) who shaped conservative thought and activism in the 1980s and 1990s. Though I disagree with the positions of many of these conservative activists, their lives are fascinating. Some are true romantics and others are completely Machiavellian. All in all -- a great book for anyone who considers themselves (or aspires to be) an activist, a revolutionary, or someone that has a fire to make change.

Nina Easton's account of these five horsemen of the apocalypse is simultaneously snappy, wry, nuanced and fair. The five men she writes about are representative of the acolytes of the Reagan years, who yearn for a return to those Arcadian years, or at least to a presidential administration which would allow them to continue the Reagan's administration's mission of dismantling the federal government's role in its citizen's lives.

The account is snappy because it is fast paced and intelligent; Easton can write about wonks and eggheads and their beliefs without entangling the reader in wonkhood. Its wryness comes from Easton's wonderful ability to craft, or quote, the right phrase to convey an idea which in less gifted hands would be clumsily portrayed in a paragraph or page. The differences between and personal strengths of the five portrayed in the book are nuanced, demonstrating that they are not totally unsympathetic, and have some personal experience to ground their beliefs. Finally, though Easton's sympathies clearly do not lie with these knights of the right, her account demonstrates that they (yes, even Ralph Reed) have some sincerely held and reality based principles which point them at the windmills they charge.

It is a shame this book did not come out earlier this year, and was not better promoted, so that more people could soak it up before the election. I bought it only because by chance I saw Easton's interview on Booknotes a few weeks ago. Easton's book is another refreshing alternative to the instant analysis and high cholesterol punditry (is there any other kind) ladled out oversized portions. In an age when a candidate's ability to charm a daytime TV host outweigh ability or desire to understand the fundamental issues facing our government today, Easton's book is a reminder that a candidate propelled to the White House has a lot of hot exhaust behind him. We should know what we are going to have to breath before we vote.

Well, if you want to read the experience from academia, go right ahead. For a better insight, see Michael Beschloss or Ike's own biographer, Stephen Ambrose. This book was a hit in the scholastic arena but never caught on in mainstream

Greenstein was not the first but has certainly assembled the most coherent argument for a fundamental reassessment of Ike's presidency.

Common wisdom held Ike to be a somewhat dodering, benevolent and detached president who routinely mangled english syntax in his press conferences. He is seen as surrounded by powerful men who ran government as THEY saw fit.

Greenstein shows repeatedly that Ike was a deft behind-the-scenes mover and shaker who held all the reins of power in HIS hands. He consistently refused to engage in "personalities" and would deal with political challenges with tact and persuasion, often hidden from public light. His handling of McCarthy, often seen as a do-nothing approach, is re-examined in a new light. Eisenhower is seen pre-empting McCarthy consistently while also refusing to publicly engage him, which in Ike's mind, would have served to legitimize him (McCarthy) in many eyes.

Finaly, Ike has been critized for relying too much on a rigid and formal system of staff and infomation processing. His background in the Army, many critics contend, made him a stickler for procedure. This much is true. However, he used his considerable charm and intellect to draw on a wide group of people (all white and male) to augment his formal structures. Many blame the dismantling of the fromal advising structure by Kennedy to his lack of information during the Bay of Pigs.

A good book for Eisenhower specialists, policital scientists studying the organizational presidency, and presidential students of all stripes.

In the preface to this landmark book on the Eisenhower presidency, Greenstein talks about how he had begun a project on presidential leadership, with a quick stop at the Eisenhower Library to get confirmation that Eisenhower was as hands-off as possible, a doddering old fool who let his underlings run the country whilst Ike played golf. But as Greenstein looked at the research in front of him, he discovered Eisenhower was much more of a hands-on president than most accepted. He worked behind the scenes, however, hence this "hidden-hand" description.

Greenstein's book on Eisenhower is significant for all students of Eisenhower. Most revisionist scholars of Eisenhower were also Stevenson supporters in the '50s, and have come away with a better understanding of how Ike worked, and his handling of major crises. (Anyone who thinks the 1950s was "Leave it to Beaver" or "Happy Days" is poorly mis-informed and needs to take himself to the public library to look at all the brinksmanship reported in the newspapers and newsmagazines of the time.)

In this book, Greenstein offers his argument, and then goes through a series of case-studies to look at how Eisenhower worked actively behind the scenes to accomplish his goals.

This is indeed a landmark book for scholars. The general reader, however, may be overwhelmed by the academic use of language. For them, the two-volume book on Eisenhower by Ambrose may be a better book to read.