Certain Trumpets: The Nature of Leadership

by Garry Wills

Book Overview

What makes a leader? How do we identify effective leadership, and how should--and shouldn't--that power be used? In Certain Trumpets, Garry Wills presents portraits of eminent leaders including FDR to... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0684801388
• Release Date: May 1995
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 336 Pages
• Weight: 0.05 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.0" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

Kudos for Certain Trumpets

Certain Trumpets is a great resource for individuals who want to take a fresh look at leadership types. As an introvert I've been puzzled for many years, wondering what kind of magic I exude that makes people want to follow me. Garry Wills affirms that there are many types of leaders, and likens them to historical figures.

Nuances with lots of food for thought

I picked up this book intending to read only a couple of chapters. I ended up reading the entire book with fascination. This is the kind of book that makes one think, reflect, and re-evaluate simplistic cultural paradigms. Those who confuse leaders with super heroes or think leadership has to do with wielding power to combat evil would benefit from reading this book. Wills does an excellent job of recognizing that people with a lot of influence or power are not necessarily leaders. I found this relavant to today's shortage of positive leaders. Although each chapter cannot delve into the representative leader in great depth, each chapter does an excellent job of distinguishing between different types of leadership. The introduction, the conclusion, the notes, and the many citings of other books on leadership added to my learning. This very readable book provides an excellent sense of history and places leadership within the context of history. This is a pleasant change from the endless books on leadership and business. My only complaint would be the lack of attention to the influence of media on today's leaders and followers.

An outstanding book on types of leadership

As Wills notes, "tell me your admired leaders, and you have bared your soul." Wills has bared his and while I might choose others, his descriptions of each type of leader give me something on to which to hang my own leadership research. This is a helpful piece of research. If one is able to see that we are all subjective in our approaches to and understanding of leadership, there is a great deal to learn here.