The Master Switch: The Rise and Fall of Information Empires by Tim Wu
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
This was a fascinating book. Tim Wu is a big-picture guy and he writes from that perspective as he details the history of the information empires that have risen and fall in the last 120 years in America. (more…)
Lady Bird and Lyndon: The Hidden Story of a Marriage That Made a President by Betty Caroli
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
I was way too young to know anything about Lyndon and Lady Bird Johnson when they were in the White House and much of the scant knowledge I had of Lyndon Johnson – which left me with a negative impression of him both as a person and as someone in a leadership position – before reading this book has been acquired through my extensive study of the long history of war, beginning with the French in the 1950’s, in Vietnam. (more…)
The Quintessential Leader stays away from discussing politics intentionally. That is because politics of any kind – governmental, social, religious, etc. – and quintessential leadership are incompatible. They do not and cannot coexist. Where you see politics, you see unquintessential leadership.
However, this blog does look at people who are involved in politics because quintessential or unquintessential leadership is demonstrated in who people are, what they think, say, and do. (more…)
The Long Shadow: The Legacies of the Great War in the Twentieth Century by David Reynolds
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Although the author’s style is dense – by that I mean lots of information packed into a tight, but multilevel structure that requires a certain kind of deep, concentrated reading/comprehension ability that I believe has tragically been completely lost except to all but a few of us in this technology-driven (entangled) age when our attention/comprehension spans have been diminished to mere skimming, at best, and no-context, 5-second, twisted, spun, and completely made-up out of thin air sound bites, at worst – this is an incredible and comprehensive look at the global legacy of World War I on the 20th century and, in fact, here today in the 21st century. (more…)
The Quintessential Leader 