Order from a Major Online Bookstore
Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine
Save Your Time And Money
| AnyBook4Less.com | Order from a Major Online Bookstore |
|
| Home | Store List | FAQ | Contact Us | | ||
| Ultimate Book Price Comparison Engine Save Your Time And Money |
||
 |
Title: The Politics Presidents Make: Leadership from John Adams to Bill Clinton by Stephen Skowronek ISBN: 0-674-68937-2 Publisher: Belknap Pr Pub. Date: May, 1997 Format: Paperback Volumes: 1 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
Average Customer Rating: 4.4 (5 reviews)
Rating: 5
Summary: Most important book on the presidency in decades
Comment: Skworonek has written a magesterial study of the American presidency, fundamentally reinterpreting it through a novel historical framework. His writing style is very dense, and often unclear - but the hard work necessary to understand him is well worth the effort.
I first read this as an undergraduate, then twice again in graduate school. Each reading brought out new insights I missed the previous time.
No student of the presidency can afford not to read this. Quibble with him on some details, perhaps, but overall no one can doubt its lasting importance. An instant classic.
Rating: 4
Summary: BRILLIANT, but a tad dense
Comment: This is definitely a difficult book, and understanding certain critical passages may require several readings. In short, this is NOT a good book for an introduction to presidential politics and leadership. For a more readable and still highly regarded account, Neustadt's seminal work is a good choice. However, none of this is to say that Skowronek's book is not brilliant--it is, and reading it carefully is a very profitable experience and will enhance anyone's understanding of the presidency, agree with Professor Skowronek or not. Through all the technical references, Skowronek proposes a paradigm for assessing presidential leadership: Reconstruction, Disjunction, Articulation, and Pre-emption, all of which are based on the nature of the government and its commitments (vulnerable or resilient) and on the president's relationship to that regime (opposed or affiliated). Reconstruction results when presidents are opposed to a vulnerable regime--here are the "great" presidents: Lincoln, FDR, and Reagan, for example. Affiliation with a vulnerable regime produces Disjunction. Articulation results from affiliation with a resilient regime. And Pre-emption is the product of opposition to a resilient regime. Of course, this merely scratches the surface of Skowronek's argument, for which he argues quite well and which he approaches from a fairly historical perspective. I highly recommend this for anyone wishing to gain a deeper, fuller understanding of presidential leadership, especially in considering how much a president's skills affect what type of leader he is and how much circumstances shape his presidency.
Rating: 4
Summary: Decent
Comment: I read this as part of a course (taught by the author himself) in my sophomore year of college. Skowronek is I think to be applauded for his historical approach to presidential politics, and for his style of writing: it seems more as if youre reading a story than a political science book. Time and time again, Skowronek comes back to his thesis and main themes (legitimacy and presidents ability to correctly understand and manipulate their historical moment. The book never loses focus as Skrownek discusses different presidents or as he tells stories about a particular president. And hes done his research really really well. In particular his use of presidential quotes is very very impressive. Numerous times he gives examples of Presidents who attempt to build political legitimacy using words that fit very well into Skowronek's conceptual framework ("preserving foundations", recovering old sacred truths, continuing work that has already begun). The problem with Skowronek's book is that I think, given the sort of analysis hes doing here, its not very naunced. Im sure for example, articulation presidents often distanced themselves from their predecesors in some form or another. Some may not have a problem with this: after all S. is trying to prove his point and prove it well. However I thought at times that the book could have been more nauanced. Just my thoughts....OHH BUY THE BOOK!
 |
Title: PRESIDENTIAL POWER AND THE MODERN PRESIDENTS : THE POLITICS OF LEADERSHIP FROM ROOSEVELT TO REAGAN by Richard E. Neustadt ISBN: 0029227968 Publisher: Free Press Pub. Date: 01 March, 1991 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
 |
Title: The Rhetorical Presidency by Jeffrey K. Tulis ISBN: 069102295X Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 September, 1988 List Price(USD): $19.95 |
 |
Title: Going Public: New Strategies of Presidential Leadership by Samuel Kernell ISBN: 1568022182 Publisher: CQ Press Pub. Date: August, 1997 List Price(USD): $32.95 |
 |
Title: The Presidential Difference: Leadership Style from FDR to Clinton. by Fred I. Greenstein ISBN: 0691090831 Publisher: Princeton Univ Pr Pub. Date: 01 October, 2001 List Price(USD): $18.95 |
 |
Title: Why Parties?: The Origin and Transformation of Political Parties in America (American Politics and Political Economy) by John H. Aldrich ISBN: 0226012727 Publisher: University of Chicago Press Pub. Date: April, 1995 List Price(USD): $19.00 |
Thank you for visiting www.AnyBook4Less.com and enjoy your savings!
Copyright� 2001-2021 Send your comments
