Why is is so hard to get a Great leader in a Democracy?The answer may lie in the First History of Leadership, the origin not only of something recognizable as a history book, but the first historical textbook on leadership: Thucydides, The Peloponnesian War. A note on editions: if you want to read this book, there is no contest about which version to read. The Landmark Thucydides, edited by Robert Strassler, is really the only choice. An amazingly edited volume. … [Read more...] about Leadership in a Democracy
Great Books
Dear Life
Sometimes, I am reading a book and suddenly just mentally step back and admire the artistry of the author. It is a strange experience—the book has a plot, but I am not really noticing the plot, but rather the amazing way the plot has been so deliberately constructed. It’s like watching a play from backstage; you notice how everything is done. I have this experience a lot when reading Wodehouse. And I had that experience with Alice Munro. Dear Life is her last volume of short … [Read more...] about Dear Life
Meditations on Leadership
Why do you want to be leader? Is there any reason to desire to lead? Marcus Aurelius would like to have a word with you. You want fame? People who are excited by posthumous fame forget that the people who remember them will soon die too. And those after them in turn. Until their memory, passed from one to another like a candle flame, gutters and goes out. But suppose that those who remembered you were immortal and your memory undying. What good would it do to you? And I don't just … [Read more...] about Meditations on Leadership
The Undesired Crossroad
Sometimes you are faced with a really lousy set of options.Sometimes that lousy set of options is your own fault.Cormac McCarthy’s The Counselor wrestles with exactly that problem.A brilliant book. Just brilliant. You won't forget it. First though, we need to straighten one thing out. This book is called a screenplay. Don’t even think about watching the movie. It’s awful. Just read the book. McCarthy is an amazing novelist, perhaps the greatest living … [Read more...] about The Undesired Crossroad
Hemingway’s Blog
I finished reading Ernest Hemingway’s blog. Now that I think about it, that is an odd sentence. How do you finish reading a blog? The very idea implies that there will be no more entries. But how can one be sure? I finished reading Ernest Hemingway’s blog. Now that I think about it, that is an odd sentence. How do you finish reading a blog? The very idea implies that there will be no more entries. But how can one be sure? In Hemingway’s case, it is … [Read more...] about Hemingway’s Blog
Leadership in The Republic
As a manual on leadership, Plato’s The Republic is a very useful thought experiment. But, it is a useful guide to leadership? First off, The Republic a mammothly sprawling book. It is a conversation which wanders all over the place, constantly circling back to the general theme. But even there, it isn’t entirely clear what the general theme actually is. Justice? Good Government? Education? Moral Character? In previous readings, I had read the book as an … [Read more...] about Leadership in The Republic