Here are 100 books that Master of the Senate fans have personally recommended if you like
Master of the Senate.
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Growing up in Philadelphia, with school and family visits to landmarks like Independence Hall and Betsy Ross’s house, I’ve long been interested in American history. That led me, eventually, to graduate school and my profession as a historian. At the same time, I have greatly enjoyed reading American novelists, such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, Willa Cather, and James Baldwin, as well as the works of thinkers like Ralph Waldo Emerson and W.E.B. DuBois. The sweet spot combining those two interests has been American intellectual history.
This is my candidate for the Great American Novel. Read it for its storyline and its fascinating chapters on whales. Along the way, you’ll encounter discussions about race, religion, friendship, and the virtuous life.
Some of my students ask, “Why does Melville digress so much?” My response: persist in reading this work. What at first seems extraneous becomes vital. You’ll discover a masterpiece.
Melville's tale of the whaling industry, and one captain's obsession with revenge against the Great White Whale that took his leg. Classics Illustrated tells this wonderful tale in colourful comic strip form, offering an excellent introduction for younger readers. This edition also includes a biography of Herman Melville and study questions, which can be used both in the classroom or at home to further engage the reader in the work at hand.
The Victorian mansion, Evenmere, is the mechanism that runs the universe.
The lamps must be lit, or the stars die. The clocks must be wound, or Time ceases. The Balance between Order and Chaos must be preserved, or Existence crumbles.
Appointed the Steward of Evenmere, Carter Anderson must learn the…
Being a creative person, I studied design to make the world better… only to realise that great ideas and designs often falter because we hold ourselves back by the way we think. I had to study philosophy to understand what is limiting us. And then I left my own design work behind to study the practices expert creatives (like top design professionals) have developed to get past these roadblocks. Having discovered how they can create new frames, time and time again, it has become my mission to empower other people to do this – not only on a project level, but taking these practices to the organizational sector and societal transformation.
In this classic book, Kuhn introduces the idea of a "paradigm" and shows that real progress comes through paradigm shifts.
That hit me like a rock when I first read it. I love how in the second edition, Kuhn talks about the difficulties of deep change: "the problem is that the new paradigm is always worse than the old one."
The new paradigm may be better in some way, but it is also sketchy, unformed, and it creates lots of new uncertainties. So, for somebody to shift to a new paradigm always requires a leap of faith!
A good book may have the power to change the way we see the world, but a great book actually becomes part of our daily consciousness, pervading our thinking to the point that we take it for granted, and we forget how provocative and challenging its ideas once were-and still are. "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions" is that kind of book. When it was first published in 1962, it was a landmark event in the history and philosophy of science. And fifty years later, it still has many lessons to teach. With "The Structure of Scientific Revolutions", Kuhn challenged long-standing…
When I was a boy, my mother told me every day, “Be a leader.” By that, she meant to remember who you are, stand up for what you believe, do good, and be good. I was only five years old. That daily lesson on the doorstep sunk deep in my heart. For over forty years, I have had a passion for learning, teaching, and practicing small “L” leadership. I have done that as dean of Harvard Business School, president of BYU-Idaho, and Commissioner of Education for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. I have learned deeply from the books on this list, and I hope you will, too.
This book has captured my interest and my heart for a long time. You may wonder what a book about a great president is doing in a list of the best small “L” leadership books. Here is the reason: I get many powerful principles and practices of small “L” leadership–things I can use in my family, at church, and in my professional life–every time I read this book (and I have read it three times!).
It doesn’t hurt that the writing is beautiful! I love the writing, and I love to see how Lincoln created an effective team in his cabinet composed of all of his rivals for the presidential nomination with small and simple things. Amazing!
One of the most influential books of the past fifty years, Team of Rivals is Pulitzer Prize–winning author and esteemed presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin’s modern classic about the political genius of Abraham Lincoln, his unlikely presidency, and his cabinet of former political foes.
Winner of the prestigious Lincoln Prize and the inspiration for the Oscar Award winning–film Lincoln, starring Daniel Day-Lewis, directed by Steven Spielberg, and written by Tony Kushner.
On May 18, 1860, William H. Seward, Salmon P. Chase, Edward Bates, and Abraham Lincoln waited in their hometowns for the results from the Republican National Convention in Chicago.…
The Guardian of the Palace is the first novel in a modern fantasy series set in a New York City where magic is real—but hidden, suppressed, and dangerous when exposed.
When an ancient magic begins to leak into the world, a small group of unlikely allies is forced to act…
I have had a long career as a professor of organizational behavior. My view is that the most ignored and undervalued aspect of leadership is the development and implementation of political skills. Any leader who claims, “I don’t do politics” or “I’m not political,” is not serving themselves very well and, in fact, may be setting themselves up for failure. Whether in organizational life, in the sphere of public policy, or in daily life, we need to overcome the obstacles that impede our capacity to implement agendas and ideas and achieve our aspirations. Dreamers who lack political skills remain dreamers, not leaders.
This book by Graham Allison (revised and expanded with Philip Zelikow) examines how leaders frame problems, gather information, and arrive at decisions and actions in times of crisis and pressure.
The volume examines closely the Cuban Missile Crisis and the processes which led to its resolution. It was a time of immense tension, and the template used by leaders to make their decisions was critical.
While this book is clearly an examination of how government and political leaders operate in arriving at decisions in times of crisis, there are immense implications for any organizational leader.
Allison offers a number of decision-making lenses that are available to leaders: the rational model, based on goal analysis and utility and best payoff; the bureaucratic or organizational process model, based on making decisions embedded in preexisting lines of authority, precedent, repertoires, and templates that have been used before; or the political model, based on…
One of the most influental political science works written in the post World War II era, the original edition of Essence of Decision is a unique and fascinating examination of the pivotal event of the cold Cold War. Not simply revised, but completely re-written, the Second Edition of this classic text is a fresh reinterpretation of the theories and events surrounding the Cuban Missle Crisis, incorporating all new information from the Kennedy tapes and recently declassified Soviet files. Essence of Decision Second Edition, is a vivid look at decision-making under pressure and is the only single volume work that attempts…
It started with Goosebumps. Then came Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Stephen King. King led me to Kubrick, DePalma, Reiner, and Cronenberg, where my passion for film and screenwriting was sparked. This passion eventually led me to write my book. On that path, these 5 books helped me understand storytelling better: how it helps us understand the machinations of the world; makes sure our messages reach our audience; how language can tell its own story; how to find the spirit within the structure; and how storytelling can change your life. My world is richer thanks to these books. My ideas of what is possible are broader. Hopefully, they’ll do the same for you.
I’ve never seen a man’s life told with such clarity and skill as Caro lays out LBJ’s journey. I was in awe of how clear-eyed Caro was about what his story is about: not the facts and dates of LBJ’s life, but what Caro saw in LBJ’s life about ambition, politics, and the powers that shape society.
Caro never for a second loses sight of the story he is telling, and what it is truly about: power, how to get it, and how to yield it. Caro’s adherence to the themes he found in LBJ’s story is inspiring—and completely informed how I approach storytelling.
'The greatest biography of our era ... Essential reading for those who want to comprehend power and politics' The Times
Robert A. Caro's legendary, multi-award-winning biography of US President Lyndon Johnson is a uniquely riveting and revelatory account of power, political genius and the shaping of twentieth-century America.
This first instalment tells of the rise to national power of a desperately poor young man from the Texas Hill Country, revealing in extraordinary detail the genesis of the almost superhuman drive, energy and ambition that set LBJ apart. It charts his boyhood through the years of the Depression to his debut…
During my decades in the corporate world, I traveled extensively and spent months in England, where I became a devoted Anglophile. I am privileged to have met Queen Elizabeth II and Philip, and to have attended a knighting at Westminster. English history fascinates me, but so do gripping spy thrillers occurring in European and Middle Eastern settings. There’s nothing better than finishing a satisfying first book in a series—fiction or not--and deciding to ration the remaining ones so you can savor the experience a little longer!
Although the books in this series are not released in chronological order, I found it helpful to begin at the beginning, with George Washington. Each of these books is well-written and provides a concise way to learn about the significant events that occurred. Several times I’ve finished a book in this series and then selected an in-depth biography to further my knowledge about the ones I found most interesting. Though occasionally laborious reading, the insight gained from a brief look at each president’s life is worth every word.
A premier leadership scholar and an eighteenth-century expert define the special contributions and qualifications of our first president
Revolutionary hero, founding president, and first citizen of the young republic, George Washington was the most illustrious public man of his time, a man whose image today is the result of the careful grooming of his public persona to include the themes of character, self-sacrifice, and destiny.
As Washington sought to interpret the Constitution's assignment of powers to the executive branch and to establish precedent for future leaders, he relied on his key advisers and looked to form consensus as the guiding…
Aury and Scott travel to the Finger Lakes in New York’s wine country to get to the bottom of the mysterious happenings at the Songscape Winery. Disturbed furniture and curious noises are one thing, but when a customer winds up dead, it’s time to dig into the details and see…
I’ve spent my career helping leaders elevate the human experience for customers, employees, and shareholders. Along the way, I’ve written 13 bestselling books about clients like Starbucks and Mercedes-Benz and advised leaders across industries, from hospitality to healthcare. But beyond the C-suite, I’ve always been a student of leadership. I read widely and constantly to challenge my thinking and deepen my understanding. These five books have shaped how I lead, teach, and live. Each one offers something unexpected, timeless, or transformational—and I’m excited to share them with those who share a passion for what it means to lead well.
I expected Calvin Coolidge and his leadership journey to be dry and forgettable. Wow, was I wrong! President Coolidge’s restraint, clarity, and humility inspired me.
This book is a quiet masterclass in unifying and principled leadership. It was a refreshing and much-needed read in a time of divisive political rhetoric.
Amity Shlaes reclaimed a misunderstood president with her bestselling biography Coolidge. Now she presents an expanded and annotated edition of that president's masterful memoir.
The Autobiography of Calvin Coolidge is as unjustly neglected as Calvin Coolidge himself. The man caricatured as 'Silent Cal' was a gifted writer. The New York Times called him 'the most literary man who has occupied the White House since 1865.' One biographer wrote that Coolidge's autobiography 'displays a literary grace that is lacking in most such books by former presidents.'
The Coolidge who emerges in these pages is a model of character, principle, and humility…
I’ve always been fascinated by power and how people use it. From the time I was tiny, I’ve loved reading about how people left their fingerprint on history, and boy, do presidents leave their mark. Given these interests, it’s unsurprising that I’ve been my career this far examining how early presidents crafted the executive branch. The president’s oversized role in American life is also at the heart of my podcast work (I cohost The Past, The Promise, The Presidency with the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University. Each season we explore a different element of the presidency and its relationship to history). In my future scholarship, I plan to continue this exploration long after George Washington left office. Stay tuned for more, and in the meantime enjoy these great reads!
Most twenty-first-century presidents write autobiographies after leaving office, but not all autobiographies are created equal. A Promised Land gives an honest, unflinching view of the presidency. Obama is straightforward about his goals, successes, mistakes, and lessons learned the hard way. Whether or not you like him or agree with his policies, this book will give you a behind-the-scenes look at the presidency in a way that few others books can provide.
I’ve been fascinated by our 26th president for a long time. Most of us would be content with being known for one or two good things in our lifetime; TR was many things, and his work still impacts us over a century after his death. I wondered, who was this guy? He is relatively short, stocky, near-sighted, and not your typical action hero, yet he accomplished so much in a life that barely got through 60 years. I found so much more than I expected, and you will, too. Roll up your sleeves, get in the arena with TR, and, as he often said, “Get action!”
The middle book of Morris’ definitive biography of Roosevelt (following The Rise of Theodore Roosevelt and preceding Colonel Roosevelt) brought me into the White House along with 42-year-old TR as he was thrust into the presidency after William McKinley’s assassination in 1901.
Thus begins an administration like nothing the country had ever seen or likely will ever see again. Morris takes what could be simply a dry accounting of Roosevelt’s accomplishments—and failures—in office and makes them into a story that’s almost like a novel. If you’ve ever wondered why Roosevelt is on Mount Rushmore, this book will tell you why.
Over a century later, his accomplishments still greatly impact American life, and not just in the area of conservation, for which he is perhaps most remembered. Way ahead of his time on things like civil rights and women’s suffrage, TR was not afraid to take on the entrenched political…
NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER • “A shining portrait of a presciently modern political genius maneuvering in a gilded age of wealth, optimism, excess and American global ascension.”—San Francisco Chronicle
WINNER OF THE LOS ANGELES TIMES BOOK PRIZE FOR BIOGRAPHY • “[Theodore Rex] is one of the great histories of the American presidency, worthy of being on a shelf alongside Henry Adams’s volumes on Jefferson and Madison.”—Times Literary Supplement
Theodore Rex is the story—never fully told before—of Theodore Roosevelt’s two world-changing terms as President of the United States. A hundred years before the catastrophe of September 11, 2001, “TR” succeeded to…
Magical realism meets the magic of Christmas in this mix of Jewish, New Testament, and Santa stories–all reenacted in an urban psychiatric hospital!
On locked ward 5C4, Josh, a patient with many similarities to Jesus, is hospitalized concurrently with Nick, a patient with many similarities to Santa. The two argue…
My father was the child of poor New York emigrants who, like our Ireland-born subject, Paul O’Dwyer, made his way into the American middle class through education, hard work, the beneficial effects of the New Deal, and the impact of labor organizing. All of these had the added benefit of restraining the tides of economic inequality and easing the galling undertow of racism. As American society retreated in my adult lifetime into rank nativism, political race-baiting, and an ever-widening gulf between the very rich and everyone else, I was attracted to the idea of taking the measure of a lawyer-activist-politician in New York in the 20th century, Paul O’Dwyer.
A richly detailed and often riveting narrative on the 1960s, particularly the divisive and tumultuous 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the enormous antiwar movement (both events in which O’Dwyer played a leading role as a Senate candidate and anti-Vietnam War ally of Eugene McCarthy).
Accounts of urban riots drawn in part from court records bring the decade’s harsh and even brutal edge to life.
Heralded by stunning reviews, Perlstein's best-selling NIXONLAND begins in the blood and fire of the Watts riots - one week after President Johnson signed the Voting Rights Act, and nine months after his historic landslide victory over Barry Goldwater seemed to have heralded a permanent liberal consensus. The next year scores of liberals were thrown out of Congress, America was more divided than ever, and a disgraced politician was on his way to a shocking comeback: Richard Nixon. Six years later, President Nixon, harvesting the bitterness and resentment borne of that blood and fire, was re-elected in a landslide even…
