All over the world, political parties are being born and political pluralism is being fostered. Ironically, here in the United States, the parties are blurring together ideologically, and the political process is suffering. One of the messages of this book is that a vital two-party system is essential to America's political health. The last thing this country needs, the authors argue, is two Republican parties. At this critical moment in history, the Democratic party has the opportunity to offer the nation a real political choice, a sense of direction, and a program to address the needs of Americans in a changing world. It is time, they say, for a change-a change that only the Democrats can provide. As recounted here, a generation of Republican administrations have had their chance. The results have not been happy: deepening social divisions, heightened inequalities in income distribution, a decaying educational system, environmental exploitation, an insensitivity to the concerns of the less powerful, the largest public debt in history, and a foreign policy based on force. Recurring constitutional crises have also erupted, as epitomized by the Iran-Contra affair. The record is a sorry one. Alternatives exist, and the best ones rest with the Democratic party. The Democrats must lead. It is their responsibility to offer a new vision of the future and the means for achieving it-to provide a program that is compassionate, just, and inclusive of all. The politics of greed, exploitation, self-promotion, and militarism must be put behind us. Such are the themes of this extraordinary book. Leading academicians, each an expert in his or her area, emphasize the need for new leadership, propose contributions that a progressive Democratic party could make, and suggest what this party should stand for as well as how it can win in 1992. They urge the Democrats to be both brave and principled-brave in defying the conventional wisdom that Democrats must be moderate to win, and principled in sticking to progressive ideals. The book provides analysis of such areas as the political impact of an issue-oriented, liberal party; the campaign and media choices required to get a progressive message across; the role and concerns of women, blacks, Hispanics, and other 262underrepresented groups; electoral and legislative strategies for success; and the substance of what a progressive policy agenda should contain. Challenging and thought-provoking, these essays will help reshape political thinking during this critical period in the nation's history. Their objective is creation of a society that represents and responds to human needs, and the authors indicate the way to achieve these goals through an invigorated, forward-looking Democratic party.

In Reflections on Leadership fifteen prominent leadership scholars pay tribute to James MacGregor Burns's book, Leadership, a classic in the field of leadership studies. The contributors address the puzzles and anomalies in his work, such as: the place of values in leadership; leadership as a casual factor in change; levels of analysis; interdisciplinary approaches to the study of leadership; the distance of his theory from everyday experience; the absence of gender and race, and more.

All over the world, political parties are being born and political pluralism is being fostered. Ironically, here in the United States, the parties are blurring together ideologically, and the political process is suffering. One of the messages of this book is that a vital two-party system is essential to America's political health. The last thing this country needs, the authors argue, is two Republican parties. At this critical moment in history, the Democratic party has the opportunity to offer the nation a real political choice, a sense of direction, and a program to address the needs of Americans in a changing world. It is time, they say, for a change-a change that only the Democrats can provide. As recounted here, a generation of Republican administrations have had their chance. The results have not been happy: deepening social divisions, heightened inequalities in income distribution, a decaying educational system, environmental exploitation, an insensitivity to the concerns of the less powerful, the largest public debt in history, and a foreign policy based on force. Recurring constitutional crises have also erupted, as epitomized by the Iran-Contra affair. The record is a sorry one. Alternatives exist, and the best ones rest with the Democratic party. The Democrats must lead. It is their responsibility to offer a new vision of the future and the means for achieving it-to provide a program that is compassionate, just, and inclusive of all. The politics of greed, exploitation, self-promotion, and militarism must be put behind us. Such are the themes of this extraordinary book. Leading academicians, each an expert in his or her area, emphasize the need for new leadership, propose contributions that a progressive Democratic party could make, and suggest what this party should stand for as well as how it can win in 1992. They urge the Democrats to be both brave and principled-brave in defying the conventional wisdom that Democrats must be moderate to win, and principled in sticking to progressive ideals. The book provides analysis of such areas as the political impact of an issue-oriented, liberal party; the campaign and media choices required to get a progressive message across; the role and concerns of women, blacks, Hispanics, and other 262underrepresented groups; electoral and legislative strategies for success; and the substance of what a progressive policy agenda should contain. Challenging and thought-provoking, these essays will help reshape political thinking during this critical period in the nation's history. Their objective is creation of a society that represents and responds to human needs, and the authors indicate the way to achieve these goals through an invigorated, forward-looking Democratic party.

From renowned political theorist James MacGregor Burns, an incisive critique of the overreaching power of an ideological Supreme Court
For decades, Pulitzer Prize-winner James MacGregor Burns has been one of the great masters of the study of power and leadership in America. In "Packing the Court," he turns his eye to the U.S. Supreme Court, an institution that he believes has become more powerful, and more partisan, than the founding fathers ever intended. In a compelling and provocative narrative, Burns reveals how the Supreme Court has served as a reactionary force in American politics at critical moments throughout the nation's history, and concludes with a bold proposal to rein in the court's power.

Since mid-century, America has witnessed an ominous decline in presidential leadership, culminating in the failing presidency of George W. Bush today. How did this happen? In "Running Alone," the distinguished political scientist and leadership expert James MacGregor Burns finds the origin of the problem in John F. Kennedy's presidential style-and its influence on his successors in the Oval Office. Kennedy rejected collective leadership in favor of a highly personalized executive branch, run by a small group of hand-picked advisors. His successors followed his lead; each in his own way ran and governed alone, exploiting the party base while often ignoring party platforms and party needs. Burns charts the decline of genuine leadership in the Oval Office and offers practical proposals for restoring the kind of transforming leadership that this country so desperately needs. With unsurpassed knowledge of American history and politics, Burns shows us the way forward.

From Simon & Schuster, The Power to Lead is James MacGregor Burns' exploration into the crisis of the American presidency. Including a prologue on the desertion of the system, Burns describes an American political system that "faces a pervasive crisis of self-confidence that only the rarest kind of leadership can overcome."

"With this profound and magnificent book, drawing on his deep reservoir of thought and expertise in the humanities, James MacGregor Burns takes us into the fire's center. As a 21st-century philosopher, he brings to vivid life the incandescent personalities and ideas that embody the best in Western civilization and shows us how understanding them is essential for anyone who would seek to decipher the complex problems and potentialities of the world we will live in tomorrow." --Michael Beschloss, "New York Times" bestselling author of "Presidential Courage: Brave Leaders and How They Changed America, 1789-1989"
"James MacGregor Burns is a national treasure, and "Fire and Light" is the elegiac capstone to a career devoted to understanding the seminal ideas that made America - for better and for worse - what it is." --Joseph J. Ellis, Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award winning author "Revolutionary Summer"

Pulitzer Prize-winning and bestselling historian James MacGregor Burns explores the most daring and transformational intellectual movement in history, the European and American Enlightenment

In this engaging, provocative history, James MacGregor Burns brilliantly illuminates the two-hundred-year conflagration of the Enlightenment, when audacious questions and astonishing ideas tore across Europe and the New World, transforming thought, overturning governments, and inspiring visionary political experiments. "Fire and Light"""brings to vivid life the galaxy of revolutionary leaders of thought and action who, armed with a new sense of human possibility, driven by a hunger for change, created the modern world. Burns discovers the origins of a distinctive American Enlightenment in men like the Founding Fathers Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and James Madison, and their early encounters with incendiary European ideas about liberty and equality. It was these thinker-activists who framed the United States as a grand and continuing experiment in Enlightenment principles.
Today the same questions Enlightenment thinkers grappled with have taken on new urgency around the world: in the turmoil of the Arab Spring, in the former Soviet Union, and China, as well as in the United States itself. What should a nation be? What should citizens expect from their government? Who should lead and how can leadership be made both effective and accountable? What is happiness, and what can the state contribute to it? Burns's exploration of the ideals and arguments that formed the bedrock of our modern world shines a new light on these ever-important questions.