Presidential Power and the Modern Presidents: The Politics of Leadership from Roosevelt to Reagan
Twenty-nine years ago Neustadt wrote Presidential Power ( LJ 6/1/61), a classic on the modern American presidency. This is the fourth revised edition of that work, in which his thesis continues to be that U.S. presidents who lead by persuasion are more successful than those who rely on the formal executive powers of command found in the Constitution. Although this edition doubles the length of the first, Neustadt is still unable to explain why some presidents ignore the tenets of democratic leadership. James David Barber's Presidential Character ( LJ 7/72) is a vastly more readable and predictive classic which, in a sense, builds on Neustadt's thesis. This latest edition continues a patched-on quality, with the addition of new chapters for each administration after Eisenhower's. Older editions will be sufficient for most libraries.- William D. Pederson, Louisiana State Univ. in ShreveportCopyright 1990 Reed Business Information, Inc.--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.