Leaders: Myth and Reality

This was absolutely brilliant. McChrystal takes a needed contrarian view at the qualities of leadership through contrasting, paired case studies. He models the book off of Plutarch’s “Lives”, using an incredibly diverse array of modern examples from Robert E. Lee to Coco Chanel, Walt Disney, Martin Luther and Martin Luther King Jr., Robespierre, Abu Al-Zarqawi and many more.

McChrystal and his co-authors display an (I admit surprisingly) good range of writing that is unique among books I have read of this kind. It is not easy to write a fluid military historical analysis of the civil war and modern terrorism, then effortlessly transition into 1920’s Parisian high fashion, then even-handedly draw useful conclusions from their juxtaposition. This book is certainly one of my favorites from this year.