Sign-In
Cart
Colin Powell: Imperfect Patriot
Hardcover
Military BiographiesPolitical BiographiesArmed Forces
Publisher Price: $150.00
ISBN13: 9780268105099
Publisher: University of Notre Dame Press
Published: Mar 15 2019
Pages: 416
Weight: 1.70
Height: 1.20 Width: 8.60 Depth: 9.30
Language: English
This fascinating biography of the late Colin Powell brings to light his towering achievements and errors in judgment during a lifetime devoted to public service.
Until he passed away in 2021, Colin Powell was revered as one of America's most trusted and admired leaders. This biography demonstrates that Powell's decades-long development as an exemplary subordinate is crucial to understanding his astonishing rise from a working-class immigrant neighborhood to the highest echelons of military and political power, including his roles as the country's first Black national security advisor, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and secretary of state.
Once an aimless, ambitionless teenager who barely graduated from college, Powell became an extraordinarily effective and staunchly loyal subordinate to many powerful superiors who, in turn, helped to advance his career. By the time Powell became chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, he had developed into the consummate follower--motivated, competent, composed, honorable, and independent. The quality of Powell's followership faltered at times, however, while in Vietnam, during the Iran-Contra scandal, and after he became George W. Bush's secretary of state. Powell proved a fallible patriot, and in the course of a long and distinguished career he made some grave and consequential errors in judgment. While those blunders do not erase the significance of his commendable achievements amid decades of public service, we can learn much from his good and bad leadership.
Also in
Political Biographies
Crisis of the Common Good: The Fight for Meaning and Connection in a Broken America
Murphy, Chris
Hardcover
Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded Usaid
Enrich, Nicholas
Hardcover
American Scoundrel: Roy Cohn's Dark Journey from Joe McCarthy to Donald Trump
Bird, Kai
Goldmark, Susan
Hardcover
The First Eight: A Personal History of the Pioneering Black Congressmen Who Shaped a Nation
Clyburn, Jim
Hardcover
Alito: The Justice Who Reshaped the Supreme Court and Restored the Constitution
Hemingway, Mollie
Hardcover
Poisoned Ivies: The Inside Account of the Academic and Moral Rot at America's Elite Universities
Stefanik, Elise
Hardcover
The Power Broker (Pulitzer Prize Winner): Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Caro, Robert A.
Paperback
King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation
Anderson, Scott
Hardcover
The Devil's Chessboard: Allen Dulles, the Cia, and the Rise of America's Secret Government
Talbot, David
Paperback
How to Test Negative for Stupid: And Why Washington Never Will (Large Print Edition)
Kennedy, John
Paperback
Don't Tell the President: The Best, Worst, and Mostly Untold Stories from Presidential Advance
Collamore, Tom
Becker, Jean
Hardcover
Winning the Earthquake: How Jeannette Rankin Defied All Odds to Become the First Woman in Congress
Rinehart, Lorissa
Hardcover
Independent: A Look Inside a Broken White House, Outside the Party Lines
Jean-Pierre, Karine
Hardcover
The Assassination of Leon Trotsky: Espionage, Scandal, and the Crime of the Century
West, Nigel
Melton, H. Keith
Hardcover
Finding the Third Way: Lessons in the Politics of Civility from My Journey Through History
Davis, Lanny J.
Hardcover
The Game Changer: How Harry Reid Remade the Rules and Showed Democrats How to Fight
Ralston, Jon
Hardcover
Slow Poison: IDI Amin, Yoweri Museveni, and the Making of the Ugandan State
Mamdani, Mahmood
Hardcover
Red Notice: A True Story of High Finance, Murder, and One Man's Fight for Justice
Browder, Bill
Paperback
Too Much and Never Enough: How My Family Created the World's Most Dangerous Man
Trump, Mary L.
Paperback
Starting Somewhere: Community Organizing for Socially Awkward People Who've Had Enough
Douglass, Roderick
Paperback
Miss Major Speaks: Conversations with a Black Trans Revolutionary
Meronek, Toshio
Griffin-Gracy, Major
Paperback
The First Fascist: The Sensational Life and Dark Legacy of the Marquis de Morès
Luzzatto, Sergio
Hardcover
King of Kings: The Iranian Revolution: A Story of Hubris, Delusion and Catastrophic Miscalculation
Anderson, Scott
Paperback
The Road to Unafraid: How the Army's Top Ranger Faced Fear and Found Courage Through
Struecker, Jeff
Paperback
The Power Broker (Pulitzer Prize Winner): Robert Moses and the Fall of New York
Caro, Robert A.
Hardcover
The Long Loneliness: The Autobiography of the Legendary Catholic Social Activist
Day, Dorothy
Paperback
Dreams of a White Snow Lion: The Remarkable Life, Vision, and Deeds of the Dalai Lama
Bianca, Mariateresa
Dhargye, Sherab
Hardcover
My Struggle: English Translation of Mein Kamphf - Mein Kampt - Mein Kampf
Mein Kampf, Kamphf English Kampt
Hitler, Adolf
Murphy, James
Paperback
The Architect of Espionage: The Man Who Built Israel's Mossad Into the World's Boldest Intelligence Force
Katz, Samuel M.
Hardcover
Glory, Grief, and the Gavel: An Inside Guide to Running for Speaker of the House
Leganski, John
Hardcover
Hey Yang, Where's My Thousand Bucks?: And Other True Stories of Staggering Depth
Yang, Andrew
Hardcover
Hero of the Empire: The Boer War, a Daring Escape, and the Making of Winston Churchill
Millard, Candice
Paperback
G-Man (Pulitzer Prize Winner): J. Edgar Hoover and the Making of the American Century
Gage, Beverly
Paperback
In the Garden of Beasts: Love, Terror, and an American Family in Hitler's Berlin
Larson, Erik
Hardcover
A Human Being Died That Night: A South African Woman Confronts the Legacy of Apartheid
Gobodo-Madikizela, Pumla
Paperback
Ni Venganza Ni Perdón: Una Amistad Al Filo del Poder / Neither Revenge Nor Forgiveness: A Friendship on the Edge of Power
Scherer Ibarra, Julio
Fernández Menéndez, Jorge
Paperback
One Man in: The Explosive Firsthand Account of the Lone Special-Ops Commando Who Fought Off a Major Terrorist Attack in Kenya
Craighead, Christian
Hardcover
Detenido: El Diario de Supervivencia Y Determinación de Un Niño
Morales, Gerardo Iván
Esperanza, David
Paperback
I Wish Someone Had Told Me . . .: The Best Advice for Building a Great Career and a Meaningful Life
Perino, Dana
Hardcover
The Afterlife of Malcolm X: An Outcast Turned Icon's Enduring Impact on America
Whitaker, Mark
Hardcover
The Afterlife of Malcolm X: An Outcast Turned Icon's Enduring Impact on America
Whitaker, Mark
Paperback
This Cursed Beautiful Land: A Russian-American Story (Large Print Edition)
Gershkovich, Evan
Paperback
With a Name Like Chief: Reflections on Recovery and Identity Through the Seven Sacred Teachings
Chief, Kevin
Slayen, Stu
Paperback
Mitos de la Historia Mexicana: de Hidalgo a Zedillo / Myths of Mexican History
Rosas, Alejandro
Paperback
Legacy of Luna: The Story of a Tree, a Woman and the Struggle to Save the Redwoods
Hill, Julia
Paperback
Presidenta: La Victoria de Una Mujer En Un País de Hombres / Madam President: A Woman's Victory in a Country of Men
Zepeda Patterson, Jorge
Paperback