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Why America Can't Have (and Doesn't Want) Another Great President
Palgrave Macmillan Trade
October 2014
On Sale: October 7, 2014
288 pages
ISBN: 1137279001
EAN: 9781137279002
Kindle: B00JTIRUO8
Hardcover / e-Book
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Non-Fiction History
The Presidency has always been an implausible—some might
even say an impossible—job. Part of the problem is that the
challenges of the presidency and the expectations Americans
have for their presidents have skyrocketed, while the
president’s capacity and power to deliver on what ails the
nations has diminished. Indeed, as citizens we continue to
aspire and hope for greatness in our only nationally elected
office. The problem of course is that the demand for great
presidents has always exceeded the supply. As a result,
Americans are adrift in a kind of Presidential Bermuda
Triangle suspended between the great presidents we want and
the ones we can no longer have. The End of Greatness explores the concept of greatness in
the presidency and the ways in which it has become both
essential and detrimental to America and the nation’s
politics. Miller argues that greatness in presidents is a
much overrated virtue. Indeed, greatness is too rare to be
relevant in our current politics, and driven as it is by
nation-encumbering crisis, too dangerous to be desirable. Our preoccupation with greatness in the presidency
consistently inflates our expectations, skews the debate
over presidential performance, and drives presidents to
misjudge their own times and capacity. And our focus on the
individual misses the constraints of both the office and the
times, distorting how Presidents actually lead. In wanting and expecting our leaders to be great, we have
simply made it impossible for them to be good. The End of
Greatness takes a journey through presidential history,
helping us understand how greatness in the presidency was
achieved, why it’s gone, and how we can better come to
appreciate the presidents we have, rather than being
consumed with the ones we want.
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