Worthy Fights: A Memoir of Leadership in War and Peace

(Paperback)

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Description

Leon Panetta has had two of the most consequential careers of any American public servant in the past fifty years. His first, beginning as an army intelligence officer and including a run as one of Congress's most powerful and respected members, lasted 35 years and culminated in his role as Clinton's budget czar and White House chief of staff. He then 'retired' to establish the Panetta Institute,to serve on the Iraq Study Group; and to protect the California coast. In 2009 he accepted what many said was a thankless task: returning to public office as the director of the CIA.

Reviews

Very readable, with the frank descriptions of personalities and events that distinguish this genre at its best. David Ignatius, The Washington Post

Young people searching for the role model of a public servant will find few as good as Panetta. . . . A playbook for how to behave with integrity in a city with limited virtue. Leslie H. Gelb, The New York Times Book Review

Author Bio

Leon Panetta served as the director of the Central Intelligence Agency from 2009 to 2011 and as secretary of defense from 2011 to 2013. An Italian American Democrat, he was a member of the U.S. House of Representatives from 1977 to 1993, the director of the Office of Management and Budget from 1993 to 1994, and President Clinton's chief of staff from 1994 to 1997. He is the founder of the Panetta Institute for Public Policy and has served as professor of public policy at his alma mater, Santa Clara University. Jim Newton is editorat large of the Los Angeles Times and the author of two critically acclaimedbiographies.