The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency

(Hardback)

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From the New York Times bestselling author of The American Story and How to Lead and host of PBSs History with David RubensteinDavid Rubenstein interviews living American presidents and top historians and journalists who reflect on the US presidency, including Joe Biden, Barack Obama, George W. Bush, Maggie Haberman, Ron Chernow, and more.

For years, bestselling author David M. Rubenstein has distilled the contours of American democracy through conversations with noted leaders and historians. In The Highest Calling, he offers an enlightening overview of arguably the single most important position in the world: the American presidency.

Blending history and anecdote, Rubenstein chronicles the journeys of the presidents who have defined America as it exists now, what they envision for its future, and their legacy on the world stage. Drawing from his own experience in the Carter administration, he engages in dialogues with our nations presidents and the historians who study them. Get exclusive access to fresh perspectives, including:
-Original interviews with most of the living US presidents
-Interviews with noted presidential historians like Annette Gordon-Reed, Ron Chernow, Candice Millard, and more

Through insightful analysis, Rubenstein captures our countrys most prominent leaders, the political genius and frays of the presidential role, and the wisdom that emerges from it.

Reviews

PRAISE FORTHE HIGHEST CALLING
With this formidable, wise, riveting book, David Rubenstein draws on his own White House experience and his long study of American presidents to show us some of the most important lessons of presidential leadershipboth the failures and the triumphs. The author here collaborates with a dazzling, well-chosen array of experts on crucial past presidents, as well as George W. Bush and the Clintons. At this moment of political crisis, Rubenstein has brought us fresh history that can throw a vital light on the decisions that we Americans have to make about our future."
MICHAEL BESCHLOSS, award-winning historian and New York Times bestselling author of Presidents of War

At this critical moment for our country, David Rubenstein uses his consummate skill as an interviewer to explore the history of the U.S. presidency with a dazzling array of historians, journalistsand even some presidents themselves. This is a book of stimulating conversations and deep insightsboth historical and contemporarythat illuminate the lives, times and legacies of American leaders over the course of nearly two and a half centuries. Rubenstein's reflections on his own interactions with presidents since the years of his work in the Carter White House provide a powerful framework for his interviews and remind us of our responsibilities as citizens in a story that is still being written.
DREW G. FAUST, author of This Republic of Suffering, and President Emerita and Lincoln Professor of History of Harvard University

David Rubensteins latest book, The Highest Calling: Conversations on the American Presidency, is a masterful journey through the history of those who stood at the center of the world stage to lead mankinds most powerful nation. His probing interviews with scholars and biographers detail the strengths and frailties of 21 presidents from Washington to Biden who shaped the history of the United States and the consequences of their time in the White House. As someone who served six of those presidents, I highly recommend The Highest Calling for anyone wanting a full-throated understanding about how this critical component of the American experiment in democracy truly works.
JAMES A. BAKER, III, 61st U.S. Secretary of State

David M. Rubensteins The Highest Calling is an exemplary, close-up study of twenty-one U.S. presidents from George Washington to Joe Biden. Based on interviews with first-rate biographers like Annette Gordon-Reed (Thomas Jefferson) and Ron Chernow (Ulysses S. Grant) Rubensteinour foremost expeditionary on the evolution of the U.S. presidencybrilliantly illuminates the distinctive personalities and visionary policies of past residents of 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. His sharp portraits of misunderstood leaders like James Garfield, Gerald Ford, and Jimmy Carter are especially good. The Highest Calling is also a timely reminder that Barack Obamas famous dictum Dont boo, vote constitutes the beating heart of our democracy. Highly Recommended!
DOUGLAS BRINKLEY, Chair in Humanities and Professor of History at Rice University and author of American Moonshot: John F. Kennedy and the Great Space Race

Author Bio

David M. Rubenstein is the New York Times bestselling author of How to Invest, How to Lead, The American Experiment, and The American Story. He is cofounder and cochairman of The Carlyle Group, one of the worlds largest and most successful private equity firms. Rubenstein is Chairman of the Boards of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, the Council on Foreign Relations, the National Gallery of Art, the Economic Club of Washington, and the University of Chicago. He is an original signer of The Giving Pledge and a recipient of the Carnegie Medal of Philanthropy and the MoMAs David Rockefeller Award. The host of PBSs History with David Rubenstein, Bloomberg Wealth with David Rubenstein, and The David Rubenstein Show: Peer-to-Peer Conversations on Bloomberg TV and PBS, he lives in the Washington, DC, area.