Available Formats
How the Best Did It: Leadership Lessons from Our Top Presidents
By (Author) Talmage Boston
Foreword by John Avlon
Post Hill Press
Post Hill Press
1st January 2026
United States
General
Non Fiction
Paperback
400
Width 152mm, Height 229mm
379g
How the Best Did It is an accessible and insightful explanation of how the most important leadership traits from Americas eight greatest presidents can be implemented by todays leaders.
A discerning examination of what all of us can learn from some of our most effective leaders who have heldand wieldedultimate power at the highest level. Jon Meacham
David O. Stewart (author of George Washington: The Political Rise of Americas Founding Father) on the George Washington chapter:
In How the Best Did It, Talmage Boston demonstrates rare gifts in sifting gold nuggets from the endless gravel beds of known facts about eight leading presidents, then delivering them concisely and persuasively. In his insightful study of George Washington, he finds the core of Americas first great leader without exaggerating his talents, and makes him someone from whom we can learn and cherish.
Annette Gordon-Reed (Pulitzer-winning historian and coauthor of Most Blessed of the Patriarchs: Thomas Jefferson and the Empire of the Imagination) on the Thomas Jefferson chapter:
Thomas Jefferson was one the most effective American leaders of his time, creating a political party that dominated American politics for more than a quarter of a century. With great insight and clear writing, Talmage Boston brings Jefferson to life as the talented leader who shaped the course of early American society.
Ronald C. White Jr. (author of A. Lincoln and three other notable books on Lincoln) on the Abraham Lincoln chapter:
Talmage Boston offers a wise and wide-ranging understanding of Lincolns leadership qualities. What makes Bostons chapter distinct is the personal questions that challenge the reader to apply Lincolns values to their lives today.
Talmage Boston is a well-known figure among leading historians as an author, speaker, and onstage interviewer. His work has been endorsed by David McCullough, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jon Meacham, Douglas Brinkley, Annette-Gordon-Reed, Evan Thomas, and H.W. Brands, as well as many other esteemed presidential biographers. Boston is the author of Cross-Examining History (foreword by Ken Burns), Raising the Bar (foreword by former U.S. Attorney General Dick Thornburgh, Baseball and the Baby Boomer (foreword by Frank Deford), and 1939: Baseballs Tipping Point (foreword by John Grisham).
He is also one of the most highly recognized lawyers in Texas, having been chosen for three major statewide awards in the last four years by the Texas Bar Foundation and the State Bar of Texas Litigation Section. Boston has been named a Texas Super Lawyer by Thompson Reuters every year since 2003, and among the Best Lawyers in America every year since 2013. He is the only lawyer to receive a Presidential Citation from eight different presidents of the State Bar of Texas for outstanding service to the State Bar.
Working as both a full-time commercial litigator and a full-time historian throughout the twenty-first century, Bostons varied experience and notable achievements in both fields make him uniquely qualified to write How the Best Did It due to his knowledge of history, his skills as a writer, and his vast experience in business and law. In November 2023, Boston will be recognized by the Dallas Historical Society as The History Maker of the Year in the field of promoting history in North Texas.
Boston lives in Dallas with his wife Claire, son Scott, daughter Lindsey, son-in-law Mitchell, and grandson Nolan. To learn more, visit his website at talmageboston.com.