Do leaders make history or does history make leaders? A deep dive into how we define, seek and become leaders.

We live in a period of leadership in crisis. At home, we sense that unqualified and irresponsible individuals are being elevated to positions of power, while across the globe, strong men leaders consolidate their hold on governance. How have we arrived at this point? And how can we correct our course?

For the past decade, Moshik Temkin has challenged his students at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government to grapple with the nature of leadership throughout history as part of his wildly popular course "On Leaders and Leadership." Now, in Warriors, Rebels and Saints, Temkin refashions the classroom for a wider audience.

Using art and literature to illustrate the drama of the past, Temkin considers how leaders have made decisions in the most difficult circumstances—from the dictatorship of Rafael Trujillo and the anticolonial wars of the 20th century to the civil rights movement and the horrors of the Vietnam War—and how we can evaluate those decisions and draw lessons for today. 

Moshik Temkin is the Johnson and Johnson Chair in Leadership and History at Schwarzman College, Tsinghua University, and Associate Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School.