Erwin C. Hargrove is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at Vanderbilt University and winner of the prestigious Richard E. Neustadt Award. Among his books are The President as Leader: Appealing to the Better Angels of Our Nature (University Press of Kansas 1999), Presidential Leadership: Personality and Political Style (Addison-Wesley 1966), The Power of the Modern Presidency (Temple University Press 1974), and Jimmy Carter as President: Leadership and the Politics of the Public Good (Louisiana State University Press 1988).

Presidential scholar Erwin Hargrove extends his analytical framework of presidential effectiveness to show how Obama combines eventful leadership with pragmatism in moving forward in an intensely polarized partisan environment. Reviewing eventful and event-making presidencies of the last 50 years, Hargrove comes down on the side of effectiveness over the special effects of the pyrotechnic presidencies of the past.

Introduction: The Effective President
Chapter 1: John F. Kennedy: A Cautious Reformer
Chapter 2: Lyndon B. Johnson: A Force of Nature
Chapter 3: Richard M. Nixon: A Tragic Hero?
Chapter 4: Gerald R. Ford: A Good Man
Chapter 5: Jimmy Carter: The Engineer President
Chapter 6: Ronald Reagan: A Romantic with Vision
Chapter 7: George H. W. Bush: The Patrician
Chapter 8: Bill Clinton: The Politician
Chapter 9: George W. Bush: The Risk Taker
Chapter 10: Barack Obama: Transformational or Transactional Leader?
Conclusion: Presidential Leadership Revisited