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Rating: 
Summary: A Certain Miss
Review: As Wills notes, "tell me your admired leaders, and you have bared your soul." Wills has bared his and while I might choose others, his descriptions of each type of leader give me something on to which to hang my own leadership research. This is a helpful piece of research. If one is able to see that we are all subjective in our approaches to and understanding of leadership, there is a great deal to learn here.
Rating: 
Summary: An outstanding book on types of leadership
Review: As Wills notes, "tell me your admired leaders, and you have bared your soul." Wills has bared his and while I might choose others, his descriptions of each type of leader give me something on to which to hang my own leadership research. This is a helpful piece of research. If one is able to see that we are all subjective in our approaches to and understanding of leadership, there is a great deal to learn here.
Rating:
Summary: Not very good book
Review: Author Gary Wills proposes a thesis that there is no one best leader and that those great leaders have been so as a function of personal characteristics meeting the circumstances of the times. This is a worthy and admirable approach on the surface but the author fails to adequately cite what elements or factors were key to this leadership. Rather he settles for recounting history. This recounting is complicated with the author's political biases tending to overshadow the points the author intends to make. There are many more effectively communicated and thoughtful books available on the subject that are devoid of left-leaning political bias. This book is not worth the money spent on it and fortunately my book retailer took mine back for a credit.
Rating: 
Summary: The title does not accurately portray the content
Review: Author Gary Wills proposes a thesis that there is no one best leader and that those great leaders have been so as a function of personal characteristics meeting the circumstances of the times. This is a worthy and admirable approach on the surface but the author fails to adequately cite what elements or factors were key to this leadership. Rather he settles for recounting history. This recounting is complicated with the author's political biases tending to overshadow the points the author intends to make. There are many more effectively communicated and thoughtful books available on the subject that are devoid of left-leaning political bias. This book is not worth the money spent on it and fortunately my book retailer took mine back for a credit.
Rating:
Summary: A Certain Miss
Review: Good concept to discuss different types of leadership with good and bad examples. However, most of the work seems to be on the positive examples with the anti-types being included as an afterthought. Nearly all chapters are weak developments of leadership style with the notable exception being the one on Harriet Tubman. Additionally, both the types of leadership styles discussed and the people chosen to represent them appear to fit the author's preferences rather than true representations of leadership styles and leaders. This book was an easy read and parts were even enjoyable but the content was not as substantive as I had hoped. The best recommendation that I can make is to check this one out of a library instead of purchasing it. (review written by a life-long student of leadership with a library full of leadership texts.)
Rating:
Summary: Not very good book
Review: Leadership is an interesting topic, but Wills somehow manages to drain all the life out of it. I did learn a little, though, so that's why I gave it two stars instead of one. I also thought that the author let his political bias get in the way of his writing. Not a book that was worth reading.
Rating:
Summary: Garbage, worst on the subject
Review: This book is a mess. The thesis presented in the introduction is a rambling essay on the importance of followers and historical forces in leadership, which might leave the reader less informed about leadership than before he/she read it. What's worse is that the intro has nothing at all to do with the rest of the book (which is marginal in it's own right). The case studies are way too short and are made even less informative by Wills habit of not even mentioning the leader until five or six pages of nonsense. My overall feeling of this book is that it was poorly researched and badly written. I wonder (in all seriousness) whether Wills knows anything at all about some of the people he writes about. Skip this one. I suggest Lincoln on Leadership instead: it provides the rudiments of leadership with clear, well researched examples.
Rating:
Summary: Garbage, worst on the subject
Review: This book is a mess. The thesis presented in the introduction is a rambling essay on the importance of followers and historical forces in leadership, which might leave the reader less informed about leadership than before he/she read it. What's worse is that the intro has nothing at all to do with the rest of the book (which is marginal in it's own right). The case studies are way too short and are made even less informative by Wills habit of not even mentioning the leader until five or six pages of nonsense. My overall feeling of this book is that it was poorly researched and badly written. I wonder (in all seriousness) whether Wills knows anything at all about some of the people he writes about. Skip this one. I suggest Lincoln on Leadership instead: it provides the rudiments of leadership with clear, well researched examples.
Rating: 
Summary: One The Finest Book Available on Leadership! A must read.
Review: This is one of two books on leadership I consider worthwhile. What really sets it apart is there is very little theory. This is a must read for anyone interested in leadership. Great read!
Rating: 
Summary: weLEAD Book Review from the Editor of leadingtoday.org
Review: Wills has a keen sense of the importance of followers to leadership. In the introduction to the book he states plainly "The leader most needs followers". He goes on to explain that in reality followers "have a say" in what they are led toward! The theme of Certain Trumpets is that a successful leader doesn't just trumpet or sound their own certain message, but instead they sound a specific call to others capable of following. He believes that leaders need to understand their followers more than followers need to understand them! What is Garry Wills basic definition of a leader? "One who mobilizes others toward a goal shared by the leader and followers". In other words, coercion of others is not leadership, it is just power. With this introduction in mind the rest of the book consists of Wills discussion of individuals who have possessed leadership in various ways. The author believes that different leaders should be considered notable because of their own goals rather than their personalities, which is the most common perspective. As a result of this perspective, Wills does not treat leadership as a single thing, but mentions sixteen various kinds of leadership within the book. He also goes on to discuss various subdivisions within the sixteen kind's. Certain Trumpets attempts to define these distinctive types of leadership by using examples that range from Franklin Roosevelt (Electoral Leadership) to Dorothy Day (Saintly Leadership). To make this exploration interesting, and to provoke thought, he also provides an antitype character in contrast to each distinctive type of leader presented. It is Wills hope to exemplify the individual's characteristics by providing this contrast. Wills doesn't think we lack leaders today, but sufficient followers. He refers to this as the "real problem with leadership". Certain Trumpets is easy to read, stimulating and creative enough to look at leadership from a different lens.
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