Political Leaders and Policymakers

A printer's rise in colonial America and his chart for practising thirteen virtues.

How an unelected official amassed power and used it to rebuild New York.

How Singapore's leaders chose policies, from courting multinationals onward.

How Lyndon Johnson mastered the Senate's rules and became its majority leader.

Hamilton's life from the West Indies to the Treasury and his duel with Aaron Burr.

The standard mid-century Franklin biography; Munger's model of a working life

Theodore Roosevelt's life from his birth in 1858 to the presidency in 1901.

Kissinger's life and years in power, where realism, secrecy and strategy met.

Harry Truman's life and presidency, from the atomic bomb to the Korean War.

A founding leader's account of his life and Singapore's politics and history.

Franklin's life as printer, scientist, diplomat and founder.

How Lincoln brought his three rivals for the 1860 nomination into his cabinet.

The monarchy and the Crown Property Bureau as an economic institution.

Berlusconi, media ownership and the capture of regulation.

How Mugabe's Zimbabwe used land seizures and money-printing to hold power.

Nigeria's reforms: cutting $30 billion of debt, fighting corruption, restructuring.

Lee Kuan Yew's views on China, the United States and world strategy, by topic.

The 2008 crisis and its aftermath, from inside the New York Fed and the Treasury.

Zimbabwe's history from Rhodesia's 1965 break to Mugabe, by a lawyer and MP.

Greece's 2015 debt talks with its creditors, by its finance minister at the time.

John Cowperthwaite, Hong Kong's Financial Secretary in the 1960s, and his policies.

Mohammed bin Salman's rise to power in Saudi Arabia and the decisions that followed.

How Mohammed bin Salman consolidated power in Saudi Arabia.

Six friends, including Acheson, Harriman and Kennan, who shaped US foreign policy.

How Ferdinand and Imelda Marcos built crony monopolies and hid their wealth abroad.

The case for sweeping reform from the finance minister who forced it through.

Suharto's rise and the New Order patronage economy behind Indonesian business.

Telecoms billionaire turned prime minister; the clearest study of business-politics fusion in Thailand.

Franklin's reinvention from imperial gentleman into American businessman

Indonesia's 1997-98 collapse and the fall of Suharto, reported on the ground.

A UK ambassador's account of Uzbekistan's cotton trade and its abuses.

Whistleblower's account of the Anglo Leasing procurement scandals; essential country risk reading.

Salazar and the corporatist Estado Novo economy he ran in Portugal.

Memoir by the architect of the industrial policy and the capital controls.

A UK chancellor's memoir of the bank crisis, the guarantee and nationalisations.

Reported from inside the Chávez government as expropriation accelerated.

The Fed chair's account of the financial crisis and what the Fed did and why.

The Greek debt crisis and first bailout, told by the finance minister who signed it.

How Viktor Orbán won and holds power in Hungary through nationalism and patronage.

How Erdogan's consolidation reshaped who wins contracts.

The same author on what happened when the reforms were resisted.

Insider memoir by the architect of much of the reform programme.

Reporting on the construction-and-credit growth model and who benefited.

NASA insider on the policy fight that funded commercial crew.

An abolitionist's life in slavery and his fight for the full freedom of Black people.

Memoir of the Cultural Revolution and Tiananmen; his only English-language book.

Clarence Darrow's 1912 bribery trial in Los Angeles, and the lawyer's life around it.

Nelson Mandela's own story, from childhood to prison and the end of apartheid.

A life of Benjamin Franklin, the foremost American of his day.

Over 1,000 letters from 1922 to 1994, grouped by themes such as friends and beliefs.

How the Mongol empire's trade and communication helped make the modern world.

A president's years before public life, his years in politics and in the White House.

title confirmed on his CFR expert page

title listed on grantspub.com books page

How Marie Antoinette used fashion as a political weapon, and how it led to her fall.

How a New York Times reporter's coverage of Castro shaped American views of Cuba.

Fifteen lessons on life and leadership from Nelson Mandela's example.

Insider memoir: the Treasury Secretary's version of the same weeks.

Barack Obama's life, experiences and the ambition behind his rise.

title listed on grantspub.com books page

Alan Greenspan's life, and with it the making of modern finance from Nixon to Bush.

The Fed chair's memoir of his career at Treasury and the Fed, and beating inflation.

Obama's memoir from his early politics through his first presidential term.

Joseph Kennedy's contested years as US ambassador to Britain on the eve of war.

W. W. Norton, August 2025; confirmed by his 2026 WSJ author bio line

How Napoleon's rise, wars and fall carried Europe from Enlightenment to democracy.

Jeffrey Sachs's ambitious quest to end global poverty, followed on the ground.