American Admiralship: The Moral Imperatives of Naval Command

This definitive commentary on naval leadership presents the views of the most distinguished flag officers in the U.S. Navy over the past sixty years whose wide inventory of attributes define the character of a successful modern leader. Edgar Puryear offers an artfully organized compendium of leadership principles as expressed by such accomplished officers as Ernest King, Chester Nimitz, William Halsey, Arleigh Burke, James Holloway, Carlisle Trost, Stansfield Turner, and William Crowe Jr. Rather than presented in abstract terms, these lessons in leadership are embedded in first-person accounts of significant events in history that dramatically illustrate the particular aspect of command under discussion. The admirals frankly describe their rationales for the actions they took, often in the face of strong bureaucratic opposition. Two of the Navy's most controversial leaders, Admiral Zumwalt and Admiral Rickover, are examined with thoughtful and telling testimony from their contemporaries who explore the motivation, character, and legacies of these complex individuals. This broad array of detailed case histories and analysis succeeds where other books do not in defining the qualities of leadership that have placed the Navy in its position of prominence today.