Gateway to Statesmanship: Selections from Xenophon to Churchill

by John A. Burtka IV (Editor)

The study of statesmanship is not a subject for leaders in politics alone. It is the study of the whole human being in thought and action.

The classics teach us of the difficult choices that must be made, an activity that guides lives and forms character. This collection of writings includes ancient, Medieval, Renaissance, and modern scholarship on statesmanship from Xenophon, Aristotle, Cicero, Augustine, Erasmus, Niccolo Machiavelli, George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, and more, selected and with an introduction by the president of the Intercollegiate Studies Institute, John A. Burtka.

Genres: Leadership, Politics

300 pages, Paperback

Published February 20, 2024

Reviews

[Barnabas Piper · Rating 2 out of 5]

To sum up, this book over promises and under-delivers. I say it over-promises not because of my expectations but because the editor gives a 65 page introduction telling the reader all that he is setting out to do. The rest of the book is selections from various voices divided into different eras offering "wisdom" to leaders. I found most of the selections flaccid and some downright inscrutable. Normally a book of selections serves as an invitation to read more from certain authors, but very few of these had that effect on me.

[Kayla Kenders · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved the sections on Han Fei and Kautilya. Amazing content!