Customer Reviews

Profiles in Audacity: Great Decisions and How They Were Made

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This is a collection of vignettes explaining how some of the most influential decisions in history were arrived at; from Galileo's decision to publicly support Copernicus' solar-centric version of the universe to President Truman's decision to drop the A-Bomb to Bill Gates acquiring the rights to DOS. Though the book does cover events spanning a period from Cleopatra to Flight 93, 70% of the book is dedicated to American decision makers so for a strict historical survey for pedantic historians, it falls woefully short.

However for the casual reader of history, it is a very interesting and engaging coverage of many of turning points of history and not merely the boring, behind the scenes red tape kind. "Decisions in Crisis" covers Elizabeth I's standing up to the then overwhelming might of Spain and JFK's finding a middle ground in the Cuban Missile Crisis. "Decisions to Venture" covers such diverse topics from the Lewis and Clark expedition and the Race for the Moon to Charlie Goodnight's first cattle drive and Ted Turner's creation of CNN. "Decision of Conscience" I found to be the most stirring with examples such as Gandhi's use of non-violent resistance, Branch Rickey's hiring Jackie Robinson to play for the Dodgers, W.E.B. Du Bios role in the creation of the NAACP, Daniel Ellsberg's decision to leak the Pentagon Papers and Betty Friedan's decision to look into and beyond her own dissatisfaction with what society prescribed a woman's life should be to what women had the potential to achieve. "Decision to Risk Everything" of course included such famous examples as Hillary and Norgay's ascent of Everest and Washington's Delaware Crossing, but it also includes such lesser known moments such as the Berlin Airlift and Nixon's decision to open relations with Communist China.

The final section, "Decision to Hope", was the weakest. It does contain some excellent examples, such as Begin and Sadat's work for peace between Israel and Egypt (which is one of my first memories of world events as a child), Carnegie's philosophy of modern noblesse oblige. However, the other examples feel misplaced and the book strikes a very sour note here by including Chief Joseph' surrender at the Battle of Bear Paw mountain as a "Decision to Hope. "I want time to look for my children and see how many of them I can find. Maybe I will find them among the dead. Hear me my chiefs, I am tired, my heart is sick and sad. From where the sun now stands, I will fight no more forever." How does this sound hopeful to anyone? After watching his tribe be decimated by U.S. troops, freezing temperatures and starvation in a conflict started by American settler's greed it does not sound at all hopeful to me. It sounds like surrender which is not an act of hope, but resignation. A "decision" forced down one's throat at gun point is not a decision at all.

But that stumble aside, it is otherwise an good overview of some of the more momentous moments in history, especially the modern ones that shaped the world we live in today and can introduce even more knowledgeable history readers to historical figures not usually mentioned in the grand scale of most historical work.

Just got back from Barnes and Noble. HAD to review it. Most of the best things you've done in your life, exciting, helpful, healing or loving, you've done OUTSIDE your comfort zone.

Whether it was Joan of Arc leading the charge against the British, or Lincoln taking a risk and issuing the Emancipation Proclamation, Clara Barton founding the Red Cross when it was considered impossible, or at least gravely dangerous for women to go in among soldiers, some of the greatest decisions that resulted in some of the greatest accomplishment started with decisions people made AGAINST the wishes of their families and friends, without financial resources, and without the training or education, obstacles that would have stopped merely average people.

Buy it. Read it. Get audacious!

This was a good/decent book. The writing is not very good, but I learned some interesting things about history. Some chapters were excruciatingly boring, but most were readable and overall I mostly enjoyed the quick, semi-educational read.

As a high school history teacher, this is a book I would love to be able to buy for all of my graduating seniors. Axelrod highlights some great people in history and how they made a difference. It makes you think about what you would want your own "Profile in Audacity" to be... something we could all consider. I highly recommend this book!

Synopses of history have always interested me, so this book of over forty brief stories of momentous moments caught my eye. Making it different was the focus on the bold decision making process and the author's attempt to recreate how the decisions were made.

I enjoyed rereading about many of these events - Lyndon Johnson's decision to push forward a meaningful Civil Rights Act; Nixon's decision to open up relations with China; Anwar Sadat going to Jerusalem to address the Israeli Knesset; and Todd Beamer and Flight 93 were all things I lived through and observed in the news media as they occurred - were relived by me with an insight into the feelings of those making that "news."

Other stories that I could only have learned about from books such as Columbus' getting financial backing for his journey to find a new world; Galileo's rethinking reality for us; Branch Rickey signing Jackie Robinson for the Brooklyn Dodgers; and Andrew Carnegie evolution to giving away his wealth and somewhat making possible the great public library I used in my youth added to my fountain of knowledge about these and the other stories in the book - some of which I was not at all familiar or previously concerned about.

One quote from the book is about Truman's decision making process when he made the decision for the Berlin Airlift might be appropriate for many of today's leaders - business as well as political: "Truman understood that a leadership decision must be carefully weighed, with all shading and subtleties taken intro account. But he also understood that, once the decision has been made, it has to be announced and explained with absolute clarity and vigor. The process of pondering a decision typically requires many shoulds. Executing the decision, however, can admit only musts."

I recommend this book of short stories both as an interesting journey through history and a study into the insights of decision making.

Some of the vignettes were interesting insights into history. But it seemed like the plurality of them were over-hyped in the CEO-worshipping management book style of leadership assessment. If the decision led to a successful conclusion, it was a great decision and therefore the leader had audacity. Yet, some of these tipping points in history could just as easily failed. No audacious decisions that failed were reviewed. Even those that succeeded didn't mean that there weren't better decisions that could have been made. Some weren't even decisions at all. Did Galileo really decide to rethink the universe? Or did he just assess the many different mental models of the solar system and conclude that the sun-centered model (proposed earlier by Copernicus) best explained his observations?

I usually recycle my books by passing them on to friends or family who might find them interesting. But I can not think of anyone to pass this book on to.