'A close analysis of five gritty leaders whose extraordinary passion & perseverance changed history a gripping read on a timeless & timely topic!' Angela Duckworth bestselling author of Grit Ten years in the writing Forged in Crisis by renowned Harvard Business School historian & Davos & Aspen Institute speaker Nancy Koehn presents five remarkable life journeys-those of polar explorer Ernest Shackleton; President Abraham Lincoln; legendary abolitionist Frederick Douglass; Nazi-resisting clergyman Dietrich Bonhoeffer; & environmental crusader Rachel Carson What do such disparate figures have in common? Why do their stories speak to us so powerfully today? Koehn begins each of the book's five sections by showing her protagonist on the precipice of a great crisis Shackleton marooned on an Antarctic ice floe with no hope of rescue; Lincoln on the verge of the collapse of the Union; Douglass threatened with a return to enslavement; Bonhoeffer agonizing on what a man of faith should do when faced with absolute evil; Carson racing against the clock-and the cancer ravaging her-in a bid to save the planet Koehn then reaches back to each person's early years to show the individual blooming into the force he or she would ultimately become Through their confronting of obstacles we begin to glean an essential truth leaders are not born but made & the power to lead resides in each of us In a time when the highest offices in the land are occupied by the inexperienced & untested the great question pressing on all of us is What set of skills is required to lead in crisis & can history give us answers? Whether it's read as a repository of great insight or as exceptionally rendered human drama the riveting Forged in Crisis stands out as a towering achievement