by Leon Panetta
First published 2014
Leon Panetta built two remarkable careers in American public service across five decades. He started as an army intelligence officer, then spent thirty-five years in Congress before becoming Clinton's budget director and White House chief of staff. After retiring to establish the Panetta Institute and protect California's coastline, he returned to government in 2009 as CIA director. He restored the agency after the Bush-era torture controversies and led the intelligence campaign that killed Osama bin Laden. As defense secretary, he managed two wars during budget cuts. This memoir reflects Panetta's values from his family's Carmel Valley walnut farm. The Democrat who balanced budgets while expanding healthcare, the Catholic who opposed the death penalty while weighing drone strikes, reveals his belief that public servants choose between leadership and crisis. Panetta writes with frank humor and common sense about the major figures and events that shaped recent American history.
Genres: history, 20th-century, non-fiction, biography-memoir, 21st-century, american-history
Vibes: emotional, intimate, thought-provoking
Tropes: leadership, public-service
Setting: Carmel Valley, California
Period: 1990s, 2000s, 2010s
512 pages · Hardcover · Penguin Press