Part 1. Ambition and the recognition of leadership

Abraham: "Every man is said to have his peculiar ambition"

Theodore: "I rose like a rocket"

Franklin: "No, call me Franklin"

Lyndon: "A steam engine in pants"

Part 2. Adversity and growth

Abraham Lincoln: "I must die or be better"

Theodore Roosevelt: "The light has gone out of my life"

Franklin Roosevelt: "Above all, try something"

Lyndon Johnson: "The most miserable period of my life"

Part 3. The leader and the times: How they led

Transformational leadership: Abraham Lincoln and the Emancipation Proclamation

Crisis management: Theodore Roosevelt and the Coal Strike

Turnaround leadership: Franklin Roosevelt and the Hundred Days

Visionary leadership: Lyndon Johnson and Civil Rights

Epilogue: Of death and remembrance.