A First-Rate Madness Audiobook

The New York Timesbestseller

A glistening psychological history faceted largely by the biographies of eight famous leaders The Boston Globe

A provocative thesis Ghaemis book deserves high marks for original thinkingThe Washington Post

Provocative fascinating Saloncom

Historians have long puzzled over the apparent mental instability of great and terrible leaders alike Napoleon Lincoln Churchill Hitler and others In A FirstRate Madness Nassir Ghaemi director of the Mood Disorders Program at Tufts Medical Center offers a mythshattering exploration of the powerful connections between mental illness and leadership and sets forth a controversial compelling thesis The very qualities that mark those with mood disorders also make for the best leaders in times of crisis From the importance of Lincolns depressive realism to the lackluster leadership of exceedingly sane men as Neville Chamberlain A FirstRate Madnessoverturns many of our most cherished perceptions about greatness and the mind