Michael P. Riccards – författare

This study is a comprehensive history of the papacy, the oldest elective office in the world, and how it has managed over the centuries the most complex voluntary association of faith. The book argues that in fact through most of its existence, the papacy has adapted managerial models of the secular world and applied them to the Catholic Church. Since its emergence from the Jewish synagogues to a persecuted minority in the Roman Empire to becoming the established religion of the West, the Church and the papacy engaged the world on its own terms. It is only after the Council of Trent did the Church become somewhat more divorced and estranged from the environment around it. This book focused on those changes and on the great popes across the centuries who reformed and altered Catholicism. Special attention is directed to Gregory I, Innocent I, Innocent III, Pius IX, Leo XIII, Pius XI, Pius XII, John XXVII, Paul VI, and John Paul II. The conclusion is that the persistence of the Catholic Church for so many centuries was due to its ability to preserve the faith, but re-establish its forms and managerial class.

In the first major, in-depth study since World War II, Michael P. Riccards provides a narrative history of the U.S. presidency, showing how the chief executives and their personalities shaped national events. Riccards provides coverage of each administration from TR to George W., with extended treatment of the more important presidents. Though there is some biographical material about each chief executive, the focus is on the issues, policies, legislative achievements and foreign policy decisions for each administration. Riccards freely offers his assessments of where each president's strengths and weaknesses were, and where they triumphed and failed during their terms in office.

What makes a great president? Certainly leadership, accomplishments, crisis management, political skill, character, and integrity are part of the equation, but the great presidents have something more. They not only govern well, but are part of something lasting; their presidencies influence the thoughts and beliefs of generations. These powerful men are not flawless leaders, they have made mistakes and miscalculations, but in the end their decisions have changed the nation and often the world. In Destiny’s Consul: America’s Greatest Presidents, presidential scholar Michael P. Riccards provides a concise introduction to the lives, presidencies, and personal qualities of ten great individuals whom Riccards argues are our greatest presidents. Organized chronologically, George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Andrew Jackson, James K. Polk, Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin D. Roosevelt, Harry S. Truman, and Ronald Reagan are shown to truly be great. It will be of interest to anyone interested in the presidency of American history.

This first study on Woodrow Wilson as the commander in chief during the Great War analyzes his management style before the war, his diplomacy and his battle with the Senate. It considers the war as representing the collapse of Western traditional virtues and examines Wilson's attempt to restore them. Emphasizing the American war effort on the domestic front, it also discusses Wilson's rise to power, his education, career, and work as governor as necessary steps in his formation. The authors deal honestly and critically with the racism that characterized this brilliant but limited career.