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In Sickness and in Power
Illnesses in Heads of Government during the Last 100 Years
 David Owen

0-313-36005-7/978-0-313-36005-3

Description
In the first study of physical and mental illness in modern heads of state ever written by a former high government official who is also a physician, Lord Owen describes the grave dangers to peace and stability when our leaders become ill in office and prescribes political antidotes to limit such dangers.

Reviews:
-This is an interesting work. It is not primarily a medical treatise, but instead a provocative observation of the world of politics. It is an important commentary on the relationship between personality and behavior and the character and consequences of leadership. —The New England Journal of Medicine
-David Owen's fascinating In Sickness and in Power is a study of the medical conditions of rulers ranging from Anthony Eden to JFK and from the Shah of Persia to Francois Mitterrand. Which is more alarming: the fact that they all suffered from illnesses that would have debarred them from top-level positions in almost any other walk of life, or the systematic deception that concealed their true condition from the people they led? A book to give you sleepless nights —The New Statesman
-In Sickness and in Power examines how both specific diseases and intoxication with power have shaped major decisions by world leaders in the twentieth century....For many heads of state, the experience of being in power brings about psychological changes that can lead to grandiosity, narcissism, and irresponsible behavior. Leaders suffering from this political hubris syndrome believe that they are capable of great deeds, that great deeds are expected of them, that they know what is best under all circumstances, and that they operate beyond the bounds of ordinary morality....Owen is not the first to observe that hubris sometimes overtakes leaders, but he is the first to argue that it is a pathological condition that requires serious study, especially of the ways in which is affects decision-making....Owen's book should be read by all practicing physicians responsible for the health of political leaders--and by the leaders themselves. —Foreign Affairs
About the Author
David Owen (Lord Owen) is Chancellor of the University of Liverpool and sits as a crossbencher in the House of Lords. He was the British Foreign Secretary under Prime Minister James Callaghan from 1977 to 1979. He co-founded the Social Democratic Party in 1981 and led it from 1983 to 1990. As EU negotiator, he collaborated with Cyrus Vance, former US Secretary of State, to put forward the Vance-Owen Peace Plan for Bosnia in 1993. Before entering politics, he practiced as a clinical neurologist and psychiatrist at St. Thomas's Hospital in London. Lord Owen was Minister of State for Health from 1974 to 1976. He is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians and sits on the board of Abbott Laboratories. He is the author of eleven books, including The Hubris Syndrome: Bush, Blair and the Intoxication of Power, In Sickness and in Health: The Politics of Medicine, Face the Future (Praeger Publishers), and A Future That Will Work (Praeger Publishers).
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ISBN Title Price Qty Total
0-313-36005-7 978-0-313-36005-3 In Sickness and in Power $44.95    
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