In this compelling study of leadership, Correlli Barnett examines the strengths and weaknesses of twenty leaders in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He examines how the difficulties they faced and the political and strategic backgrounds of their days and analyses how they performed and what they achieved. Were they successful, or were they beaten down by the burden of their roles? His book considers men from very different backgrounds and from three continents in a range of modern conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to the Second World War. They range from statesmen like Napoleon, Abraham Lincoln, David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, to generals like Ulysses S. Grant, Douglas Haig, Erwin Rommel, Georgi Zhukov, Dwight Eisenhower and William Slim, to admirals like Isoruku Yamamoto and Bertram Ramsey.

These leaders present fascinating contrasts of personal character, styles of leadership and sheer aptitude for command as well as contrasts in the daunting professional problems that challenged each of them. In The Lords of War, Correlli Barnett yet again demolishes hallowed reputations and rehabilitates the unjustly scapegoated. His latest book confirms his reputation as a master in the field of strategic history.