Ever since Platosamp160Republic the study of statecraft has been a staple of Western discourse and so has the study of particular leaders. Althoughamp160Jewish scholars thinkers and popularizers have contributed notably to this genre strikingly few have turned their attention to the history of Jewish leadersthat is leaders specifically of the Jewish peopleamp8212in particular.amp160And yet there has been no lack of such outstanding figures from the biblical period of Jewish sovereignty in the Holy Land and once again in presentday Israel or during the millennia of exile and formal Jewish statelessness in the Diaspora. This book devoted to ten of the most colorful fascinating and consequential Jewish political leaders over the past threeamp160millennia fills the gap.amp160Among the ten men and women alike some were firmly bound to Judaic religious teachings and others less so but guiding all of them was the fixed lodestar of their own Jewish identity. By the mid20th century the legacy of past generations would inspire modern successors bent on the refounding of the sovereign Jewish state one of the greatest political feats in human history.amp160In delving into the unique circumstances and predicaments faced by these ten and into the characteristics that mark them and their statesmanship as specifically Jewish readers will also become familiar with what Jewish tradition has to say about the demands of statesmanship and by inference with the qualities needed by successful Jewish political leaders encountering the challenges of today and tomorrow.amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160amp160