# A First-Rate Madness

Canonical: https://www.bookquiver.com/nassir-ghaemi/a-first-rate-madness

![A First-Rate Madness](https://quivercdn.com/covers/penguin/nassir-ghaemi/a-first-rate-madness_978-01-4312-133-6.jpg?v=2026-04-24%2009%3A05%3A08)

- Authors: [Nassir Ghaemi](https://www.bookquiver.com/nassir-ghaemi)
- Language: en_GB
- Published: 2013-01-03

## Description

This New York Times bestseller is a myth-shattering exploration of the powerful connections between mental illness and leadership. Historians have long puzzled over the apparent mental instability of great and terrible leaders alike: Napoleon, Lincoln, Churchill, Hitler, and others. In A First-Rate Madness , Nassir Ghaemi, director of the Mood Disorders Programme at Tufts Medical Center, offers 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 Lincoln's " depressive realism" to the lacklustre leadership of exceedingly sane men as Neville Chamberlain, A First-Rate Madness overturns many of our most cherished perceptions about greatness and the mind.

## Editions

### A First-Rate Madness

- Publisher: Penguin
- ISBN: 978-01-4312-133-6
- Pages: 352
- Published: 2013-01-03
- Language: en_GB