Like Winston Churchill (Great Contemporaries), John F. Kennedy (Profiles in Courage) and recently Gordon Brown (Courage), McCain asks the quintessential question any contender for world leadership must answer. What is most fundamental about human character that leads to the right decisions under stress and while alone at the top? How do men and women not buckle under the enormous pressure when they have to make difficult decisions on their own. How do they choose the right thing against the odds when easier and far less dangerous alternatives are open to them? Why is it that some people have the courage to dare?In Hard Call, John McCain chooses outstanding twentieth-century figures who had the character and courage required to take responsibility for their decisions. He recounts key episodes in the lives of everyone from Winston Churchill to Anwar Sadat, Ma Ellen in Liberia to Olympic swimmer Gertrude Ederle, examining the virtues they embodied, whether foresight, confidence or inspiration. It is an inspiring book that will help many understand John McCain better as well as allow them to make better leadership decisions in their own lives.