The author aims to demonstrate that presidents are persistent agents of change, continually disrupting and transforming the political landscape. But each president also inherits a particular political context, a regime shaped by his predecessors which he either rejects or affirms. Presidential leadership needs to be understood in "political time". Who is a new president replacing? What previous programme is he extending or rejecting? And how strong is the resistance to his new agenda? US presidents recycle a few basic claims to govern, and these claims develop, decay, or are destroyed in recurrent patterns. The last three sought distinctive politics for themselves, but in the enfolding, time-sensitive presidential drama, they constructed a political situation that bears a surreal resemblance to the succession of John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, and Martin Van Buren. By crossing the conceptual divide of the 19th century for comparison, we see, in a different light, the "failed" presidencies of Lyndon Johnson, Richard Nixon, Jimmy Carter and George Bush, as well as the "success" story of Ronald Reagan. Skowronek's accounts of 15 presidents illuminate his theory of how political time affects presidential leadership. In his renditions, familiar leaders shed their singularity, while obscure presidents assume surprising relevance. The conflicts of James Monroe offer insight into the leadership of Lyndon Johnson; the contretemps of Franklin Pierce prompt a reassessment of Jimmy Carter; the battles of Andrew Jackson recast our understanding of the leadership of Ronald Reagan. Prospects for successful leadership in the future are deemed not to be good, unless presidents change their ways of making politics. The author declares that an opportunity is at hand for finally breaking with patterns of the past, and fashioning new warrants for the future that are relevant to the new century.