For the last 15 years of Jascha Heifetz's life, Ayke Agus was his closest companion. She came to him as a violin student in his master class at the University of Southern California, but he singled her out when he heard her play the piano. She became his private accompanist and ultimately his assistant and confidante. A sensitive and astute observer, Agus takes up where previous biographers left off; her book is a loving yet unblinking portrait of an aging master by his disciple.

The loss of a pastor throws a congregation into emotional turmoil. Sometimes bad circumstances force a pastor to leave. Sometimes an effective pastor moves to a new congregation or retires. Either way, the congregation is thrust into a unique journey through change and loss. People often fail to identify or understand the emotions of loss churning under the surface. Whether a congregation embraces a good future or gets stuck in the dynamics of the past depends in part on skillful and wise leadership. When faced with confusing signs, transitional leaders seek wisdom about the unique dynamics of a congregational system in flux. How can one leader adapt to the sudden and surprising needs inherent in transitional leadership? Firmly rooted in the biblical narratives of leading through journeys of transition, this book matches those narratives with case studies and other stories to connect the present practice of transitional leadership with the deep wisdom in the biblical accounts. The perseverance and hope inherent in the Bible's story of redemption deeply engages the dynamics of transition, suggesting ways to lead congregations to embrace a renewed mission. This combination of narratives points to a new level of understanding what is happening within communities in transition.

Forced to provide for his family from the age of 8 and thrown out of his home into a bitter Moscow winter at age 12, cellist Gregor Piatigorsky began his career as an archetypal struggling artist, using secondhand and borrowed instruments. When the October Revolution forced his escape to Warsaw, he enjoyed initial success with the Warsaw Philharmonic. Relocating to Berlin a few months later, he again struggled in poverty before eventually emerging as solo cellist with the Berlin Philharmonic. Settling in the United States during World II, Piatigorsky continued a brilliant career that cemented his place as one of the twentieth century's greatest musicians. This all-embracing chronicle of Piatigorsky's tempestuous life and career finally reveals the full life story of a musical legend.

The economy uncertain, education in decline, cities under siege, crime and poverty spiraling upward, international relations roiling: we look to leaders for solutions, and when they don’t deliver, we simply add their failure to our list of woes. In doing do, we do them and ourselves a grave disservice. We are indeed facing an unprecedented crisis of leadership, Ronald Heifetz avows, but it stems as much from our demands and expectations as from any leader’s inability to meet them. His book gets at both of these problems, offering a practical approach to leadership for those who lead as well as those who look to them for answers. Fitting the theory and practice of leadership to our extraordinary times, the book promotes a new social contract, a revitalization of our civic life just when we most need it. Drawing on a dozen years of research among managers, officers, and politicians in the public realm and the private sector, among the nonprofits, and in teaching, Heifetz presents clear, concrete prescriptions for anyone who needs to take the lead in almost any situation, under almost any organizational conditions, no matter who is in charge, His strategy applies not only to people at the top but also to those who must lead without authority—activists as well as presidents, managers as well as workers on the front line.