FIVE BEST Witness the Leading Top biographies of top dogs.

BY RUDOLPH GIULIANI Saturday, June 10, 2006 12:01 a.m.

1. "Churchill: A Study in Greatness" by Geoffrey Best (Hambledon & London, 2001). On the night after the attacks of Sept. 11, I remember getting home at about 2:30 a.m. and seeing on my nightstand a book I had been reading, a prepublication copy of Roy Jenkins's forthcoming "Churchill." I picked up this biography of a man who embodied every leadership principle I value--courage, optimism, preparation and a determination to stand up to bullies--and began reading about Churchill's becoming prime minister in 1940. Jenkins captures beautifully how Churchill led Britain through months of nightly bombings, never losing his confidence in the will of a free people. The Jenkins biography serves as a sort of middle ground between "Churchill: A Life," the definitive eight-volume edition by official biographer Martin Gilbert, and its one-volume abridgement. Perhaps my favorite Winston Churchill biography of all, though, is Geoffrey Best's "Churchill: A Study in Greatness," which combines all the biographical information with a real sense of what it felt like to be English in Churchill's era.
2. "Jefferson and His Time" by Dumas Malone (Little, Brown, 1948-81). I read the first volume of Dumas Malone's superb Jefferson biography in college and then later read the entire six-volume set for the pure joy of experiencing magnificent writing about a great man. These Jefferson books led me to others and ultimately to the conclusion that Jefferson, more than anyone else, was the voice of American ideals. Malone uses Jefferson's own papers and letters to bring to life the man who composed the Declaration of Independence at age 33. Jefferson believed in limited government and states' rights, but as president he was capable of exercising enormous executive power--witness his engineering of the Louisiana Purchase. Malone's depiction of our third president's complexities remains relevant for political leaders today.
3. "Herndon's Lincoln" by William Henry Herndon and Jesse W. Weik (Belford, Clarke, 1889). My mother was a great storyteller and a natural teacher. She introduced me as a child to the life of Abraham Lincoln--but when she read a short Lincoln biography to me, she seamlessly weaved in anecdotes she recalled from her own reading about him. As an adult, I went on to Carl Sandburg's wonderful Lincoln biographies, "Abe Lincoln Grows Up" and "Abraham Lincoln: The Prairie Years and the War Years," both of which I adored for their thoroughness and for their understanding of the Midwest at a time when it was the frontier of our young nation. But I especially appreciated "Herndon's Lincoln: The True Story of a Great Life" by Lincoln's former law partner, William Henry Herndon, for the sheer fun of experiencing a biography written contemporarily by someone who knew him so well.
4. "Profiles in Courage" by John F. Kennedy (Harper, 1956). I read John F. Kennedy's book when it was first published and can still remember how inspired I felt as I followed the stories of eight senators who had risked their political survival to do the right thing. One profile in particular that stuck with me was that of Edmund Ross, the Kansas Republican who cast the deciding vote for acquittal in the impeachment trial of President Andrew Johnson in 1868. Ross was no fan of Johnson's but sensed that the trial was more about rounding up votes than weighing the evidence. His decision to break ranks with his party ended Ross's political career, but his principled stand has been vindicated by history; Kennedy captures that dynamic expertly.
5. "President Reagan" by Richard Reeves (Simon & Schuster, 2006). My wife, Judith, recently bought me Richard Reeves's book (subtitled "The Triumph of Imagination"), which excels in depicting Ronald Reagan's management style and unrelenting pursuit of his core principles: the restoration of the American spirit, limited government, a strong defense and the defeat of communism. For a longer-range look at the experiences that shaped Reagan's values, I recommend "The Role of a Lifetime" and "A Life in Politics," both by Lou Cannon, both works that do a remarkable job of revealing the character of this amazing man.