Shiny Book Review: The King Whisperers

This weekend, you can't power through the channels without hitting an encore of the glorious wedding of William and Kate, or be treated to gushing narrative about the "women that would be Queen," comparing the inimitable late Lady Diana to the modern Lady Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge.

All this talk of monarchy brings us to this week's shiny book review: The King Whisperers by Kerwin Swint (Union Square Press/March 2011/ISBN 9781402772016/$21.95), a beautiful hardcover unveiling a twist on the type of power players that make Wills and "Wait-y Katie" and their families seem like bit players in a school performance of Hamlet.  

I thoroughly enjoyed this book, especially if taken in slowly so you could fully digest and process the 47 fascinating power players and their strategies unveiled, from Machiavelli to monsterous Himmler to modern day Karl Rove.  

For fiction readers, the book may at first seem academic, but the organization of the book and its flow draws you in like a good chapter novel. Each section describes each type of great ruler (and "shadowy puppet master"), making for great bedside reading.


Whether you spend an evening with "The Machiavellians," "the Empire Builders," "King Makers," "Spies," "Silver Tongued Devils," "The Generals," "The Rebels," "The Truly Evil," "The Fixers," and "The Schemers" - Swint spins quiet tales of kings and princes, political backstabbers and madmen. The spotlight shines brightest on the tales of those power players behind the world's greatest leaders - masterful at tapping into instinct, ambition, and opportunity while seeking riches, fame, power or a quest to follow what they believed was their destiny.

Since my day job is helping companies manage their reputations and their brands as PR consultant, I found this book uniquely revealing for business leaders to examine their own leadership style and management strategies (and to consider the roles of their second in command!). As a blogger and avid reader, I found the re-telling of the world's most famous leaders' rise and fall both informative and entertaining.  The recounting of the ascent of Nero, Longshanks, Hitler and Himmler, Machiavelli, and Queen Isabella were just a few of my favorites.

The book's marketing positions this as a political strategists' dream book, but I read this through the lens of a leadership/management title and found it equally as relevant.  For example, reading about Isabella's slow cat and mouse game with her "cream puff" husband Edward II (whom she married at age 12) was a study in the power of strategic alliances and building trust.  

A fascinating read... and highly recommended to anyone interested in how to garner influence and harness ambition for good, not evil. 

Disclosure: A copy of the book was provided to My Shiny Monkey by Novel Publicity for the purposes of a fair and unbiased book review.  The opinions are my own. 

Tour Notes: Please vote for my blog in the traffic-breaker poll for this tour. The blogger with the most votes wins a free promotional twitterview and a special winner’s badge. I want that to be me! You can vote in the poll by visiting the official King Whisperers blog tour page and scrolling all the way to the bottom. 
The next word for the book give-away is (NEW). Learn more about the give-away and enter to win 1 of 3 copies on the official King Whisperers blog tour page. The other 2 copies are being given-away courtesy of the GoodReads author program, go here to enter. And don’t forget to stop by the Q&A with Kerwin Swint Group to discuss the King Whisperers (including questions from the official book club guide), the author, and his previous works.


Book Trailers for the King Whisperers: