British infantry NCO leadership in the Great War is illuminated through detailed accounts of command, initiative, discipline, and the crucial bonds between NCOs, officers, and men.

Leaders restores British infantry N.C.O.'s to their rightful place as war-winning leaders in the Great War. It describes the outstanding role in leadership they played during the Great War, describing their exercise of command, initiative, example, approach to discipline, relationship with officers, care and compassion. The book particularly examines how such leadership could be provided by men drawn from outside the established leadership classes.

Leaders will not only appeal to both academics and laymen interested in the exercise of command during the Great War, but also to those interested in the role of the British N.C.O. more generally, and in the vital relationships between N.C.O.'s, officers and men. It is in its own right an important study of leadership.

Leaders is based for the most part on four years' meticulous examination of unpublished sources in the I.W.M and the Liddle Collection in Leeds. These include the letters, diaries and recollections of literally hundreds of soldiers who served as N.C.O.'s during the Great War, as well as numerous recorded interviews with veterans. Their experiences and behaviours have been examined in detail to assemble a comprehensive picture of their contribution to leadership at home, behind the lines, in the trenches and in battle. The result is to emphasise the extent to which the doggedness, determination and ultimate victory of the British infantry in the Great War was due in no small part to the quality of leadership provided by their N.C.O.'s.