Former secretary of defense Robert Gates will write two books for the Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. One book will be a memoir, and the other book will study leadership and how to “successfully reform and change public institutions.”
Gates (pictured, via) retired last month after serving from 2006 to 2011 as secretary of defense, working for both President George W. Bush and President Barack Obama. Wayne Kabak of WSK Management negotiated the deal.
The memoir publication is tentatively set for 2013 and the leadership book will follow one year later. Gates explained in the release: “As the nation’s only secretary of defense to serve two presidents of different political parties and with the United States at war every day of my four and a half years in office, I want to tell my story of constant conflict abroad and in Washington. I will share insights gleaned from my experience of working for two very different presidents in two administrations of very different political stripes. I also want to write about the military I was privileged to lead and its challenges in war and at home.”