Why is it so hard to make up our minds? Ambivalence results from a basic desire to have it both ways, but it sometimes results not in "both" but in the disappointing "neither." Drawing upon examples from history, literature, philosophy, and the social sciences, the author of Churchill and the King and The Year of Indecision: 1946 traces the concept of ambivalence, from the Garden of Eden to Freud and Obama and beyond. It affects not only individuals; organizations, societies, and cultures can also be ambivalent, and it will often be reflected in our leaders and how we evaluate them.