This book puts ‘real life’ back into the literature on school principalship. Through a life history approach, it portrays daily life in schools as a much more messy, contested and precarious existence, where principals struggle with passionate commitment to find continuity amongst frequently changing and often conflicting policy initiatives.The book draws on comprehensively in-depth interview data with new, experienced and veteran principals. Their life stories illustrate the struggles involved in the ongoing negotiation of identities through unprecedented change. The authors lucidly argue that:* The realities of principals’ lives are much more demanding that rational linear approaches to reform suggest;* A revolving door approach to the appointment of principals is inadequate* Passion is central to the lives and work of principals, but this passion needs to be rejuvenated and rekindled through opportunities for learning* There is a need for further research on the relationship between the lifecycles of principals, the leadership legacies of school communities and the cycles of mandated reforms as a means of lending coherence to leadership learning and sustained and renewed leaders.This is essential reading for principals and their professional bodies, academics and researchers, school leaders on leadership courses internationally.