Books: Military Biography
| Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life
by Carlo D'Este. Hardcover: 848 pages (June 2002) Published by Henry Holt & Company, Inc. This massive new biograpy of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower is the latest extensively researched book by Carlo
D'Este, the biographer of Patton and author of other fine books on World
War II. He covers Ike's boyhood development, his accidental place inWest
Point's Class of 1915, and his marriage to Mamie Dowd at the beginning
of his Army career. Even though he showed promise in almost everything
he did and was early marked for future high rank, Ike's interwar years
in the Army were like slow motion and the book plods you through it all..
Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life is not only Ike's biography, but also a biography of the U.S. Army as it first clung to its traditional ways and then, under George Marshall at the eve of World War II, was forced to confront mobilization for global war against the far greater initial strength and experience of the Japanese and Germans. The bulk of the book concentrates on the period from 1939-1945 as Eisenhower leaped to the foreground and assumed leadership in first planning, then commanding the greatest military crusade of all time. There is plentiful detail of Ike's personal role, state of mind, struggles, and interactions with other commanders and the politicians, not overlooking the complete story of his relationship with Kay Summersby. |
| American Soldier by Tommy Franks. 590 pages. (July 2004) The Commander in Chief of the United States Central Command from July 2000 through July 2003, General Tommy Franks made history by leading American and Coalition forces to victory in Afghanistan and Iraq. General Franks retraces his journey from a small-town boyhood in Oklahoma and Midland, Texas, through a lifetime of military service -- including his heroic tour as an Artillery officer in Vietnam, where he was wounded three times. |
| Soldier by Lt. Col. Anthony B Herbert. 498 pages. (1973) Vietnam battalion commander Lt. Col. Anthony Herbert, with multiple wounds and many medals as a veteran of the Korean War, was one of the most controversial figures of the Vietnam War. He ran a tough outfit with discipline and control, and was respected by his men for getting out in the grass with them. However, Herbert clashed with Army brass over incidents of possible war crimes that the Army would rather whitewash. As a result, Herbert's own reports were questioned and the Army went after him. Although his reports were ultimately validated, he retired early. This book is an engrossing account of his whole career including details of combat as well as Army internal fighting. See also Herbert: The Making of a Soldier his 1982 account of his 13 months in Korea. |
| Fighting Wars, Planning For Peace: The Story Of George C. Marshall by Lee Gimpel. 176 pages. (July 2005) In many respects, the position of the United States in the second half of the 20th Century was the work of George C. Marshall. Though he shunned publicity and self-promotion, seeking instead to do his job quietly and well, he was twice selected as Time magazine's Man of the Year, stood at the top of the U.S. Army, and won a Nobel Peace Prize for the Marshall Plan. His careful command in World War II, including the rise of Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower, his protege, made Marshall a leading force in transforming the United States into the reigning world power. Marshall served as Secretary of State during the Berlin airlift and then served as Secretary of Defense during the Korean War. (For young readers.) |
| Patton: A Genius for War by Carlo D'Este. 1024 pages. (November 1996) A full-fledged portrait of George Patton (1885-1945), an extraordinary American, that reveals the complex and contradictory personality that lay behind the swashbuckling and brash facade. According to Publishers Weekly, the result is "a major biography of a major American military figure." Perhaps the most renowned and controversial American general of the 20th century, Patton remains a subject of intense interest. The author provides new information from family archives and other sources about Patton's ancestry, childhood and pre-WWII military career. |
| Medal of Honor: Portraits of Valor Beyond the Call of Duty by Peter Collier, Nick Del Calzo. 272 pages. (October 2003) This group portrait of most of the living recipients of the Congressional Medal of Honor has an entry for each recipient, including a photo portrait at the time of the award, a summary of the medal-winning action and sometimes the later career. The variety of actions documented will impress even fairly seasoned students of military history, as will the 250 duotone portraits. |
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