No comments about Brian Boru: Ireland's Greatest King?.

No comments about Eminent Churchillians.

No comments about Tales of a Tankman: Between the Battles.

No comments about Famous Generals of the Civil War (Civil War Series).

No comments about Adventures of a WWII Army Nurse.

No comments about Such Are the Trials: The Civil War Diaries of Jacob Gantz.

1 comments about Paratrooper: The Life of Gen James M Gavin.

1. This is the finest biography of the life of Jumpin' Jim Gavin, a legendary World War II leader. The other biography is written by Bradley Biggs and lacks the thorough research of Booth & Spencer's work. Read Biggs if you need a summary (and somewhat biased rendition) of Gavin's heroic life of service to the nation. Read this book if you want the details of Gavin's life in an impartial account - from his days as an orphan, then adopted growing up in Mount Carmel, Pennsylvania to his WWII exploits, service as Ambassador to France under President Kennedy and his time as CEO of Arthur D. Little & Company. This biography presents the uncut version of the life of James M. Gavin.

   Many former and current paratroopers still pay homage to the memory of this great man. Gavin is buried in the cemetery at the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York. Each year on 6 June, his wife Jean, other family members, and members of the 82nd Airborne Division Association, both officers and enlisted, gather for a D-Day memorial to honor one of the greatest leaders of the war. Gavin led the 505th Parachute Infantry Regiment on airborne drops into Sicily and Salerno, and later he led the entire 82nd Airborne Division on the Normandy and Market Garden jumps. It is a fitting tribute that the impact of his legacy still lives on in the hearts of the men and women who knew him and went to war with him. If you want to understand why his memory still inspires many of us in uniform, read this book. (You can also get more insight into the man by reading the several books that Gavin wrote himself, like Crisis Now, Airborne Warfare, and On To Berlin.)

   Highly recommended for all paratroopers and anyone who interacts with military professionals.

No comments about Abraham Lincoln: Defender of the Union (Cobblestone the Civil War).

2 comments about Whatever You Resolve To Be: Essays on Stonewall Jackson.

1. A. Wilson Greene has had a long professional association
   with Stonewall Jackson with his many years as a historian with the national park service in Fredericksburg. His 2005 book is an updated version of his 1992 book by the same name. His book is broken into five essays discussing Jackson the mortal man, Jackson's controversial role during the seven days, his defense against Meade at Fredericksburg, his greatest moment (author's opinion)at 2nd Manasas and a final evaluation of Jackson as a general. Greene is very much an admirer of Jackson but he is reasonably objective. Greene writes fluidly and is noted for his scholarsahip and research abilities. The most fascinating essay is Jackson's role at the Seven Days battles where he seemed often late or lethargic. Greene offers insight to Jackson's confusing directions issued to him, confouding maps and guides and orders. At Savage Station, Greene notes that Jackson did not aid Magruder's attack because Lee ordered Jackson to stay in position expecting a Union retreat to White House not realizing that McClellan changed base. Jackson's inaction at Glendale is still hard to fathom but may be due to exhaustion or being ill as Greene indicates. A real bonus in this book is Greene's review of all the literature written on Jackson and his own summaries appraising their content. In addition, his exhaustive detailed notes on his own essays in this section provides interesting bits of fact sometimes correcting minor details of his earlier work. A highly readable and interestong look at 'Old Jack". Greene currently is Executive Director of Pamplin Park: The Musuem of The Civil War Soldier, which is the preserved site of the Petersburg union breakthrough. The park features a great musuem, fantastic spring tours and great symposiums featuring the best CW historians.



2. Beware the publication date!
   These essays are really from 1992, not 2005, and they have not been revised to take into account recent scholarship.

5 comments about Old Soldiers Never Die: The Life of Douglas Macarthur.

1. I enjoyed this book very much. Although long and detailed, I found its style engaging and well organized. It's an easy read. Being able to turn dense historical material into such an interesting book is a triumph.

   Writing a biography of a controversial personality like MacArthur is challenging and, overall, I think Perret has done a good job. It's too easy to fall in love with your subject and the author is able to resist the temptation to hurruh too much.

   I think, however, that there are a few areas, where the author seems to accept behaviors that are questionable and problematic. Into his assertion of MacArthur's greatness he never really factors in MacArthur's overly emotional temperament nor his lack of veracity. There is space for further debate here that I think the author missed.




2. As several reviewers pointed out, this book has a few flaws. I do feel some of the criticisms hurled are a bit off the mark. This is a one volume book. There is absolutly no way a completely comprehensive sudy of this man could be accomplished in such a short space. For a one volume work though, it is very, very good. Yes, you can disagree as to the actual greatness of the man, as reflected in the various stages of his life, but the author has at least presented to us a starting point. This work, along with others, gives us a good picture of Macarthur the soldier and the man. Recommend you read this one.



3. Obviously, the right starting place for MacArthur would be William Manchester's book. However, this one does not disappoint. As a matter of fact, of all Perret's books, this one is most likely the best, despite its flaws. Our subject is the greatest military mind this country has ever produced.
   Was Gen. MacArthur an egomaniac? Yes, name me a general who wasn't. But in America's 'brief' history, you will not find a more intelligent, and courageous officer than this man. During WWI, his personal bravery and daring led to seven Silver Stars. During WWII, he lost less men in the southwest Pacific in four years of fighting, than Gen. Eisenhower did at the Battle of the Bulge alone! During the Korean war, at seventy years of age, his offensive at Inchon was the height of audacity and planning. He wrote Japan's postwar constitution, he is also revered by many Japanese to this day.
   All in all, his career is enough to make one say, "Patton who?"



4. From my earliest memories, General Douglas MacArthur has always been my number one hero. My soldier dad gave me a little paste statue of MacArthur, America's 'Caesar,' which I could hold in my hand. For me, it was important that he married a Tennessee woman. For another, he had the gawl to stand up to the President of the United States who demoted him and forced him to come home to the United States, where the public took his side and gave him a ticker tape parade down Broadway in New York City. Doug was a major general during the World War II for the allies, and being an American was there to represent our country first and foremost. However, like any person can be, he was lured into being an important personage in the Philippines government as an advisor. He had his cake and ate it too.
   
   The whole country here tought that President Truman was out of his mind to talk to our hero the way he did, and MacArthur used rhetoric and politics in his going away speech that "Old Soldiers Never Die, They Just Fade Away" and his foolish declaration that "I Shall Return," It was as though he had turned his back on the American people and we were fools enough not to know what he was doing. President Truman did know and made an executive decision that the double-dealing had to stop. Apparently, FDR (Roosevelt) had let things get out of control and MacArthur made the most of it.
   
   For more than sixty years now, he has been my hero. When my son Justin had to ask his parents who their hreoes were for a class project, his teacher was shocked at the name of mine -- as I am a woman. He probably throught it might be Eleanor Roosevelt had I been interested in politics or the war, or Queen Elizabeth who was newly crowned and I admired. But, no, it was the cause of Douglas MacArthur which gave me the backbone to stand and say what is right and righteous, to be fair to all and not allowing inferiors to take the jobs of people who are more qualified. That's the Affirmative Action Ammendment which kept my PHD son from getting many jobs in the 1980s. It was hurtful to the intelligent, trained young people who could do the jobs. Instead, like MacArthur in the Philippines where he did return (I do like a man who keeps his word.), it is double dealing and putting the wrong people in the wrong jobs. And I don't mean electing those with money. I'm talking about putting uneducated, ignorant people in government jobs who make decisions for all of us, and they don't know what they are doing. They are not qualified.
   
   MacArthur should never have been double dealing and his failing was insubordination. He had such an adoring reputation for being stern and forceful as an American General. But now the truth will out and we know just how "old" he was, not in years, but in nonconformity and by not going God's will. That was his downfall.



5. Geoffrey Perret has written a very enjoyable biography on one of the most colorful, brilliant and important generals in United States history. I particularly enjoyed this biography since it focuses on General MacArthur's achievements without ignoring (but not fixating on) his flaws.
   
   In this book you will find, amongst other things:
   * MacArthur's reforms of the hazing culture at West Point.
   * An extensive discussion of General MacArthur's achievements during World War I as well as his disputes with General Pershing.
   * A fair defense of MacArthur's routing of the Bonus Army.
   * General MacArthur's accomplishments as Field Marshal of the Philippines Army.
   * General MacArthur's brilliance as a tactician in the Pacific during World War II.
   * General MacArthur's crucial role in properly reconstructing post-WWII Japan.
   * An account of General MacArthur's views for how to handle the Korean War.
   * The extent of General MacArthur's presidential ambitions.
   
   In summary, an excellent and admiring biography of a fascinating and accomplished individual!