Douglas MacArthur: The Far Eastern General

Douglas MacArthur was a giant in American history. Many people who knew him described him as the brightest man they ever met. All agreed that he generally aroused strong passions, most either loved or hated him. FDR is said to have repeatedly described him to his friends as "the most dangerous man" in America, and to have preferred him fighting in the Pacific rather than answering for various astounding lapses of judgment on his part in the United States, and then mulling a campaign for the presidency. The lapses of judgment attributed to him include not dispersing the airplanes under his command immediately after Pearl Harbor, a huge mistake, misjudging Chinese policy on Korea, and more. This isn't to deny that he didn't pull off strokes of pure genius, such as the landing at Inchon. There are other biographies that do a better of job of recounting the many waypoints and events in MacArthur's life; this book is very useful to those seeking to understand MacArthur because it is critical, perhaps scathing, and willing to question his motivations, something that less serious biographies don't do. Schaller documents, perhaps as the first historian to do so, the indisputable evidence that MacArthur accepted a gratuity of $600,000 from the Philippines, then an American territory, while he was involved in crafting American policy towards Philippines. If you only plan to read a single biography of MacArthur, this is not your book; if you, however, want to read several biographies in order to get a really good understanding of MacArthur's life, and the many different ways he was perceived, this book will be indispensable to you on your quest.