Eisenhower

This should especially be a must read for students. The book is concise and to the point without a lot of extraneous words. Having just recently rented a film about Eisenhower at a local store, I'm shocked that the student-age employee neither knew who Eisenhower was or how to spell his name. Do we call this a dumbed-down nation? A good combination with this book would be to first have the students read it and then show the film Ike: A Countdown to D-Day which was a made-for-TV film starring Tom Selleck. More books of this ilk would help EDUCATE!

I just finished this book, and found it a very enjoyable read. I learned a number things about Eisenhower's earlier years that were new to me--for instance, I never knew he had served in Panama, or been offered more lucrative business opportunities, but had elected to stay in the army. or that because of his abilities as a staff officer he had been denied the chance to have his own command except for a very brief period. In terms of Eisenhower's WWII experiences, the focus is on getting into Eisenhower's thoughts and feelings and his relationships with other generals, particularly Patton and Montgomery, though the author also points out that Eisenhower tried to meet with all ranks of soldiers when time allowed. I was somewhat surprised that Eisenhower's alleged relationship with Kay Summersby is completely unmentioned, though the author does quote four times from her book. Also, this is not the book to go to if you want an operational description of the battles Eisenhower oversaw--even the situation on Omaha is covered in only a couple of sentences. Similarly for Market-Garden, but here the author states this operation should never have happened, one of his few (though here only implied) negative statements about Eisenhower. Eisenhower's life after the army and his presidency are briefly covered, with all the major events highlighted, but not discussed in detail. I strongly recommend this book for an introduction to Eisenhower.

This book is a good introduction for someone who has always wanted to read a biography of IKE the General but never could find the time for the heftier 500 page treatments of the General. The book is well-written, fast paced and interesting. Wukovits' doesn't offer anything new to people already familiar with IKE the General. Much of what Wukovits writes has been hashed over in hundreds of books. This does not mean, however, that the book is not a contribution. In a brief bio of the general, Wukovits has no choice but to include much that many already know. The contribution comes in the analysis of IKE's leadership style- and his honesty, integrity, empathy all figure largely in Wukovits story. At times Wukovits appears to be writing an idealizing hagiographic biography and skims over the IKE's poor decisions. IKE dreaded sending men to battle and in many instances poor decisions by IKE made under political influence got men killed. (Omaha Beach, Market Garden, etc)- Certainly, we can criticise IKE for these decisions (Wukovits is very light on criticism) while also realizing no man could have done better. It's hard for me to think of IKE as anything other than the greatest wartime leader this country has ever had. Wukovits has written a nice book. So far all three of THE GREAT GENERALS volumes have been quite good. See my reviews.