The Generals: American Military Command from World War II to Today

By Thomas E. Ricks

Book Overview

A New York Times bestseller

An epic history of the decline of American military leadership--from the bestselling author of Fiasco and Churchill and Orwell.

While history has been kind to the American generals of World War II--Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley--it has been less kind to the generals of the wars that followed, such as Koster, Franks, Sanchez, and Petraeus. In The Generals, Thomas E. Ricks sets out to explain why that is. In chronicling the widening gulf between performance and accountability among the top brass of the U.S. military, Ricks tells the stories of great leaders and suspect ones, generals who rose to the occasion and generals who failed themselves and their soldiers. In Ricks's hands, this story resounds with larger meaning: about the transmission of values, about strategic thinking, and about the difference between an organization that learns and one that fails.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0143124099
• ISBN13: 9780143124092
• Release Date: October 2013
• Publisher: Penguin Books
• Length: 592 Pages
• Weight: 1.11 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 5.4" x 8.3"
• Age Range: 18 years and up
• Grade Range: Postsecondary and higher

Customer Reviews

Interesting read

I've read the bios on these guys before. This approach was interesting: Generals who should have fired other generals or generals who should have been fired themselves. Filled in a lot of gaps in my history knowledge. I recommend.