Author:
Runkle, Benjamin, author.
ImprintGuilford, Connecticut : Stackpole Books, [2019]
Descriptionxii, 435 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
Note:Introduction: homecoming -- The general's apprentice: Marshall's years with Pershing -- MacArthur at West Point -- The innovator's dilemma: Ike, Patton, and Billy Mitchell after the war -- Guardians of empire -- "It was our schools that saved the army" -- The army in the Great Depression -- MacArthur and Eisenhower in the shadow of the rising sun -- The right man in the right place at the right time -- Patton, Eisenhower, and the largest battle on U.S. soil -- Generals at war. Epilogue.
Bibliography Note:Includes bibliographical references and index.
Note:Shakespeare famously wrote that some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some have greatness thrust upon them. Part military history and part group biography, Generals in the Making tells the true story of how George Marshall, Dwight Eisenhower, Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, and their peers became the greatest generation of senior commanders in military history. As the US Army's triumphant homecoming from World War I was quickly forgotten amidst two decades filled with economic depression and growing isolationism, Marshall, Eisenhower, MacArthur, Patton, Omar Bradley, Lucian Truscott, Matthew Ridgway, and their brothers in arms toiled in a profession most Americans viewed with distrust. Before they became legends, these young officers served their country in posts from Washington, DC, to Panama, from West Point to war-torn China. They taught and studied together in the Army's schools, attempting to innovate in an era of shrinking budgets, obsolete equipment, and skeletal forces. Beyond these professional challenges, they endured shattering personal tragedies: the sudden deaths of children or spouses, divorce, depression, and court martial. Yet when the world faced possibly its darkest hour, as fascism and barbarism were on the march, they stood ready to lead America's young men in the fight for civilization. By the end of World War II, even German commanders expressed amazement at the dynamic change in American military leadership since the Great War. Generals in the Making is the first comprehensive history of America's World War II generals between the wars, an invaluable prequel to every history of that war.
