Ed Hahn (USA: MT) (2009/03/05): This book has been sitting on my shelf for years waiting to be re-read; its pages discolored, its cover cracked but its story as fresh in 2009 as it was in 1984.Undoubtedly, the greatest military mind in the history of the United States, Douglas MacArthur can only be understood by the standards of the late 19th Century. He was a chivalric warrior who could not begin to comprehend the war on terror and the other limited wars of today. In his mind, you fought a war to conquer the enemy, completely eliminating their ability to strike back, then you treated them with the understanding and kindness due a gallant foe. His conduct in WWII and his treatment of the Japanese at its conclusion is a model of how to win a war with as few casualties as possible and how to win the respect of your former enemy after you occupy their lands. His conduct during the Korean War was totally consistent with his philosophy and in the end caused his firing by President Truman. He could not understand nor could he remain silent about his conviction of what it would take to defeat and occupy North Korea and eliminate China's ability to strike back. In many ways he was his own worst enemy and never understood the subtleties of politics. He blew his own horn but, as brilliant as he was, he lacked the humility to see himself as others might see him. To those who did not know him, he was either an unblemished hero, an enigma, or a power hungry demagogue. To those who did know him he was a military genius and a great leader. Did he ever make a mistake? Of course he did, many of them, but the balance sheet was heavily weighted on the positive side. His bravery was legendary and drove his staff crazy. It was almost as if he knew he was fore-ordained to die in bed, not on a battlefield. His nickname in WWII of "Dugout Doug" was totally inappropriate and just plain wrong. Manchester does a masterful job of building the story so that the reader can see how the child foretold the man. Many of his actions later in life are revealing of how he was brought up. Manchester's skill as a biographer is to let those conclusions come to the reader as implications and doesn't hit us over the head with them. As we all struggle with our own attitudes towards the "War on Terror", this book provides a clear picture of a man and a time when there were far fewer gray areas and when far more events were seen in black and white then is possible today. It's a long book of 960 pages including footnotes and an extensive bibliography but it is worth reading if only to try and understand the differences between the world MacArthur lived in and the one we are faced with today.
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