Eisenhower

New York: Random House, 1999. First Edition [stated], presumed first printing. Hardcover. Fair/Good. xii,685, [5] pages. Notes. Index. Ex-library with the usual library markings. Front board weak and restrengthened with glue. Geoffrey Perret is an English author who writes about American history. His work focuses primarily upon the political dynamics that influence strategic and tactical military decisions, as well as broader political themes. He has published over thirteen books dealing with a variety of topics such as the US Presidency, including several biographies of iconic Presidents such as John F. Kennedy and Ulysses S. Grant; leading American military commanders such as Douglas MacArthur; and pivotal American military engagements. He also has had one novel, "Executive Privilege" published. His earlier works use the spelling "Perrett" for his last name. After serving in the US Army for three years, Perret studied at Long Beach City College and then obtained his undergraduate degree summa cum laude from the University of Southern California in 1967. He was also elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He obtained his postgraduate degree from Harvard University in 1969 and then studied law at the University of California at Berkeley. This new, in-depth life of Eisenhower offers fresh perspectives, not only on World War II and the Korean War but also on the Cold War, the civil rights movement, McCarthyism, the U-2 crisis and Vietnam. Geoffrey Perret's Eisenhower gives us, for the first time, the whole man. It brings together a huge amount of material, much of it made available to researchers only in recent years. The result is nothing less than an original, authoritative and provocative portrait of Eisenhower, as both soldier and president. Far from being the easygoing and pliant figure often depicted by his critics, Eisenhower is revealed here as a complex, tough-minded and highly capable man, one who rose to the top of the world's most competitive profession, the modern military. His career as a soldier would prove to be an excellent preparation for most, though not all, of the major challenges he faced as America's thirty-fourth president. Eisenhower's letters and diaries, many of them never seen by previous biographers, have contributed profoundly to this groundbreaking work. So, too, have dozens of interviews with people who knew him well. These fresh sources have made it possible to resolve many intriguing questions that have, until now, been matters only of speculation and rumor: Did he have an affair with Kay Summersby, his wartime driver?; Why did he have so much trouble with Field-Marshal Montgomery?; Did the Columbia University trustees appoint him by accident, as campus whispers claimed, in a bungled attempt to offer the university presidency to his brother Milton?; Just how did he bring the Korean War to an end within months of becoming president?; What did he really think of Richard Nixon? Geoffrey Perret, the author of Old Soldiers Never Die: The Life of Douglas MacArthur, as well as There's a War to Be Won, an acclaimed history of the United States Army in World War II, is uniquely qualified to write this new life of Dwight D. Eisenhower, a work that is worthy of its remarkable and controversial subject. Derived from a Publishers Weekly article: Perret provides a useful, efficient summary of Ike's long and multifaceted life--albeit one is stronger on Ike's military career than on his political career. Perret is strong in portraying all aspects of Eisenhower in his role as Supreme Commander of the Allied Forces in Europe during WWII. The author is particularly good at depicting Ike's intense, sometimes tense relationships with British Field Marshall Montgomery and President Roosevelt, as well as with his own wife, Mamie, who tried but failed to get the general to assure their son John safe duty away from combat--something neither father nor son thought proper. The biography of a great military leader.