Benjamin Runkle

I own various biographies of US generals including the four highlighted in this book (Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton and MacArthur). There are mentions of various other generals.

This book focuses on their professional development period from prior to WW1 thru WW2.

No real significant new information is presented compared to other more comprehensive biographies. However, I like the way the author presented his information. He filled in a lot of blanks and clarified topics that other books covered in lesser detail. Things like:
- MacArthur's West Point reforms after WW1 (initially not well received by the school staff, but later embraced)
- Ike's time in Panama with Fox Conner
- The once strong (later soured) relationship between Ike and MacArthur is well reviewed.
- The background and handling of the Bonus Army protest seems well explained.
- The Army war games in the southern US during just prior to Pearl Harbor actually get decent reviews and analysis. The details connect the dots on how several generals-to-be earned their pending recognition and stars. Things I had not realized before.

One topic that is well presented is the relative size of the small Army in the 1920's & 30's. Up to the later 30's it kept shrinking. The corps of remaining officers just gets tighter and tighter. The well being and careers of officers were in the bull's eye for being snuffed out. The officers in question stayed in and/or remained viable for WW2 that they all saw coming at some point in the future. If any one of these officers would have made some different career decisions during this period, WW2 in our history books might have looked different from how it turned out.

I enjoyed reading this book and consider it a compliment to the various other general officer biographies that I own.… (más)