Eisenhower: Soldier and President (The Renowned One-Volume Life)

The late Stephen Ambrose’s one-volume biography is my favorite Eisenhower bio, and although his writing style can be less engaging than a Smith or Chernow or McCullough, I felt the narrative moved along quite smoothly without getting bogged down in any one area. Ambrose gives an equal weight to Eisenhower's life from birth to death - something most other books about him don't do. Most other biographies focus either on Ike's military career, or just his presidency, but rarely both equally. Ambrose does. He covers Ike's pre-World War II career in 60 pages, his WWII service in about 140 pages, his work as Chief of Staff, Supreme Commander of NATO, and President of Columbia in about 60 pages, the first term in 120 pages, the second term in another 120 or so pages, and the post-presidency and the assessment in about 50 pages. It's very fairly distributed and thorough. Also, I like that Ambrose doesn’t jump around chronologically like other biographers (which leads to confusion) and keeps to a strict, chronological order of his retelling of the events. Despite allegations of plagiarism (which is for another book) Ambrose cites everything meticulously in this book and they include interviews with Eisenhower and his associates. There are also plenty of direct quotes from Eisenhower's correspondence and diaries, so you can read Ike in his own words along with Ambrose's own critical analysis. I feel like you really get to know Ike's personality through the narrative, and though Ambrose is clearly a fan of his subject, it doesn't feel like a hagiography and Ambrose is quick to point out criticism of Ike in certain areas, namely civil rights or Ike's refusal to directly confront Senator McCarthy. My main criticism with this book is that in combining and abridging the two-volume original, Ambrose did a bit of a sloppy job. It feels like he literally put the two original manuscripts together and just deleted some paragraphs, leaving the most "important" paragraphs intact. For instance, individuals are mentioned on a last name basis without any former introduction, and we are assumed to know who they are. “Hoover” is mentioned as being present in deliberations during the Lebanon Crisis of 1958, at first, I thought it was J. Edgar, but it was actually Herbert Hoover Jr., who had been serving as the Undersecretary of State. Google had to help me with that one because Ambrose had never mentioned it, yet, we as the audience are somehow supposed to know. I suspect in the original two-parter, Hoover had been introduced elsewhere, but Ambrose just removed the ‘extra’ passages from the original without cleaning up subsequent paragraphs. This happens a lot, not just with people, but with events, as well. One area Ambrose really shines is in the discussion of Eisenhower's cabinet selections in 1953. Each Cabinet member is introduced and it is an excellent and informative highlight of the book, as it should be in any presidential biography. However, throughout the book, Cabinet members come and go without any mention. For instance, Wilson at Defense is suddenly replaced by McElroy, who is then replaced by Gates – their names are just brought up in passages without any introduction or mention of their predecessor leaving. Ambrose also neglects to mention any of Eisenhower’s 5 Supreme Court selections – except Earl Warren. Warren was arguably Eisenhower’s most important selection, and I know not everything can be mentioned in a one-volume, but still. That being said, the book is still, for me, the definitive Eisenhower bio. With the exception of Ike’s early life up until World War II (which is rushed through, but then again, many presidential biographers do that with the early lives of their subjects), I feel Ambrose gave equal and consistent weight to Ike's WWII service, the first term, and the second term – which is very difficult to do, especially for someone like Eisenhower, who had such a different pre-presidency than others. While the most recent major biography of Eisenhower (Eisenhower in War and Peace by Smith) has grown in popularity in recent years, I feel that book started strong but became extremely rushed when Smith reached Ike’s second term. Dealing with Little Rock, Sputnik, Lebanon, nuclear testing, the U-2 crisis and the 1960 election, along with the post presidency in 50 or so pages is simply not enough for a definitive biography, no matter how riveting the writing style is. For me, Ambrose is the definitive biography that gives equal weight to Eisenhower’s pre-presidency and his presidency while also giving a critical analysis of Eisenhower's policy and interpersonal relations. It also gives insights into his personality, which is always appreciated. Despite its shortcomings, this is still the definitive Eisenhower biography for me. My opinion may change IF the rumors of Meacham’s upcoming Eisenhower biography are true (and if it’s a birth-to-death bio like this one rather than one focusing just on the presidency or specific aspects of Ike’s personality). However, if you're going to buy one book to learn about our 34th president, this should be the one.

If you are looking for a biography which describes a development of a great individual, this book leaves a lot wanting. For example, only about 10 pages are dedicated to Eisenhower's all important West Point years. His years at West Point were extraordinarily dear and important to his development, as indicated by his desire to be buried at West Point. What made Eisenhower such an extraordinary General and President despite not having extraordinary intelligence and talent? I do not think the book answers this question clearly. The book, however, is comprehensive. His important relationships with key individuals in his life are well contemplated and analyzed. Finally, Stephen Ambrose is a fluid writer and reading this book was a pleasant experience. Overall, this is worthwhile book if you want to know most things about Eisenhower. Just don't think it will allow you to have an intimate understanding of the development of an extraordinary individual.

Grest history book re: IKE. and the 2nd world war; and the peace IKE brougt during his tenure, and beyond.

Stephen Ambrose is a master of prose, no matter what he writes about you will be guided through and taught about his chosen topic. Prospective writers, read and reread any of Stephen's books and you will have participated in a Master Class about the field of writing. With the topic of "Ike" Ambrose again shines as he brings back to life Dwight David Eisenhower, who he was, what he was and what he did. Sounds simple doesn't it? But Eisenhower was not a simple man and only an individual as capable as Mr. Ambrose can tell us in writing all about the who, what, when, where and why. Especially the why. This is an excellent book and I would highly recommend it to anyone who is interested in histories and/or biographies. Caveats, and they are about presentation and editing. In the Kindle version the maps make little sense and there are too many misspellings. These issues are a cause of disruption, throwing off the pace of the book off and confusing the reader. Amazon this has happened too often in the books I have ordered through my Kindle and I'm turning back to buying used hardbacks and paperbacks. If I order 4-5 books at a time I can get material at or below the cost of a Kindle book and yeah that includes shipping, handling and taxes. (Done ranting about the quality issues I've experienced.) Summing up, get the book it is quite a lovely read about an amazing man. Yes, get the Kindle version, it is by far the cheapest, survive the mistakes, this is not a book to be ignored or left unread. Thank you Mr. Ambrose for giving us insights into a very good man. Thank you Mr. President for being there when you were most needed. The book deservedly earns a 5 star rating. p.s. Eisenhower was human and therefore falible and some of his falibilities are included in the book.

Sometimes, it takes time to identify our heroes. When I was a child in the fifties, Ike seemed like Mr. Bland, the King of mindless conformism. (Please note again that I was a CHILD. :-) ) Once JFK was in the White House, I don't think I devoted any thought to Eisenhower until, oddly enough, I was working in Teheran, which had a long, large boulevard named after Eisenhower. This simple fact made me stop and think. There were certainly no streets named after LBJ and Nixon. What was so special about this old duffer who spent his time playing golf? Well, of course I had to grow up, and sooner or later try to rank the 20th-century Presidents, and one thing I found extraordinary about Eisenhower was what he had done BEFORE becoming President. As a factual example: the outbreak of World War II caused a meteoric rise in Ike's career, and before long he was in charge of the renamed War Planning Department --- the Operations Planning Department. Working directly under George C. Marshall, Ike had 107 officers reporting to him and an unparalleled view of what global warfare meant in his time. This is where I start getting a little scared, since I cannot even imagine running a huge, detailed department like that. Could you? It got even "worse," and more "terrifying," when Ike was put in charge of the European Theater of Operations (in London) and his life suddenly changed forever --- he had stepped onto the world stage and was a public figure ever after. Then he planned, organized and commanded Operation Overlord, the invasion of Normandy which eventually put Hitler out of business for good. Through it all, his vast spidery intelligence was crucial, but so were his terrific public relations efforts in Britain --- and, above all, the indomitable will of George C. Marshall and Dwight David Eisenhower working as a team. Not too bad, for a guy who was 51 on Pearl Harbor Day. If he had died on that day, he would mean nothing to history but would be completely forgotten. As things turned out, though, his childhood virtues ( honesty, self-reliance, integrity, fear of God, and ambition ) served him very well. More than that, they served our country very well. Ike went on to guide us through the critical postwar years, settled the Korean War, and was overall a trusted and capable President. Highly recommended reading.

Stephen Ambrose has written a few books of President Dwight D. Eisenhower. This book is a condensed one-volume biography on the nation's thirty-fourth president. As the book's title suggests there are two main focuses in the work, Eisenhower the solider and Eisenhower the President. The early part of his life is glossed over. The important moments are there, the time he almost lost his leg as a kid, his rebellious West Point years, courtship and marriage, his disappointment with his lack of involvement in World War I, the death of his first-born son, and his time in the Philippines. This is stuff is only briefly touched upon but it is there. Ambrose portrays Eisenhower as brilliant general who was not only a talented tactician, but also a great leader who could identify talent and put in the best place to be successful. Eisenhower could take conflicting personalities and make them work together and successfully. He hated war but he hated Hitler more, and that stronger hatred drove him though Europe. As president however, Ambrose portrays a different picture. Contrary his later defense in the closing chapter, Ambrose does present him as a `Whig President' who acts more a chairman of the board and not a chief executive. Unlike most presidents, Eisenhower did not need the presidency he didn't worry about his `legacy' he already had one. Ambrose presents a president who would refuse to take bold stands at home or abroad. This wasn't necessarily a bad thing with the tensions with the Soviet Unions being what they were refusing to draw lines in the sand was probably a good thing. He enforced Supreme Court decisions on segregation, despite that he wanted the Court to wait to the next president was in office. It is easy to see why John F. Kennedy's claim that `we need to get the county moving again' caught on to a lot of people. Eisenhower just wanted to cruise through the fifties. I enjoy Ambrose take on Eisenhower's retirement. In some ways Eisenhower was more prepared then many of his predecessors to become the president, having been a world figure for over a decade before taking the office. Eisenhower in the same respect was more unprepared for the challenges of retirement. The scene where Ambrose describes Eisenhower's attempt to use a phone is hilarious. Although I may have preferred Michael Kordra's Ike this is a good one-stop book to learn about one of America's most important leaders in history.

Stephen Ambrose is a fantastic researcher and writer. I read this book right after finishing "The Accidental President", about Harry Truman. A perfect segueway in American History. If you've read any of Ambrose's other books, you know the writing is very dense. Not counting Notes, this one is 576 pages - but worth reading every page.

Overall this is a good one volume bio of a great military leader and President. It is hampered by poor editing or copy proofing - hardly a page goes by without a typo or use of an incorrect word. This may only in the electronic version, but is not acceptable. Also the editing should have been better, for example, we have President Roosevelt 'sick' - then Truman is President without an mention of Roosevelt's death. No mention fo the Nazi death camps or Eisenhower's reaction. These type events should at least have rated onerous two sentences.

Let's make it in french, as it's worthless otherwise : "Ike" était pris pour une sorte de demeuré, certes. Cependant ce sentiment n'émanait que de "Georgie" lui-même. Entendons cet avis à l'emporte-pièce car il était celui de Patton, son ami qui devait le savoir faux... Mais si la vie d'Eisenhower valait d'être lue, il s'agirait alors de cette version qui condense celle en 2 volumes du même auteur. D'ailleurs, ce sujet historique n'est pas traité en France ; ce qui peut étonner même si aux U.S.A. l'idée générale est que sous "Ike" absolument rien ne se passa car il ne fit rien. Cela, évidemment, n'est pas vrai. Le trait sévère chausse la nuance d'un Patton ! Il est excessif ; ce que n'était pas Eisenhower. Quoi qu'il en soit, l'ouvrage jouit d'une relative rente de situation car il ne compte pas de véritable rival. Il y a quelques photos. La version flexible affiche tout de même une qualité de papier tant par le grammage que par l'encrage (à moins que ce soit corrélatif) qui surpasse à peine le PQ des chemins de fer italiens. Le texte est en anglais. Les amateurs anglophones de biographies l'apprécieront. Et quoi demander de plus car les autres ne le liront pas :O) Dans le détail du livre, pour vous convaincre de son attrait, vous lirez, la relation d'Ike à la Diva Mc Arthur, une version inédite de la guerre, les aléas de Torch, les relations épouvantables que l'affreux Monty entretenait avec ses semblables (Patton le traitait à juste titre de "petit pet"), une analyse assez fine des erreurs militaires sur le théâtre de combat en Europe, puis l'entrée en politique de Ike, ses rapports avec FDR - Truman - Taft - Dulles , son ascendant sur la construction de la future U.E., son rôle dans l'OTAN et ses perspectives pour cette alliance, ses relations avec Nixon -son vice président-, la gestion du conflit coréen, la critique des accords de Yalta, l'influx d'Einsehower sur la première tentative -la plus sincère- de régulation de l'armement atomique, la crise en Iran, la politique étrangère US et les implications "submergeantes" -mot préféré de l'auteur- des budgets d'armements et bien sûr aussi la phase Mc Carthy... L'intérêt principal de l'ouvrage est surtout d'apporter une compréhension de l'ère moderne de la politique US. qui ne s'était jamais posée dans son inextricable problématique à aucun prédécesseur des Ike. Non ! Résolument, il ne s'est pas "rien passé" durant cette intéressante présidence.

For the first few chapters I wasn’t sure about the booked as it dealt with his early years, which I mistakenly thought a little sycophantic. The book pulls no punches on proper criticism of his career, his racist blind spot in particular, but he was a very intelligent man who saw the silliness of the arms and space races.

It's an excellent biography of American hero Dwight Eisenhower. It's a thick but profound volume that is easy to read. The author captues the reader and I in fact could not lay the book down until I finished it in couple of days. The choice of details is excellent and it lacks nothing I can think of. As a lay reader I found this book a good read. The author writes like a true historian and gives a reader a deep understanding of the character of the hero and the spirit of the times back then. A good read.

great book loved reading about eisenhower and what he did to defeat the germans in ww2

He shouldered a tremendous amount of responsibility during WWII. The consequence of his decision were far reaching. There is a lot to learn from the man and his leadership. I was most surprised by the amount of pressure he faced as a President when a lot of his entourage wanted more aggressive action in Korea, against China to the point of using the nuclear bomb. He did not waver, that really struck me. I wished he would have been forceful in dealing with Monty who was at time being obstructionist. I do wish he had been more forceful and decisive on some of his domestic policies. Overall a very good man we all of us owe him a lot. Now I will read the Crusade.