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Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life
 
 
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Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life [Hardcover]

Carlo D'Este (Author)
4.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (31 customer reviews)

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There is hardly a shortage of books about Dwight Eisenhower, but Carlo D'Este's Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life stands tall in this forest by virtue of the author's insistence on a too-often forgotten rule of biographers: show--don't tell about--the subject. Though D'Este doesn't neglect Eisenhower's early years (his sketch of the man's rambunctious West Point years is hearteningly entertaining), the book concentrates on his military career, including his years of treading water in the Philippines. By far the most trenchant sections, however, deal with World War II (including a keen look at the little-discussed North African campaign.) We see Ike, who had a famous temper and, when angry, a most indelicate vocabulary, chain-smoking cigarettes and unable to sleep in the weeks leading to D-day; refusing--out of disgust for German atrocities--to be present at the signing of the articles of surrender; bantering, though his heart was heavy, with enlisted men; wrestling contentiously with MacArthur and Field Marshall Montgomery. We read excerpts of his letters to Mamie and are privy to, perhaps, his laying the groundwork for a political career. A Soldier's Life, long but brisk, sympathetic but not adoring, rigorous but never tedious, is a commendable biography. --H. O'Billovich

From Publishers Weekly

A lieutenant colonel at 50 with no military future ahead of him in the stifling between-the-wars promotion system, Eisenhower became, in little more than three years and three months, a five-star general. D'Este (Patton: A Genius for War) sees Ike's rise as predicated upon his having been recognized as "the ultimate career bureaucrat he so disdained." Never having had hands-on command of a unit in combat, Eisenhower would pay heavy prices for his inexperience. Yet D'Este seems to agree with General Omar Bradley that Ike lived an "extraordinarily charmed life" on the basis of likability, desk-officer brilliance and the active patronage of influential men. Although D'Este, who carries Eisenhower's career only through victory in Europe in May 1945, leans heavily upon Russell Weigley's masterly Eisenhower's Lieutenants, he goes well beyond Weigley in indicting the supreme commander for so grossly playing favorites as to keep incompetents in major positions, for command indecision and indifference about such crucial dimensions of combat as logistics, and for a litany of strategic blunders that lengthened and raised the price of the war. He also attempts but fails to bypass the delicate matter of Eisenhower's attentions to his British chauffeur and aide, Kay Summersby. Although at first he contends loyally that their names would be "wrongly" linked, later he notes that it was "common knowledge among war correspondents that something was going on between them." At the close, our knowledge of the future eminence of D'Este's flawed hero seems to validate the implied if reluctant verdict of a charmed life. Still, its dramatic objectivity about Eisenhower's significantly flawed career as a WWII commander will earn this volume attention and controversy. 16 pages of b&w illustrations, 4 maps not seen by PW.
Copyright 2002 Cahners Business Information, Inc.
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Inside This Book (Learn More)
First Sentence
Dwight D. Eisenhower's first ancestor in America was Hans Nicholas Eisenhauer, who emigrated from Germany's Rhineland to Pennsylvania in 1741. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews

31 Reviews
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4.0 out of 5 stars (31 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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5.0 out of 5 stars A Fair and Balanced Look at Ike, May 31 2004
By 
C. Pales (Charlottesville, VA United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life (Hardcover)
Dwight Eisenhower's life has been so thoroughly written about and re-written that another biography seems laughable. Nevertheless, Carlo D'Este deserves credit for this highly readable description and analysis of Ike's career through the end of WWII. D'Este highlights Eisenhower's strengths but also his weaknesses, some of which are in the eye of the beholder (the debate over the "Broad Front" strategy in late 1944-45 will likely never be settled).

Some Eisenhower worshippers may be offended by D'Este's detailing of Ike's faults (both as D'Este defines them and Ike's troublesome British and American contemporaries). However, he always comes back to the one ultimate, essential point: who else could have led the coalition better?

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5.0 out of 5 stars Everything You Wanted To Know About Ike, April 3 2004
By 
C. W. Emblom "Bill Emblom" (Ishpeming, Michigan USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life (Hardcover)
Carlo D'este has followed up his work on General Patton with a biography of General Eisenhower which cover his life through World War II. The book is 705 pages long not counting the notes, and will take some time to pioneer your way through. I found the book to be interesting, but have to admit I was glad when I finally finished it. You will learn a great deal about Eisenhower the young boy and his competitive attitude which contributed to his qualities of leadership. The responsibilities he had thrust upon him throughout his military life brought on an addictive smoking habit that would later lead to health problems. Juggling the egos of George Patton, Omar Bradley, Bernard Montgomery, and others proved to be a challenge and strain on Eisenhower as he directed the allied forces through Europe. Patience and restraint were often needed when it may have been helpful for Eisenhower to vent his frustrations. Ike's relationship with his driver, Kay Summersby, is dealt with in some detail. They were very good friends, but there is no evidence of a consummated romantic relationship. I'm not going to rehash the book in this review. Suffice it to say if you want to learn about America's man in command of World War II this book will provide you with ample information of both Eisenhower the man and the soldier.
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3.0 out of 5 stars Not the best, Sep 25 2003
By 
Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life (Hardcover)
By far the superior Biography of Ike is Ambros's 'Eisenhower: Soldier and President'. Carlo's biography differs in that it covers only the war period. Weak on the Lousiana Manuevors it does detail essential aspects of Ike's career. It explains his terrible experience as staff officer to Macarthur. It also shows his dull career as an army nothing in which he trudged through years of worthlessness before being appointed the top job in Europe.

Ikes story is purely American. Unnoticed for years, with a less then interesting record at West Point, he was picked by Marshall to lead the men ashore in N. Africa.

This biography explains the essential Ike, the books Maps are well presented and show the tactivcal units that most books fail to show. Nevertheless the writing lacks and Este's account does not do him justice.

Carlo is well known writer on WWII, his books on Patton and his books on the Italian and Sicialian camapigns are one of a kind, but this focus on Ike is not his best work.

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