JANUARY 2015 - AudioFile
Johnny Heller delivers an engaging and consistently solid narration of this portrait of General George Marshall. The audiobook traces his entire life, although, not surprisingly, the bulk focuses on his time as Chief of Staff of the Army during WWII and his postwar career, in particular the rebuilding of Europe. Despite the detailed approach, Heller makes the writing easy on the ear. When the authors use complex sentence structure, Heller renders it easy to follow without awkward pauses. His use of slight regional accents to set off direct quotations of different figures seems largely unnecessary. Overall, though, he does the work justice and makes it easy to listen to. R.C.G. © AudioFile 2015, Portland, Maine
The New York Times Book Review - Mark Atwood Lawrence
…[an] elegant and iconoclastic biography, which pokes innumerable holes in Marshall's reputation for leadership and raises intriguing questions about how such reputations get made. Marshall emerges not as the incarnation of greatness but as an ordinary, indecisive, "less than awe-inspiring" man who achieved an unexceptional mix of success and failure…Mostly, the Ungers' vision of Marshall is persuasive. Praise for the general has soared so high over the years that the reality is bound to lie closer to the ground. The book also offers a useful reminder that glorification of the World War II era may tell us more about the disappointments of our own times than about an increasingly remote past when—no surprise—American leaders stumbled and were sometimes saved from their errors by the scale of the American war machine and the endurance of their allies.
Publishers Weekly
10/06/2014
The Ungers (LBJ: A Life) complete a project, conceived by the late Hirshson (General Patton), for a full-scale biography of this great soldier-statesman that is both comprehensively researched and highly readable, but fundamentally misunderstands its subject. WWI gave Marshall practice in managing a large army and dealing with “difficult allies.” In 1939, a combination of talent and influence brought him to the post of chief of staff, placing him at the center of a greater war where his success brought promotion to General of the Army. Marshall’s capacities as a manager fitted perfectly the requirements of a global war waged by a grand alliance of temporary convenience. His fundamental skills involved balancing military, political, and economic tensions at the highest levels in a context of strong personalities. Marshall was less adept at the level of operations, like the timing of D-Day, but it was his ability as a manager that defined his postwar career: a secretary of state whose defining and brokering of the economic reconstruction plan that bears his name was recognized by a Nobel Peace Prize. The authors nevertheless present Marshall as a man whose “austere persona” inspired respect and confidence, and conclude his performance as soldier and statesman was “less than awe-inspiring,” reflecting “sterling character but unremarkable powers.” The authors’ conclusion that Marshall’s reputation was the construction of America’s longing for a military leader above politics and ambition defies the weight of evidence and scholarship, the reasoned judgment of Marshall’s contemporaries, and his role as a decisive and positive factor in 20 crucial years of national policy. Agent: Alex Hoyt, Alexander Hoyt Assoc. (Nov.)
From the Publisher
Elegant and iconoclastic… refreshing… persuasive.” — New York Times Book Review
“A full-scale biography of this great soldier-statesman that is both comprehensively researched and highly readable.” — Publishers Weekly
“This biography provides an excellent overview of one of the 20th century’s most influential soldiers and statesmen… Strongly recommended for those interested in military and war history.” — Library Journal
“An excellent reexamination of Marshall’s career that is ideal for general readers.” — Booklist
“By any standard, George C. Marshall looms large over the twentieth century. Debi and Irwin Unger’s in-depth biography will raise an eyebrow or two over the man we thought we knew and provide an intriguing look at Marshall’s guarded personality, his complicated relationships, and his turbulent times.” — Walter R. Borneman, author of THE ADMIRALS and AMERICAN SPRING
“Integrity, honor, humility-how quaint, and how sorely missed, these virtues seem today. They were embodied in George Marshall, the great World War II army chief of staff and Cold War secretary of state. Marshall’s leadership style drives this grand but judicious biography of a fascinating man.” — Evan Thomas, author of IKE'S BLUFF
Booklist
An excellent reexamination of Marshall’s career that is ideal for general readers.
Walter R. Borneman
By any standard, George C. Marshall looms large over the twentieth century. Debi and Irwin Unger’s in-depth biography will raise an eyebrow or two over the man we thought we knew and provide an intriguing look at Marshall’s guarded personality, his complicated relationships, and his turbulent times.
New York Times Book Review
Elegant and iconoclastic… refreshing… persuasive.
Evan Thomas
Integrity, honor, humility-how quaint, and how sorely missed, these virtues seem today. They were embodied in George Marshall, the great World War II army chief of staff and Cold War secretary of state. Marshall’s leadership style drives this grand but judicious biography of a fascinating man.
Booklist
An excellent reexamination of Marshall’s career that is ideal for general readers.
Library Journal
10/15/2014
This biography provides an excellent overview of one of the 20th century's most influential soldiers and statesmen. Although born in rural Pennsylvania, George Marshall (1880–1959) was a quintessential Virginia gentleman for whom duty and loyalty were of the utmost importance. The book insightfully addresses his interactions not only with other major players on the world stage but also his development as a junior officer during World War I and the army's years of slow promotion. The most recent single-volume biography of Marshall since Ed Cray's General of the Army (1990), this work includes a fair evaluation of its subject's strengths and mistakes as army chief of staff during World War II, originator of the Marshall Plan following World War II, and his time as secretary of state and secretary of defense during the early years of the Cold War. The Ungers (coauthors, The Guggenheims) appraise differing views of historians to provide analysis of such controversial events as the attack on Pearl Harbor, troop replacement policy, and the atomic bomb. Their research draws richly on a depth and breadth of primary and secondary sources, including Forrest C. Pogue's authorized four-volume biography. VERDICT Strongly recommended for those interested in military and war history. [See Prepub Alert, 4/7/14.]—Leslie Lewis, Duquesne Univ. Lib., Pittsburgh
Kirkus Reviews
2014-09-29
A biography of George Marshall (1880-1959) focusing on the general's overall decency rather than his strategic brilliance. Having inherited this project after the death of historian Hirshson, the Ungers (The Guggenheims, 2005, etc.) make a valiant attempt to cover Marshall's accomplished military career and his years as President Franklin Roosevelt's chief of staff and President Harry Truman's secretary of state. A graduate of Virginia Military Institute and a protégé of Gen. John Pershing, with early postings in the Philippines and China, Marshall, laconic and humorless, could never garner the kind of position as commander of troops that would have ensured a glorious career. He was most effective at training officers in the late 1920s, organizing Roosevelt's Civilian Conservation Corp in preparation for his move to Washington to take up a position with the War Plans Division and eventually become chief of staff. This indeed is what the authors believe he should best be remembered for: "creating the American World War II army virtually out of nothing." As Roosevelt's wartime right arm, Marshall pushed for the "Europe First" agenda and was deemed too valuable at home to spare as supreme commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces, yet Marshall's "complacency" about Japan's threats on the eve of the Pearl Harbor attack lent his right-wing critics fodder for the rest of his life. The Ungers find him naïve in dealing with the Chinese when sent to negotiate a truce between the Nationalists and the Communists in late 1945; they do not credit him with coming up with the so-called Marshall Plan to help Europe get back on its feet, for which he won a Nobel Peace Prize in 1953. However, Marshall always remained a devoted and dutiful officer. A yeoman's effort in service of an admirable subject in need of more good studies about him.
