The Fourth Star: Four Generals and the Epic Struggle for the Future of the United States Army

by Greg Jaffe, David Cloud Narrated by Richard McGonagle

Overview

They were four exceptional soldiers, a new generation asked to save an army that had been hollowed out after Vietnam. They became the Army's most influential generals in the crucible of Iraq. Collectively, their lives tell the story of the Army over the last four decades and illuminate the path it must travel to protect the nation over the next century. The careers of this elite quartet show how the most powerful military force in the world entered a major war unprepared, and how the Army, drawing on a reservoir of talent that few thought it possessed, saved itself from crushing defeat against a ruthless, low-tech foe. In The Fourth Star, you'll follow:

H Gen. John Abizaid, one of the Army's most brilliant minds.
H Gen. George Casey Jr., the son of the highest-ranking general to be killed in the Vietnam War.
H Gen. Peter Chiarelli, an emotional, take-charge leader who felt the sting of the Army's failures in Iraq.
H Gen. David Petraeus, a driven soldier-scholar. When he finally got his chance in Iraq, he changed the Army's conception of what was possible.

The Fourth Star ranges far beyond today's battlefields, evoking the Army's tumultuous history since Vietnam through these four captivating lives.

Editorial Reviews

Dexter Filkins

The Fourth Star is a very good book, readable, detailed and rich. The profiles of Abizaid, Casey, Chiarelli and Petraeus are nuanced and well drawn; the generals really come to life, as does the Army itself.
—The New York Times

Library Journal

The fall of Saigon in 1975 left the U.S. Army defeated, demoralized, and divided. It was an army torn apart internally, rife with drug and alcohol use and soldiers who didn't want to serve in it. This work is about four young officers just beginning their respective careers in the late 1960s and early 1970s: Generals George Casey, Peter Chiarelli, John Abizaid, and David Petraeus. They all helped not only to rebuild the army but also to rethink its role in modern warfare. In doing so, they became the army's most influential general officers in the war in Iraq. This should be on the shelf next to Thomas E. Ricks's Fiasco: The American Military Adventure in Iraq and his follow-up, The Gamble: General David Petraeus and the American Military Adventure in Iraq, 2006–2008. Recommended. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 6/15/09.]

Kirkus Reviews

Admiring, insightful biographies of four generals who commanded in Iraq. John Abizaid led the Central Command (which oversees both Iraq and Afghanistan) from 2003 until 2007. David Petraeus led the Multinational Force Iraq-the actual fighting forces, almost all American-until he took over Central Command in 2008. Both former Multinational Force leaders, George Casey now serves as Army Chief of Staff and Peter Chiarelli as Vice Army Chief of Staff. As the first post-Vietnam War generation, they are working to ensure a better outcome from today's wars. In their first book, journalists Cloud and Jaffe emphasize that the jury is still out. They stress that the military hated its experience in Vietnam so intensely that it refused to learn from it, happily resuming training for a traditional war against massive Soviet forces. The wildly expensive build-up under President Reagan-and again after 9/11-mostly produced high-tech tanks, ships, planes and missiles. As the authors recount the careers of these men, readers will be impressed with their scholarship (all earned advanced degrees), fierce ambition and yearning to command in combat. All studied history and all experienced firsthand irregular wars in places like Kosovo, Somalia and El Salvador. Taking command in Iraq, they understood that they were not fighting by conventional standards. Readers may find it ironic to learn that their frustrations suppressing the insurgency owed less to military conservatism than to their civilian commanders, with President Bush certain that free elections would solve Iraq's problems and Secretary of Defense Rumsfeld (who disagreed) warning them that "nation building" was not America's goal. No more optimisticthan other accounts of recent bungling by the American military, but a perceptive look at intelligent, capable generals trying their best. Agent: Gail Ross/Gail Ross Literary Agency

Product Details

BN ID:	2940171905101
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	10/13/2009
Edition description:	Unabridged

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