Customer Reviews

American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880 - 1964

5 star:		(39)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
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Manchester has produced a book that covers the entire life of the controversial five star general, from his infancy to his death, in the finest of detail and in a lively literary style. - If you want to know about MacArthur, this is the book for you. The author very carefully presents facts about the general and lets you the reader make up your mind on where the truth lies. Manchester does not appear to "take sides" in this book; he does not take the general and make him a god, nor does he denigrate what the general has done. He presents the many sides of this mysterious general and lets you, the reader, put it all together which is not difficult, since Manchester provides you the tools to do it: plenty of rich detail, plenty of quotes, excerpts of memos and messages, much detail on his private family life. Again, Manchester does not tell the reader what to think. For example, with the fall of the Philippnes, it seems that the general has made up his mind to stay and, along with his family, expects in a matter-of-fact way to commit suicide rather than be taken prisoner by the Japanese. You wonder about his wife and child, but Manchester doesn't tell you what they want to do: he lets them speak. - An excellent biography and significant historical account. Probably the best ever on MacArthur whether you like the general or not.

John Gunther wrote, "General MacArthur took more territory, with less loss of life, than any military commander since Darius the Great." To which I'll add...there've been a lot of commanders between the great Persian potentate and the great SCAP.

William Manchester's incisive "American Caesar" is an 800-page argument that the Supreme Allied Commander of the Southwest Pacific Area was, for all his numerous personal faults and jarring pomposity, the most brilliant, compelling commander in American history. For every GI killed under MacArthur, thirty Japanese were killed, a ratio Eisenhower or any other commander could only dream of. A scant fifty years after his Inchon landing, historians of even the most measured ilk, are proclaiming that radical move one of the most daring and decisive in history. The numbers alone are staggering. When the dust had settled from an amphibious assault that was discouraged by nearly every officer around him, just 500 Americans had died to 40,000 North Koreans, and the entire complexion of the war had completely changed.

So why is MacArthur's name largely forgotten in a popular culture that still holds iconic names like Patton and Bradley, Eisenhower, and Doolittle? First, it's a discouraging inevitability that only the worst battlefield tragedies are remembered. Gettysburg, Antietam, the Battle of the Bulge, the Battle of Verdun in 1916. Terrific loss of life was the uniting feature in all these battles; not commanding excellence.

When 500 Americans die landing in a remote Far Eastern locale, what's the chance that ground will be hallowed and memorialized?

MacArthur also suffers at the expense of his politics, which were unabashedly conservative. Eisenhower might have been conservative and a vociferous private critic of FDR's New Deal, but he had the sense to measure his statements and then, only as the need arose. After the war, MacArthur took out his proverbial Dear Diary of Political Pet Peeves and shared his most personal views on every possible issue...certainly within the realm of his rights but not necessarily his legacy's best interests (especially when considered that historians and the academia that imprints history on John Q. Public is generally liberal.).

As impressive as MacArthur's military career is, his legacy as Occupation Commander and virtual post-war Potentate of Japan stands out not only for its remarkable success but the fact it's nearly forgotten. Maybe it's because of critics like noted Far Eastern "expert" Michael Schaller whose vicious screed "The Far Eastern General" strips MacArthur of any credit for nearly anything he ever did. It's more likely that unable to refute the power of MacArthur's imprint upon the world, the more liberal establishment is bent on ignoring it. I tend to think that MacArthur would rather have been attacked than forgotten.

What sets apart Manchester from Schaller or, to a certain extent, Schlessinger is that he doesn't allow his personal politics to interfere with what is his subject's objective legacy. Nor does Manchester's obvious appreciation for MacArthur's military accomplishments cloud his judgment on the General's personal excesses and rank paranoia.

MacArthur was constantly convinced the world was out to get him, even those on his own side. In retrospect, it's obvious that while Eisenhower and FDR held MacArthur in very little personal regard, their apparent lack of attention regarding his Pacific Plight was due to their very real intention to follow through on Rainbow Five and strike the Germans first.

It's also a disappointment that some of MacArthur's finest field commanders including Robert Eichelberger never got the public acknowledgment they were due, thanks to MacArthur's titanic ego. Eisenhower made every effort to spread the credit, but apparently, MacArthur thought battlefield glory a zero-sum game.

MacArthur was a very great man, whose personality, thirst for power, and idyllic view of the world as his personal stage was perhaps suited for an earlier time. His intellect was unparalleled. After meeting with him in Hawaii, FDR told his doctor, "Give me an aspirin before I go to bed. In fact, give me another aspirin to take in the morning. In all my life nobody has ever talked to me the way MacArthur did."

Eisenhower, who was forever disenchanted with his former boss after their time together in the Philippines, said, "He did have a hell of an intellect. He had a brain."

He was the General you always dreamed of being as a little boy...until you grew up and realized that history is reserved for very rare men and those reservations were booked a long time ago.

This is perhaps the best biography of an American ever written. Manchester juxtaposes the good MacArthur (the military genius and patriotic family man) with the bad MacArthur (the megalomaniacal general whose lapse led to his entire air force being destoryed on the ground at Leyte; not even his wife called him "Douglas"). MacArthur is still one of the most polarizing figures in American history; I have spoken to WW2 and Korean veterans who either love him or hate him. This book is a study of greatness. No matter your opinion of MacArthur, one cannot deny the fact that he graduated from West Point with one of the highest averages ever, or how his post-war control of Japan shaped that nation's history. An excellent look into the life of an American Hero/Villain.

This is a masterful biography of Douglas MacArthur, a pivotal 20C figure. He is outlined in all his complexity (good and bad) with the record of his accomplishments.

MacArthur's detached Island hopping strategy in the WW2 Pacific theatre saved countless lives and succeeded beyond any tactics in Europe.

Well written, lucid, and comprehensive. Highly recommended.

This splendid biography of Douglas MacArthur by William Manchester can best be described as "Shakespearean." MacArthur's life was the stuff of high drama, a series of momentous feats and events worthy of treatment by The Bard himself: legendary West Point cadet, most decorated American soldier of World War I, youngest Army Chief of Staff in history, protector and liberator of the South West Pacific in World War II, proconsul of post-war Japan and drafter of its constitution, supreme commander of the first ever UN multinational force at the dawn of the Cold War. Styling MacArthur as perhaps the last Romantic Victorian hero, Manchester makes the man come alive, narrating and illuminating this historic life with the ease and skill of an accomplished playwright but with the depth and substance of a serious historian.

Through it all, Manchester paints a balanced and complete portrait of MacArthur. While Manchester draws an inarguably favorable overall assessment of the General, he keeps a healthy distance from his subject and does not venture into hagiography the way perhaps David McCullough did with Truman and Adams. MacArthur is presented throughout in three dimensions. Manchester is effusive in his praise for MacArthur's military genius, personal bravery, intellect, and administrative open-mindedness, but is equally critical of MacArthur's paranoia, vanity, political angling, and tendency towards insubordination.

Though long, the book never drags, although as a matter of presentation, chapter breaks could have been more frequent (several chapters are 80-100 pages long). The part that I enjoyed the most was the chapter covering the besieging of Corregidor and MacArthur's harrowing nighttime escape (ordered by FDR and Marshall) aboard a rickety PT boat in choppy waters infested by the Japanese Navy. It is a thrilling account that gives an enhanced respect for what the brave men on Corregidor (and Bataan) endured and provides insight into why MacArthur was (rightfully) so resolute about returning to liberate Luzon.

MacArthur's critics like to dismiss the importance of the Philippines and label his campaign to retake them a needless exercise in egotism, but they are simply letting their political dislike of MacArthur bias their analysis. As MacArthur, Nimitz, and Roosevelt recognized, and as Manchester makes clear, the Philippines were of vital importance because once US forces recaptured Luzon, the US would control the South China Sea and Japan would be cut off from its southern conquests, such as British Malaya, which were crucial to the Japanese war effort. Further, Luzon was too big a land mass to be bypassed without exposing the Allied flanks to attacks from the Japanese bomber bases situated there. Apart from reasons of morality or morale, the great strategic value of the Philippines made their reconquest a high priority.

My only modest criticism of the book is that the format of the index makes it difficult and time consuming to navigate. Instead of listing each subtopic on a new, indented line, subtopics are thrown in together paragraph style, making it difficult to find the particular topic you want among a blizzard of surrounding page numbers and other subtopics.

First published in 1978, that this book is still in print is testament to its high quality. A fitting and thoroughly engaging treatment of a great general and even greater American, this is a timeless biography that should reside prominently on the bookshelf of any self-respecting reader with an interest in American or military history. Simply put, Manchester's "American Caesar" is a masterpiece of the biographical genre.

It's been over 30 years since William Manchester's definitive classic of Douglas MacArthur was first published.
What the reader will learn is the rise of a military General's son who was both brilliant and also how do I say this without offending people, a legend in his own mind.
As in all of Manchester's writing, his prose reads like a novel. Even though it does read easy, it is well researched. I read this book twice, once back in 1979 and later in 2003. What stands out is that MacArthur was indeed a man living in the 20th Century but with the mindset of a 19th Century man.
MacArthur's matriculation at West Point was both historic in the fact that academically he was rated the highest standing of any cadet to graduate from West Point. Also his stay was rather odd in the fact that he was a mother's boy stated by the fact his mother lived for 4 years at the Hotel Thayer adjacent to USMC.
His Army assignments took him to the Philippines and the Western Front as the youngest American General. He was fearless in combat and used his superior mind as a tactician and as a strategist. He indeed climbed the ranks rapidly. He became the Superintendent of West Point and later the Chief of Staff.
He was both revered during World War II as well as despised. There seemed to be no middle ground. He was in charge in the Pacific when the instruments of surrender were signed on the USS Missouri in 1945.
His greatest act as an occupying Governor of Japan ruling from the Dai Ichi, was his guidance of the Japanese government in post World War II. He was instrumental in developing a democratic form of government. He also was responsible for developing its economy. No small task indeed.
It was later as Supreme Commander of the Allies in the Pacific during the Korean Conflict where MacArthur usurped his authority and undermined the President of the United States.
MacArthur's failures in a flawed intelligence of the Red Chinese which led to the defeats at the Chosin Reservoir and Kanurni led to needless loss of lives. There was no excuse for these failures, it indeed was the result of hubris. To further complicate the matter MacArthur did not take any responsibility for these said failures. The fact of the matter Macarthur blamed the Truman administration and argued for an escalation to the hostilities with the Red Chinese.
Truman did what needed to be done, he fired Macarthur. It indeed cost Truman another term as President but in the end he did do what was right.
As for MacArthur, he had his parade in New York City. He addressed Congress. Later he gave his farewell speech at West Point.
MacArthur was brilliant, but flawed. This book was done very well. Manchester wrote it with no bias. It is what it is. Five Stars! Good Job!!

The book is alive and very interesting. It is like reading a newspaper and not a rendition of the facts about a dead man's life. It is inspiring to read how the general overcame every obstacle to achieve his goals. I have read the book more than once.

This, along with The Last Lion, Alone and The Glory and the Dream, are among the best histories of the first half of the 20th century. This biography of the remarkable MacArthur by the maestro of narrative history begins as follows:

"He was a great thundering paradox of a man, noble and ignoble, inspiring and outrageous, arrogant and shy, the best of men and the worst of men, the most protean, most ridiculous, and most sublime. No more baffling, exasperating soldier ever wore a uniform. Flamboyant, imperious, and apocalyptic, he carried the plumage of a flamingo, could not acknowledge errors, and tried to cover up his mistakes with sly, childish tricks. Yet he was also endowed with great personal charm, a will of iron, and a soaring intellect. Unquestionably he was the most gifted man-at-arms this nation has produced."

If that doesn't grab you, move on. If you want proof of those assessments, take a tumble with Manchester for 700 pages. Plenty of, perhaps too much, detail, but the story moves smartly along from his family history, to a West Point plebe in the early 1900s, to an amazingly decorated (nine silver stars) infantry officer in WWI, to a master strategist in the south Pacific in WWII, to a successful dictator of post-WWII Japan, and to a brilliant advocate of the Inchon landings in the Korean War.

A great, popular historian on a brilliant, though flawed, military leader whose strategy and tactics saved thousands of American lives.

This book is a classic. Even the title page is brilliant. MacArthur is The American Caesar, imperious and outstanding, always posturing and yet commanding a fanatical following. A complex man, his brilliance is constantly dogged by his insecurities, his successes balanced by his failures and so on. truly the modern Prometheus!
He completely misread the Japanese intentions to bomb the Philippines and the Chinese determination to hang on to North Korea. His bizarre and brazen behaviour towards the last days of his command points to a man losing his grip with reality. Perhaps, the strain of playing centrestage for so long had taken its toll.
Definitely not pro-MacArthur, Manchester does paint a sympathetic portrait of this great man.

William Manchester provides one of the best overviews of the life of General MacArthur that has been written about the man. MacArthur was an enigma to many who knew him (which was a precious few) and brought out the best and worst qualities of a human. He was a military genius who cared deeply for his troops wining tremendous tactical victories and caring for his wife and son deeply. He was paranoid, vain and manipulated everyone for his own personal gain. This book which starts from his time growing up in Manila and Michigan and ending with his funeral is very thorough. It spends a great deal of time on World War II where he developed tactically but also covers his rise in the military via his mother and his hubris in the Korean War. It is an excellent and well written book that is clear and easy to follow. For those who want to learn about Macarthur you can do no better.