Customer Reviews

Dizziness, Hearing Loss, and Tinnitus: The Essentials of Neurotology

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This book is very helpful in understanding the challenges of today's world. Intelligence is a vital requirement for three objectives: Knowing what your opponents are doing; deceiving your opponents about what you are doing; and using covert means to change or replace your opponents.

As Ambrose makes clear, Eisenhower was introduced to the world of intelligence by Winston Churchill and rapidly became fascinated with it. His chief intelligence officer Kenneth Strong, a British General, kept him remarkably informed throughout the Second World War. Ambrose argues, and he is almost certainly right, that only the combination of great intelligence about the Germans and the most successful deception plan in history made the invasion of France possible in 1944. He also notes that deception had also been brilliantly used in 1943 to convince the Germans that the allies were going to invade Sardinia or Greece rather than Sicily. The result was a reallocation of German forces to the wrong places, which weakened their forces in Sicily.

There are a lot of lessons in this book for our generation. Eisenhower valued technology and took risks to develop it. He knew how to undertake successful covert operations. For anyone who would understand the uses of intelligence in the modern world, this is a useful book.

Ike has always been underestimated as an American President. Occurring as he did, during an era that to history has been seen as boring, and between essential administrations like Truman and JFK, Eisenhower has seemed to disappear to America. Here is a book that finally tells the whole story about Eisenhowers defense team and its use of espionage and covert ops to stop and roll back communism the world over. Ike was a confrontationalist, not a détente' man. This book, by the very esteemed popular Historian Mr. Ambrose, helps to convey the wide range of activities. From the planning of the Bay of Pigs to the overthrow of the Iranian and Guatemala governments Ike brought America to pinnacle of Cold War politics, daring to confront the communists in the same manner they confronted the third world, namely armed intervention. This is a wonderful account and the only one that can be found detailing Ike's covert career from WWII to 1960.
Seth J. Frantzman

I enjoyed this book but it is not as well-referenced as Ambrose's Eisenhower: The President, volumes I and II. I feel it is better as a companion book to those titles.

Ambrose has done well to call out specific events during Eisenhower's military service and throughout his presidency; but without understanding a wider view of national and worldwide events, and where these events "fill the gaps" within Eisenhower's military and political timelines, it is difficult to put these events, and Ike's decision-making and influence into the correct and meaningful context.

I recommend this book for the interested reader/historian, but those looking for casual "spy stories" will not be satisfied.

This was a gift. The package came in a timely manner and the book with in excellent condition.

Good! This takes too much of my time to write a review. Why will one word not be enough? OK!