Until the Last Trumpet Sounds: The Life of General of the Armies John J. Pershing [Paperback]

Gene Smith (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 17, 1999

Critical Praise for Gene Smith On Until the Last Trumpet Sounds

"The best recent compact study of the commander of the American Expeditionary Force of World War I." Booklist

"A six-star effort . . . captures Pershing better than anyone has before." The Grand Rapids Press

On The Shattered Dream

"A storyteller of history, Gene Smith is one of the very best in his field." The Washington Post

On When the Cheering Stopped

"A brilliantly written and dramatically effective work of history . . . Smith is a prodigious researcher, an artful writer." The New York Times

On American Gothic

"A ripping good tale . . . the story rivets you. You can t put the book down." The New York Times Book Review

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

General John J. Pershing may not be as honored as American military heroes Washington, Lee, Grant, and MacArthur, but he outranked them all: He's the only man ever to hold the rank of six-star general. And he certainly earned each one, with a career spanning from the final frontier wars of the 18th century to his leadership in the Spanish-American War in 1898 to his pursuit of Mexican bandit Pancho Villa in 1916. Pershing is best remembered, of course, for commanding the American Expeditionary Force in the First World War, which helped bring the conflict to a successful conclusion for the Allies. Gene Smith is a skilled biographer with an eye for detail and a knack with anecdotes. His Pershing--often misunderstood as a cold and brutal character--comes alive on the pages of Until the Last Trumpet Sounds. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From Publishers Weekly

Best known for When the Cheering Stopped: The Last Years of Woodrow Wilson, Smith has a solid and well-deserved reputation as a writer of popular biography. Here, he reprises the WWI period with a more challenging subject. John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force during WWI, is familiar as a stern, remote figure whose insistence on rifle marksmanship in an age of firepower cost American lives; whose insistence on maintaining an independent American army came close to costing the war; and whose ineffectiveness in high command had him on the brink of being relieved when the Armistice was signed. Without modifying those interpretations, Smith uses personal correspondence and the general's uncompleted memoirs to construct a kinder, gentler Pershing. In sometimes overblown prose, Smith describes the cadet at West Point, the lieutenant on a rapidly vanishing frontier and the ROTC instructor at the University of Nebraska. In each situation, Pershing emerges as able to synthesize a masterful performance of duty with an understanding of people, lifting him above the level of a gifted martinet to that of a capable field commander and talented proconsul. But the 1915 death of his wife and three of their four children in a fire left Pershing irrevocably changed. And it is here that Smith's biography falls short, by failing to address the rationales behind Pershing's behavior as head of the American Expeditionary Force, a position in which he demonstrated little of the humanity apparent in his earlier career. Donald Smythe's Pershing: General of the Armies is a more thorough guide to the general's ways and means, but Smith's book offers a worthy introduction to this complex man.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 369 pages
• Publisher: Wiley; 1 edition (September 17, 1999)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0471350648
• ISBN-13: 978-0471350644
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,214,665 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Could have been bigger. Could have been better., June 22, 2002

By 

nto62 (Corona, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

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This review is from: Until the Last Trumpet Sounds: The Life of General of the Armies John J. Pershing (Hardcover)

Until the Last Trumpet Sounds is a fine book. Gene Smith has written an interesting, fast-paced narrative of the life of John J. Pershing. This reader, however, upon finishing the book, was left a bit unfulfilled. At 337 pages, a full 50 of which are devoted exclusively to the lives of Pershing's grandsons, Smith simply cannot do full justice to the highest ranking military officer in US history. Smith merely alights upon a peak of Pershing's career and then sets off for another before the meat of the story is told. What results, nevertheless, is a highly interesting read, but not half of what it could be.

Pershing, born in 1860, rose from obscurity to the General of US Armies garnering an unprecedented sixth star. He went from fighting Indians of the American West on horseback to leading mechanized battles of World War I. Gene Smith's Until the Last Trumpet Sounds has only scratched the surface of a truly remarkable life and, therefore, leaves the reader feeling he could have done quite a bit more. Even so, what he has completed merits a solid 4 stars.

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Read another book about Pershing!, July 27, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Until the Last Trumpet Sounds: The Life of General of the Armies John J. Pershing (Hardcover)

This is neither a history of the period nor a biography. It is a collection of quotations and anecdotes, that appear to have been taken from the personal papers of John J. Pershing, that are on file at the Library of Congress, not an unbiased source. I got as far as through the period on Pershing's frontier and Philippine service and put it down. It is a shallow treatment that reads like a history for young children. If someone is really interested in the era and the man, read Frank Vandiver's book " Black Jack: The Life and Times of John J. Pershing" in two volumes, published in 1977. A book Smith cites, Donald Smythe's "Guerilla Warrior: The Early Life of John J. Pershing" (1973) is not too bad, nor is "Black Jack Pershing" by Richard O'Connor (1961). None of these are hostile treatments, and all are well written. Pershing was an able and brave Army officer, but so were many others of the era. But Pershing was the only one to go from Captain to Brigadier General despite opposition of the Army command, and this was not solely due to his ability. His smartest move was marrying the daughter of Senator Warren, one of the shrewder political operators of the time, and one who, although a Republican, had equal entree with Wilson as well as Roosevelt and Taft. Warren was Pershing's guardian angel. If you are older than 12, pass this book up and read one of the others.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A good book with an "extended ending.", February 13, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: Until the Last Trumpet Sounds: The Life of General of the Armies John J. Pershing (Paperback)

Smith's style of writing can be hard to get used to, but when that is done, it is easy reading and very interesting. I knew nothing about J.J. Pershing except his nick name and that he was an American general before I ordered this book (and I considered myself a fairly well rounded student of American history). This book was a great addition to my collection of history books.

I must admit that I was a bit upset about the ending (there wasn't one, I thought, when there should have been), when the book extended through the lives of the later generations of the Pershing family. However, when I was done completely with the book I saw the author's reasoning behind it all I think. It left a profound feeling of "so that's what has come of the great Pershing line," in me, probably because I am interested in geneology as well (both mine and famous people). I recommend the book very much, to any history or geneology buff.