First published 2012
Thomas E. Ricks examines why American military leadership declined after World War II. He contrasts the celebrated generals of WWII like Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley with their successors who faced less accountability for failure. During WWII, commanders were routinely fired for poor performance. By the Iraq War, as one colonel observed, losing equipment brought harsher consequences for enlisted soldiers than losing wars brought for generals. Ricks traces this shift through Korea, where Marine General O.P. Smith executed a masterful fighting retreat against Chinese forces, yet the war revealed emerging problems in military culture. Vietnam marked the lowest point, culminating in events like the My Lai massacre. The post-Vietnam Army rebuilt itself from the ground up, creating a tactically excellent force. However, strategic leadership remained flawed, producing commanders who won battles but lost wars from the 1990 Gulf War through Iraq. Ricks offers readers three decades of research into how military institutions transmit values and why some organizations learn while others repeat mistakes.
Genres: 20th-century, political-science, non-fiction, 21st-century, military-history, american-history
Vibes: suspenseful, thought-provoking
Tropes: investigative-journalism
Setting: Iraq, Korea, Vietnam
Period: World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, Gulf War, Iraq War
576 pages · Hardcover · The Penguin Press