Pershing

This persuasive biography sheds light on the nation's first modern combat commander who set the standard for today's four-star officers. Though the U.S. entered WWI with inadquate forces, in just over a year Pershing had built and hurled a one million man army against forty battle-hardened German divisions, defending the hellish Meuse-Argonne and turning the tide of the war. With focus and clarity, Lacey traces the development of Pershing from Indian fighter, to warrior against the Philippines insurgency, to victorious commander in WWI.

This persuasive biography sheds light on the nation's first modern combat commander who set the standard for today's four-star officers. Though the U.S. entered WWI with inadquate forces, in just over a year Pershing had built and hurled a one million man army against forty battle-hardened German divisions, defending the hellish Meuse-Argonne and turning the tide of the war. With focus and clarity, Lacey traces the development of Pershing from Indian fighter, to warrior against the Philippines insurgency, to victorious commander in WWI.

David Lee Poremba - Library Journal

Lacey's addition to the "Great Generals" series is an insightful and informative look at Gen. John J. Pershing, remembered today (if at all) as commander of the American Expeditionary Force during World War I. But Pershing's career spanned a longer period. Lacey (ed., The Canons of Jihad: Terrorists' Strategy for Defeating America) recounts Pershing's development into the nation's first modern combat commander. After graduating from West Point in 1886, Pershing had an active career on the western frontier in the last Indian campaign, saw combat in Cuba during the Spanish-American War, and developed into a very effective midlevel commander in the Philippines, balancing negotiation and ruthlessness in dealing with the Moros. His single-minded devotion to duty aided him in his dealings with the Allies in World War I, maintaining the U.S. Army as a separate entity on the western front and providing the difference between defeat and victory. Lacey offers readers an insightful and informative look at a figure who should not have become all but forgotten. Recommended.

Jim Lacey is an analyst at the Institute for Defense Analyses and a professor of conflict and global issues at Johns Hopkins University. Lacey was an embedded journalist with Time magazine during the invasion of Iraq, where he traveled with the 101st Airborne Division. His opinion columns have been published in The Weekly Standard, The National Review, and The New York Post. Lacey is the author of Takedown, Fresh from the Fight, and Occupation of Iraq. General Wesley K. Clark served in the United States Army for thirty-four years and rose to the rank of four-star general as NATO's Supreme Allied Commander, Europe. He is author of A Time to Lead, as well as the best selling books Waging Modern War and Winning Modern Wars.