Audiobook (abridged)5 hours
General Ike: A Personal Reminiscence
Written by John Eisenhower
Narrated by Edward Herrmann
Rating: 4.5 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
()
About this audiobook
John S.D. Eisenhower modestly explains General Ike as “a son's view of a great military leader—highly intelligent, strong, forceful, kind, yet as human as the rest of us.” It is that, and more: a portrait of the greatest Allied military leader of the Second World War, by the man who knew Ike best.
General Ike is a book that John Eisenhower always knew he had to write, a tribute from an affectionate and admiring son to a great father. John chose to write about the “military Ike,” as opposed to the “political Ike,” because Ike cared far more about his career in uniform than about his time in the White House. A series of portraits of Ike’s relations with soldiers and statesmen, from MacArthur to Patton to Montgomery to Churchill to de Gaulle, reveals the many facets of a talented, driven, headstrong, yet diplomatic leader. Taken together, they reveal a man who was brilliant, if flawed; naïve at times in dealing with the public, yet who never lost his head when others around him were losing theirs. Above all, General Ike was a man who never let up in the relentless pursuit of the destruction of Hitler.
Here for the first time are eyewitness stories of General Patton showing off during military exercises; of Ike on the verge of departing for Europe and assuming command of the Eastern Theater; of Churchill stewing and lobbying Ike in his “off hours.” Faced with giant personalities such as these men and MacArthur, not to mention difficult allies such as de Gaulle and Montgomery, Ike nevertheless managed to pull together history's greatest invasion force and to face down a determined enemy from Normandy to the Bulge and beyond. John Eisenhower masterfully uses the backdrop of Ike's key battles to paint a portrait of his father and his relationships with the great men of his time.
General Ike is a ringing and inspiring testament to a great man by an accomplished historian. It is also a personal portrait of a caring, if not always available, father by his admiring son. It is history at its best.
General Ike is a book that John Eisenhower always knew he had to write, a tribute from an affectionate and admiring son to a great father. John chose to write about the “military Ike,” as opposed to the “political Ike,” because Ike cared far more about his career in uniform than about his time in the White House. A series of portraits of Ike’s relations with soldiers and statesmen, from MacArthur to Patton to Montgomery to Churchill to de Gaulle, reveals the many facets of a talented, driven, headstrong, yet diplomatic leader. Taken together, they reveal a man who was brilliant, if flawed; naïve at times in dealing with the public, yet who never lost his head when others around him were losing theirs. Above all, General Ike was a man who never let up in the relentless pursuit of the destruction of Hitler.
Here for the first time are eyewitness stories of General Patton showing off during military exercises; of Ike on the verge of departing for Europe and assuming command of the Eastern Theater; of Churchill stewing and lobbying Ike in his “off hours.” Faced with giant personalities such as these men and MacArthur, not to mention difficult allies such as de Gaulle and Montgomery, Ike nevertheless managed to pull together history's greatest invasion force and to face down a determined enemy from Normandy to the Bulge and beyond. John Eisenhower masterfully uses the backdrop of Ike's key battles to paint a portrait of his father and his relationships with the great men of his time.
General Ike is a ringing and inspiring testament to a great man by an accomplished historian. It is also a personal portrait of a caring, if not always available, father by his admiring son. It is history at its best.
Author
John Eisenhower
A graduate of West Point and retired Brigadier General in the Army Reserve, John S.D. Eisenhower has served on the US Army General Staff, on the White House Staff, and as US Ambassador to Belgium.
Related to General Ike
Related audiobooks
Patton: Blood, Guts, and Prayer Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Command: George S. Patton Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Supreme Commander: MacArthur's Triumph in Japan Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5How Ike Led: The Principles Behind Eisenhower's Biggest Decisions Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Age of Eisenhower: America and the World in the 1950s Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Patton: The Pursuit of Destiny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Eisenhower: The Ever-changing Reputation Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsDereliction of Duty: Johnson, McNamara, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Lies That Led to Vietnam Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Tragedy of Patton, The: A Soldier's Date with Destiny Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5West Point 1915: Eisenhower, Bradley, and the Class the Stars Fell On Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Grant Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Soul of an American President: The Untold Story of Dwight D. Eisenhower's Faith Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dwight D. Eisenhower: An Associated Press Biography Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Patton on Leadership: Strategic Lessons for Corporate Warfare Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5PT 109: An American Epic of War, Survival, and the Destiny of John F. Kennedy Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Reagan Diaries Selections Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Road to Camelot: Inside JFK's Five-Year Campaign Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5When the Center Held: Gerald Ford and the Rescue of the American Presidency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Three Days in January: Dwight Eisenhower's Final Mission Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dwight D. Eisenhower speeches Rating: 0 out of 5 stars0 ratingsPartners in Command: George Marshall and Dwight Eisenhower in War and Peace Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Churchill's Empire: The World That Made Him and the World He Made Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Reaching for Glory: Lyndon Johnson's Secret White House Tapes, 1964-1965 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Going Home to Glory: A Memoir of Life with Dwight D. Eisenhower, 1961-1969 Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Reagan Diaries Extended Selections Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Texas Titans: George H.W. Bush and James A. Baker, III: A Friendship Forged in Power Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5All the Best, George Bush: My Life in Letters and Other Writings Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Boys of Pointe du Hoc Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5The Presidents Club: Inside the World's Most Exclusive Fraternity Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5
Political Biographies For You
Rage Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Benjamin Franklin: An American Life Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5A Higher Loyalty: Truth, Lies, and Leadership Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Becoming by Michelle Obama: Key Takeaways, Summary & Analysis Included Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Watergate Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The Nazi Conspiracy: The Secret Plot to Kill Roosevelt, Stalin, and Churchill Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Unhinged: An Insider's Account of the Trump White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Fear: Trump in the White House Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Lincoln: The Shocking Assassination that Changed America Forever Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Lincoln Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Mornings on Horseback Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Killing Kennedy: The End of Camelot Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5We Don't Know Ourselves: A Personal History of Modern Ireland Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5The White House Plumbers: The Seven Weeks That Led to Watergate and Doomed Nixon's Presidency Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Five Presidents: My Extraordinary Journey with Eisenhower, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon, and Ford Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5First They Killed My Father: A Daughter of Cambodia Remembers Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Benjamin Franklin Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A. Lincoln: A Biography Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Fire Is upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate over Race in America Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Enough Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5The Showman: Inside the Invasion That Shook the World and Made a Leader of Volodymyr Zelensky Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Infidel Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5American Ulysses: A Life of Ulysses S. Grant Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5A River in Darkness: One Man's Escape from North Korea Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Peril Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5John Adams Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Dressed for a Dance in the Snow: Women's Voices from the Gulag Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
Reviews for General Ike
Rating: 4.4999997857142855 out of 5 stars
4.5/5
14 ratings1 review
- Rating: 3 out of 5 stars3/5Good biography from a son’s point of view. Mostly in the war years.