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Douglas MacArthur: American Warrior
By Arthur Herman
Rating: 7.5/10
Ill confess, I went into this book with a strong bias against MacArthur. I never respected him as a man or a general, and always felt he stole the credit of others to build his own mythological impressing. And this book did reinforce that opinion, though it also shed light on a number of things which I was not aware off, and that do exonerate some of his negativity in my mind.
A fine example is the first battle of the Philippines. I still firmly believed MacArthur blundered that battle, and that had he shown a bit more initiative in the opening stages he may have turned the tide of war against the Japanese before it had an opportunity to expand. After all, at the peak of the battle he out numbered the Japanese two to one and held the advantage of fighting on the home ground. I also still believe that never was a Medal of Honour so less deserved as that awarded to MacArthur for his Actions in the Philippines. However, it cleared up the misconceptions I had previously held regarding his abandonment of the battle. Ill concede, although much of the battle’s failure does fall on his shoulders, he was ordered to leave, and that can not be held against him.
Most of the book goes this way. It provides reinforcement of views I already held of the man while at least offering some redemption along the way. In all, it is very well written, goes into incredible detail without becoming boring, and remains relatively unbiased though does clearly hold pro MacArthur sentiments. I recommend this book as a good solid source for understanding the mentality of Americas WW2 supreme commander, and for gaining a decent understanding of the theatres in which he fought. My only critic was that at times the book was a little hard to stay devoted to, as it droned on about some point of detail in the mans life, though I will concede, this likely stems more from my disinterest in Macarthur as a man, than the book being poorly written.
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