Douglas MacArthur: American Warrior

by Arthur Herman

A new, definitive life of an American icon, the visionary general who led American forces through three wars and foresaw his nation’s great geopolitical shift toward the Pacific Rim—from the Pulitzer Prize finalist and bestselling author of Gandhi & Churchill

Douglas MacArthur was arguably the last American public figure to be worshipped unreservedly as a national hero, the last military figure to conjure up the romantic stirrings once evoked by George Armstrong Custer and Robert E. Lee. But he was also one of America’s most divisive figures, a man whose entire career was steeped in controversy. Was he an avatar or an anachronism, a brilliant strategist or a vainglorious mountebank? Drawing on a wealth of new sources, Arthur Herman delivers a powerhouse biography that peels back the layers of myth—both good and bad—and exposes the marrow of the man beneath.

MacArthur’s life spans the emergence of the United States Army as a global fighting force. Its history is to a great degree his story. The son of a Civil War hero, he led American troops in three monumental conflicts—World War I, World War II, and the Korean War. Born four years after Little Bighorn, he died just as American forces began deploying in Vietnam. Herman’s magisterial book spans the full arc of MacArthur’s journey, from his elevation to major general at thirty-eight through his tenure as superintendent of West Point, field marshal of the Philippines, supreme ruler of postwar Japan, and beyond. More than any previous biographer, Herman shows how MacArthur’s strategic vision helped shape several decades of U.S. foreign policy. Alone among his peers, he foresaw the shift away from Europe, becoming the prophet of America’s destiny in the Pacific Rim.

Here, too, is a vivid portrait of a man whose grandiose vision of his own destiny won him enemies as well as acolytes. MacArthur was one of the first military heroes to cultivate his own public persona—the swashbuckling commander outfitted with Ray-Ban sunglasses, riding crop, and corncob pipe. Repeatedly spared from being killed in battle—his soldiers nicknamed him “Bullet Proof”—he had a strong sense of divine mission. “Mac” was a man possessed, in the words of one of his contemporaries, of a “supreme and almost mystical faith that he could not fail.” Yet when he did, it was on an epic scale. His willingness to defy both civilian and military authority was, Herman shows, a lifelong trait—and it would become his undoing. Tellingly, MacArthur once observed, “Sometimes it is the order one disobeys that makes one famous.”

To capture the life of such an outsize figure in one volume is no small achievement. With Douglas MacArthur, Arthur Herman has set a new standard for untangling the legacy of this American legend.

Praise for Douglas MacArthur

“This is revisionist history at its best and, hopefully, will reopen a debate about the judgment of history and MacArthur’s place in history.”—New York Journal of Books

“Unfailingly evocative . . . close to an epic . . . More than a biography, it is a tale of a time in the past almost impossible to contemplate today as having taken place, with MacArthur himself as a figure perhaps too remote to understand, but all the more important to encounter.”—The New Criterion

“With Douglas American Warrior, the prolific and talented historian Arthur Herman has delivered an expertly rendered, compulsively readable account that does full justice to MacArthur’s monumental achievements without slighting his equally monumental flaws.”—Commentary

Genres: History, Biography, Nonfiction, World War II, Military Fiction, American History, Military History

901 pages, Kindle Edition

First published June 14, 2016

About the author

Arthur L. Herman (born 1956) is an American popular historian, currently serving as a senior fellow at Hudson Institute. He generally employs the Great Man perspective in his work, which is 19th Century historical methodology attributing human events and their outcomes to the singular efforts of great men that has been refined and qualified by such modern thinkers as Sidney Hook.

Reviews

[Leah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Duty, Honor, Country...

In his preface, Herman discusses previous biographies of General Douglas MacArthur, some sycophantic in their admiration, others dismissing him as everything from vain to incompetent. His hope is that by the end of the book the reader will be able to decide which description is the true one. Herman has ranged widely in his search for accurate source material, including China, Japan and Russia; and has also had access to newly opened archives within the US.

I start by saying that, prior to reading this book, I knew absolutely nothing about Douglas MacArthur and very little about the events in which he was involved. I am, therefore, in no position to judge the accuracy of either the history or the portrait Herman paints of this clearly divisive American hero. I decided to read it because I have greatly enjoyed several other of Herman's books, finding him a great storyteller who brings history vividly to life. And from the prologue of this one, where he gives a dramatic description of the events at Inchon and then leaves those of us who don't know our history on a cliffhanger, foreshadowing MacArthur's future downfall, I knew he was going to achieve the remarkable, I might even have said impossible, feat of making me enjoy over 800 pages of the history of a soldier fighting the various American wars of the first half of the twentieth century.

In his conclusion, Herman suggests there are three main aspects that are crucial to understanding Douglas MacArthur – the degree to which he was influenced by his father's life; the relationships with the various women in his life, his mother and his second wife Jean in particular; and his “brilliance as a grand strategist – perhaps the most incisive the American military has ever produced.” This serves as a fair summary of how Herman approaches his subject throughout the book.

To explain how influential Arthur MacArthur was on his son's life, Herman gives the reader a mini-biography of the elder man – his early career as a Unionist hero of the Civil War, and his later fascination with the East, becoming convinced that the Pacific rim would be of more importance to the future America than its old attachments to Europe. So interesting does Herman make this story that I was left hoping that perhaps his next task will be to do a full biography of Arthur, a man whose life sounds as eventful and interesting as his son's.

Herman goes into Douglas MacArthur's relationship with his mother in some depth, suggesting that she was something of a driving force behind her son's career not just in his youth but right through till his late thirties and forties. A late bloomer in the romance stakes, MacArthur's first marriage failed quite quickly. His second marriage to Jean, however, brought him the kind of support his mother had provided and Herman shows how important this domestic stability was to MacArthur when dealing with the various military crises of his life.

While talking about MacArthur's career between the two world wars, Herman praises MacArthur's achievements both as head of the US Olympic committee and for forcing the Army to face up to the need to modernise the training of its young officers while he was in charge of West Point. He also discusses in depth the apparently infamous breaking up of the Bonus Army camps, when MacArthur used troops to drive out army veterans who were protesting over the government's refusal to bring forward payment of their promised bonuses. Since this was an episode I had never heard of, I was totally reliant on Herman's version. It seemed to me that he very much took MacArthur's side, perhaps too much so, almost absolving him of all responsibility for the matter.

However, he also put the opposite case clearly enough for me to consider the question of bias at all, and that's one of the main reasons I like Herman. In the past, I have always found him to be sympathetic to his subjects, and so he is in this one. But although he can come across as biased in his conclusions, it seems to me he always presents the other side of the argument, leaving the reader to follow his bias or argue against it. Since it is a rare author indeed who can write without bias, my preference is for open bias of the Herman kind, rather than the kind where only one story is told with no indication that there may be another version.

But the real meat of the book is, as it should be, MacArthur's military career. So involved was MacArthur in most of the important events of the time, so well told are the various episodes, so clearly does Herman lay out the background and consequences of each, that the book is as much history as biography. From MacArthur's leadership of the Rainbow Division in WW1, through the often horrific story of the Pacific arena in WW2, and on to MacArthur's successes and failures in Korea, Herman thoroughly explains the politics, domestic and foreign, that impacted on each campaign, and provides clear and often very moving stories of the military battles, while also showing how narrow is the dividing line between heroic success and tragic failure. Herman also delves into the period after WW2 when MacArthur spent some years as the 'American Shogun' ruling almost monarchically over a defeated Japan, and paints him as someone who chose not to exact revenge, but rather to try to change the culture and structure of the society to prevent future wars. Herman in fact gives MacArthur credit for sowing the seeds of the Japanese economic miracle of the latter part of the century.

Throughout all this, Herman doesn't shy away from criticising MacArthur's decisions on occasion, but always puts his mistakes into context. The picture that emerges is of a true military hero, a man of great personal courage, with a huge ego and a desire for public recognition and even glory, but with a driving ambition to see his nation provide a shining example to the rest of the world. A flawed hero perhaps, but I sometimes think we as a society expect a level of perfection that our heroes cannot possibly achieve, and in general I prefer sympathetic biographies that recognise and allow for human fallibility. So from my perspective, this is another great biography from Herman, thoroughly researched and immensely readable. I shall leave it to the MacArthur buffs on both sides to argue over its bias or otherwise.

NB This book was provided for review by the publisher, Random House.

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[L Craig · Rating 4 out of 5]

I was very excited to read this book as the subject of General MacArthur and his firing has been of great interest to me and my studies and research for quite a while. I would also like to point out that the review copy I was given did not include pictures or maps, so I am sure those additions will make the book an even better visual experience for the reader. I guess I should also point out that I have done quite a bit of research back in the day on MacArthur's firing and have read many of the primary and secondary sources on those events and have looked at the issue from both MacArthur's and Truman's point of view.

First let me talk about what was really good about this book. Arthur Herman can write and this book was a pleasure to read. At times, especially talking about the early defense of the Philippines reads like a novel. Even though you know how the story ends, it was very exciting. This was a fast read despite being over 800 pages. So kudos to the author for writing a very readable book.

Another important aspect of this book is that is provides balance to the force. So many of the books about MacArthur or military leadership during WW2, or biographies of Truman, lately have been over the top anti-MacArthur. 15 Stars by Stanley Weintraub was the most recent book on WW2 Generals that I have read, and that is a good example of the popular bashing of MacArthur that takes place these days. So with that said, I appreciated, even though I do not necessarily agree, that the book was pro-MacArthur. That side of the story is not really being told anymore and the positives of MacArthur, and there were many positives, need to be told. So I liked, though not agreed, with Herman taking and strongly defending an unpopular historical view.

So while I enjoyed reading the book, and enjoyed the unpolitical correctness of the author's thesis, on many issues I just was not convinced. In my opinion the greatest biography of MacArthur, and personally probably the best biography of any historical figure I have read is American Caesar by William Manchester. What I so love about that book is that as someone who came into reading the book not a fan of MacArthur, I came away still not a fan of MacArthur but at the same time learned to appreciate him much more than I had before reading the book. What I mean is American Caesar confirmed why I didn't like MacArthur while at the same time strongly showing and giving me an appreciation of the many good things he did. I also feel that if you read American Caesar as a fan of MacArthur you will walk away from the book still a fan of MacArthur but with a greater appreciation of why some people don't like him. I have never read a biography before or after that can do that. Manchester did a great job discussing the paradox of MacArthur and how for every good trait he had an equal negative trait or vice versa. I did not get this from American Warrior. It was very pro-MacArthur, which is fine, but it really did not dwell and at many times excused the negative. I just did not find the book balanced, I don't think its intentions were to be balanced and that is the author's thesis, but to me is why Manchester's book is better.

I don't think the author did good enough job proving MacArthur was not wrong in say how he handled the Bonus Army or on why he did not immediately retreat to Corregidor. The author seems to glance over the fact that MacArthur left so many needed supplies, supplies that could have helped defend Corregidor longer to rot on docks or fall into the hands of the Japanese. The author becomes slightly critical of MacArthur on the issue of the Chinese in Korea and his firing, but again in my opinion leaves too much out and seems to again not dwell on the fact that MacArthur somehow missed hundreds of thousands of Chinese who were involved in the Korean War from the beginning. We now know from more recent studies of Mao that the Chinese were involved in the Korean War from day one, there would not have been a Korean War without Mao and yet somehow MacArthur missed all of that.

Which takes me to my final point. As good as this book was too read, I did not learn anything new. The author mentions in the beginning that this bio would use new sources now that the cold war was over, but I did not see these sources used in the book nor listed in the works cited. There have been tremendous uses of new information in recent studies of the Cold War, Korea, or Mao Zedong sources from the Soviet and Chinese, but I did not find these used here. Jung Chang's book on Mao told a lot of new information about Korea, information that would have been useful here, I just did not see it in the final product. I would have like better use of primary sources beyond the usual. In my opinion this book broke no new ground.

To sum up, this was a great read, and needed re-evaluation of MacArthur, but in my opinion it just did not prove anything new nor make a strong enough case for its strong defense of MacArthur in some of the more controversial areas. I highly recommend the book, but would like to have seen better use of new primary and secondary sources. American Caesar is still the best book on MacArthur.

[John · Rating 3 out of 5]

A highly readable biography, but does not break any new ground or add much of anything to the established history. MacArthur will always be controversial, with his supporters and detractors taking equal aim and have ground to stand upon for their divergent opinion of him. Although William Manchester's biography of MacArthur entitled American Caesar was a bit too adultory of the man, it still remains the best of the books about this general.

[Dean Cummings · Rating 5 out of 5]

Alvin Price, the author of several parental advice books once said:

“Parents need to fill a child’s bucket of self-esteem so high that the rest of the world can’t poke enough holes in it to drain dry.”

Most of us are in some way a product of our childhood influences and experiences and the people, often parents, who we spend our earliest years with, are often the ones who have the greatest opportunity to shape our future lives.

As I moved this book to the top of my reading pile, I reflected on the words that I thought best reflected how I viewed Douglas MacArthur. Here were a few that came to mind:

Decisive, unwavering, courageous, adventurous, tough, ambitious, hardworking, visionary and daring.

I also thought about his speeches and the way the man comported himself, then added:
Self-confident, poised and assured.

These are a lot of qualities for one person to possess. Many of us have one or two, or maybe even a few of these characteristics, but in a general sense, there are very few who are these many things.

Of course, in times of peril, the human race hopes above all hope that hostility and bloodshed can be returned to reconciliation and peace. If the tide of World War Two were to be turned, we would require leaders that possessed all these qualities in abundance.

I always thought of General Douglas MacArthur as a major figure in the effort to bring an end to World War Two and immediately afterward, and architect of reconstruction.

But where does such a man come from?

My question was initially answered as I learned about Douglas MacArthur’s parents.

Arthur MacArthur was a hero of, among other things, the Atlanta campaign, a series of battles fought in the Western Theater of the American Civil War. Wounded, MacArthur senior pressed on, leading his troops to victory. He was only nineteen years of age at the time. He was promoted to the rank of Colonel before he was legally old enough to vote.

Mary Pinckney Hardy was a Southern Belle who fell in love with and married a Yankee war hero. There was strong resistance among the members of her family, but she refused to be daunted, holding her head high as she married MacArthur. As the mother of Douglas MacArthur, she turned out to be the most powerful influence in her son’s entire life.

That more than answered that question for me.

I then thought about the experiences that shaped Douglas MacArthur and learned that the events of this man’s life all seemed to be heading in the direction of a life spent defending a great nation in a lifetime military career.

This was part of his story right from the beginning:

Arthur and Mary move to avoid the outbreak of Yellow Fever, eventually reaching Little Rock, Arkansas where Douglas MacArthur is born on January 26, 1880. It was during this period that young Douglas loses a brother and when his father wrote the all-important “Chinese Memorandum.”

But my favorite was the description of MacArthur’s childhood home in Fort Selden, New Mexico, “A land bright with promise, scarred only by wind and weather…”

It turned out that the trip itself was rather harrowing, since Geronimo’s band of Apaches was preparing one last breakout from their reservation, which by coincidence, was perilously close to the MacArthur Family’s travelling route. A prospect that I’m sure was deeply troubling for his parents, but only added more magic to the prospect of high adventure for this young boy.

There is the accounting of the family’s later move to Washington D.C where young Douglas gets to know his grandfather, Arthur MacArthur Sr and when his father wins the Congressional Medal of Honor on June 30, 1890. This achievement amazed and enthralled Douglas. Setting his on a lifelong course to pursue his own story of greatness in military battles.

The author, Arthur Herman, did a fantastic job of highlighting MacArthur’s time at West Texas Military Academy in San Antonio, “The happiest days of my life,” the valedictorian declares.

The nineteen-year-old MacArthur later wrote the entrance exam for West Point, scoring a 93.3 / 100 and ushering him into the most prestigious military academy in the world. I don’t want to say too much about this amazing chapter in the man’s life, but to say that he was able to distinguish himself among his classmates, earning the respect of his upperclassman and thus transforming himself from, first-year cadet, “plebe” to a respected man on campus.

I really enjoyed how Herman didn’t rush through MacArthur’s time as an up-and-coming star during the pre-World War One years. And what a whirlwind of activity those years were for him!
Between his West point graduation in 1903 till the time he joined the WW1 war effort her was a member of the Third Engineers Battalion at Iloilo, Philippines, his promotion to First Lieutenant, taking a desk job in manila as Assistant Chief Engineer. Then in late 1905 he was assigned to be aide-de-camp to an acting American military attaché in Tokyo, Japan that turned out to be his father, Major General Arthur MacArthur. This appointment lead to an eight-month tour of Asia from November 1905 till June 1906, an excursion Douglas later described as, “The most important factor of preparation in my life.”

He’s later transferred to Washington D.C. to become aide-de-camp to President Theodore Roosevelt. Which included a rather risky secret assignment in Mexico. Soon after, he has a stint as training officer of volunteers in Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, his first opportunity to lead soldiers. He excels, becoming a captain.

Arthur’s father dies during this period, and Herman tells the story in dramatic fashion, for Arthur MacArthur’s death was dramatic, as was his life.

We learn of the excellent rapport MacArthur builds with Assistant Secretary of the Navy, Franklin D. Roosevelt. I like how Herman described what came of this early acquaintance;

“Neither man could possibly guess what momentous events their relations would eventually trigger.”

On April 6, 1917 America declared war on Germany. Herman tells us of MacArthur’s ingenious idea on how to build a large army quickly, surplus units from many states that would come to be known as “The Rainbow Division.”

Now that they had a force assembled, the question was who would lead it?

Newton Baker, the President’s Secretary of War told Douglas MacArthur that he’d already made up his mind as to who would command.

MacArthur asked who it was.

Baker then put his hands-on MacArthur’s shoulder, “It’s you.”

MacArthur was shocked, and after a few seconds managed to stutter that her was only a major, and not eligible.

“You’re wrong,” Baker said with a smile, “You are now a colonel.”

As MacArthur was recovering from the initial shock of this “instant” promotion, Baker asked him if he wanted to lead the Engineer’s Corps.

In that moment, MacArthur thought of his father’s heroic leadership of the Infantry at Missionary Ridge in 1863.

“No, the Infantry,” her replied.

Herman then documents how MacArthur referred to the organization of his division as the hardest task of his life.

Herman filled the World War One chapters with one storytelling gem after another, including the story of how MacArthur, just landed in France, joins a French raiding party in a trench attack on the enemy German army. MacArthur obtains permission from the French commander, (but not that of his own superior, a violation of army procedure), to join their nighttime effort. It is during this attack that he gets an early taste for battlefield strategy, subduing a German colonel with his riding stick, and the next morning, dropping a German spiked helmet onto the breakfast table. The retelling of this incident was accompanied by a famous MacArthur quote:

“Sometimes it is the order one disobeys that makes one famous.”

Herman’s telling of MacArthur’s experiences during the period between wars was almost as amazing. It is here were learn of promotions, (and a wife), gained and lost, a stint as Superintendent at West Point and a dazzlingly successful appointment as president of the U.S. Olympic Committee. As I continued reading this book, I realized that I’d already read what would normally be considered a lifetime of experiences yet wasn’t even one-quarter the way through!

I soon realized that I was just beginning Herman’s account of MacArthur’s inter-war years, and if I thought that the period of 1928 – 1938 would be more or less a “prelude to war,” was completely mistaken.

The sheer breadth of MacArthur’s activities in those ten years was nothing short of spellbinding.

The beginning of this period has MacArthur transferred back to the Philippines, then soon after, a promotion to Army Chief-of-Staff in November of 1930. In the midst of this, Herman camps on MacArthur’s interlude as head of the U.S. Civilian Conservation Corps, an FDR “New Deal” initiative that was brief, but intriguing.

Herman’s telling of MacArthur’s outspoken advocacy of a reinvigorated U.S. Army during his term as Chief-of-Staff left me awestruck as I considered the sheer size of the man’s vision and force of his will.

I thought Herman told us a balanced tale of MacArthur’s life. He punctuated the professional accomplishments of this man with the tenderness and warmth of the events of his personal life during these ten years. This was when he meets what Herman describes as his “stars-and-bars” southern girl, Jean Faircloth, their marriage in April of 1937 and the powerfully positive impact this woman’s enduring love would have on the great man. Arthur MacArthur IV is born in February of 1938. Herman accentuates this for two reasons, one because the birth of the subject’s son is worth note, and two, because the birth of the child comes just as the MacArthur’s are about to enter a uniquely dangerous situation as a family. The way the three of them lived on the imprisoned little island of Corregidor was almost unbelievable.

Herman places Japan’s territorial ambitions, (in 1937 taking the Chinese capital of Nanking, then Canton and the Taiwan Strait), as a backdrop to an event that I’d never heard of and had to read twice to believe. All I want to say is that it’s something the President of the United States accepts from Douglas MacArthur that, if left as it was would have had a crippling impact on the Pacific Theatre of World War II. You’ll have to read it for yourself.

As we near the conclusion of these ten incredible years, Herman tells us of the working relationship between MacArthur and the President Quezon of the Philippines, the three-tier defense of the country and MacArthur’s promotion to Field Marshall of the Philippine Army. Planning that was contingent on steady supply of material, weapons and vehicles from the United States that proved woefully inadequate.

As we draw closer to World War Two, I began to recognize the story again, reading about history I was more familiar with, but never heard told in such compelling and engaging ways. MacArthur is now Commander-in-Chief of all the allied army forces in the Far East, amassing an inner circle that came and went dependent on the individual’s courage, tenacity and loyalty.

One of the other features of Herman’s storytelling style that I appreciated was how he shone the spotlight on some of the lesser known heroes of the time. One example of this was the stories of MacArthur’s code cracking team who deciphered Japanese coded messages by hand, and how critical those few individuals were to the war effort in the Pacific.

The heartbreaking and costly tragedy of Pearl Harbor, we learn, was followed-up, the very next day by a brutal attack on Clarke Field in the Philippines. It was these losses, combined with a continued lack of material support that lead to the eventual surrender of American and Philippine troops, it also, in a rather dramatic fashion, moves the hand of President Roosevelt to order MacArthur to leave the Philippines to lead the Pacific war effort from Australia.

MacArthur, his wife Jean, son Arthur and a select few of his officers leave the Philippines for Australia. The heart wrenching drama of the departure, as well as the dangerous, harrowing voyage they faced could be a book in and of itself, “I shall return,” MacArthur promises those left behind as he climbed onto the PT boat for his own departure. They would be among the most famous words in all of World War Two.

As Herman tells us, Douglas, Jean, young Arthur and the rest of the flotilla all eventually make it to the shores of Australia where MacArthur is unexpectedly awarded the Medal of Honor. This momentous event (the first father and son to receive the great honor) is happening as MacArthur is already contemplating his plan for what would become a 1,400-mile, island to island fight over the course of three short months.

The unbelievable drama continues when an emotional MacArthur installs a legitimate government back to the Philippines in a capital city with no power or lights. One that is 4/5 rubble, then the realization that the war effort to take Japan may require a quarter million American casualties leads newly installed American President Truman to authorize the dropping of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The formal Japanese surrender, on the deck of the USS Missouri is filled with historical details I’d never known, and as I read, I came to understand why this single event instilled hope in many Japanese people.

Later, Herman’s portrayal of MacArthur’s steady and “cool personal courage” when arriving, on August 30, 1945, at Atsugi Airfield in Japan, carrying with him an attitude that the Allies are “Guests of the Japanese” rather than conquers. Sidearms are left in the airplanes, offered food is eaten and despite reports of the possibility of a rogue rebellion, MacArthur’s personal example already earns the attention and curiosity of the Japanese people.

The rebuilding of Japan seemed like a fitting end to MacArthur’s career, but that was not to be. There was one more major wartime event for him to lead the charge of correcting, and that was the invasion of South Korea by North Korea which culminates with the bold and daring battle of Inchon, which proved to be one of MacArthur’s greatest victories, one that turned the advantage to the UN Forces in Korea, and one that would eventually lead to a conflict between MacArthur and the Washington establishment.

I found the final chapters to be very emotionally charged, especially after all the “investment” I’d put into the story of the great general up to that point. The author, Arthur Herman was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize with this book.

An honoring tribute to a truly outstanding American hero.

[Bobby Daugherty · Rating 4 out of 5]

Long but interesting biography of a man who dedicated his life to his country to be betrayed by members of it's government whose loyalty lied elsewhere. Most obviously is the Freemason and shabes goy Harry Truman. Had he pursued the office of president in is assured he would have been murdered by the Talmudist and their flunkies.

[Bob H · Rating 4 out of 5]

A major new biography of a bigger-than-life figure in American history, this book has the advantage of archive material accumulated in the 50 years since the General's death, notably the MacArthur Memorial Archives that Mr. Herman often cites in his notes, as well as reflections on MacArthur's record and subsequent biographers: see the final conclusion in the perspective of America after Vietnam and the Middle East wars. It's as big a work as the earlier American Caesar: Douglas MacArthur 1880-1964 by William Manchester, and as such a detailed retelling of a long and eventful life.

The author does bring new insights in key early moments in MacArthur's career: his West Point cadet years, his early tour of duty in Asia with his father, Gen. Arthur MacArthur, his personal heroics on a one-man mission into revolutionary Mexico, his tumultuous WWI command record. We learn about his friendships and rivalries in his career, including with those who could advance (or hinder) his career. We learn about his crucial relationship (and mentoring) by his mother for much of his career, and his first, unsuccessful marriage. We learn of a successful 1927 tour as president of the US Olympic Committee. We see plenty about his brilliant time restoring occupied Japan after WWII as, in essence, a latter-day Shogun. We even see examples of MacArthur's love poetry, such that it is. In all, this is a sympathetic, even adulatory biography of someone who could be controversial, then and now.

The author does try to explain, or make excuses for, his controversies: his transformative (and abrasive) time as West Point superintendent after WWI; his presence at Gen. Billy Mitchell's court-martial; his crushing of the WWI veterans' encampment in Washington in 1932 (the Battle of Anacostia Flats); his attempts to stiffen Philippines readiness and his loss of his air force in the first day of the war there; his disasters in Korea; his harebrained proposal to win that war with nuclear weapons and an invasion of China; and his final, fateful confrontation with Harry Truman. Some of these events are less well-explained, as with his handling of Gen. Tomoyuki Yamashita, a scant three pages or so in dealing with someone who, depending on your view, was either a war criminal who got his just desserts, or a scapegoat for the horrific atrocities in Manila in 1945, or the victim of a judicial murder orchestrated by MacArthur personally.

This last incident also illustrates the book's research, in a way: there's plenty of first-hand material on the siege of Manila and the Yamashita trial (the trial transcript alone runs to 4100 pp.), but the footnotes only cite MacArthur's own Reminiscences and Clayton James' 3-volume The Years of MacArthur: Triumph and Disaster: 1945-1964. (James' biography comes up frequently in the footnotes). Given MacArthur's own known involvement in the case, a trial in which he is known to have made up the rules, it deserved more insights -- and this was only one such point in his career worth more, and fresher, digging.

In all, it's a newer retelling of this story, of one of the biggest and most emblematic figures in U.S. history, a life and times on a very long and colorful canvas. Still, it's a familiar story, by and large, retold.

[Adam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Comprehensive and Compelling

Arthur Herman's new biography of General MacArthur is a long-overdue modern examination of the General's life and deeds. Herman makes a conscious and successful effort to chart a middle ground between the almost-worshipful tone of some works on MacArthur and the often-overheated criticism of later years. Instead, he presents a straightforward and honest picture of a man whose fighting career spanned the first half of the 20th Century and who managed to be at the center of the storm through some of the most dramatic moments in American history.

[robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

Well researched and balanced book. I knew lots of tibbits about MacArthur but this book really opened up my eyes about what an amazing man he was. A pleasure to read even at 850 pages. He obviously had his flaws, arrogance and vanity being well noted. I really enjoyed the depth the author went into, but yearned for even more detail. Written in 2016, it provided lots of new and recent research into this man. He definitely was courageous as shown on numerous occasions from WWI, the Philippines, WWII and Korea. His entire focus was on Asia. He was amazingly prescient. He was always of the firm belief that Asia was the key to American security and cooperation, over Europe. One of his most popular mottos was "There is no substitute for victory." This was his guiding principle throughout Asia.

The Philippine people truly loved him. And he returned that love and respect. His father was a major influence in the Philippines and shared his beliefs with his son, who took it to heart. MacArthur also set a great example on how to rehabilitate and rejuvenate a conquered people, the Japanese. It was amazing to see how the conquered Japanese loved and respected him.

Korea was his obvious downfall. He handled the military setbacks brilliantly, especially his Inchon landing. The book goes into great detail about the strategies and political debates regarding Soviet and Chinese intents. The intelligence failures that completely missed the Chinese massive move into Korea was a major blow to MacArthur. The big political debates that followed regarding the proper response to China's incursion still reverberates to today.

MacArthur was fully aware of the dangers of appeasement and containment and railed against this approach vigorously, but unsuccessfully. It was very enlightening to read about his feud with Truman and the senior military command in Washington. Though America and the World were weary of war, it would be interesting to speculate where we would be now if America followed a more forceful response to China. Maybe Korea's ongoing stalemate, Vietnam and China's current communist dominance could have been avoided?

MacArthur failed to see the intense political hostility that he incited, which was his downfall. And he was soundly outmaneuvered by his military aid Eisenhower in the presidential elections.

The author provided a well balanced perspective highlighting both MacArthur's brilliance as well as his flaws as noted by many of his most vigorous critics.

MacArthur was truly an exceptional military strategist and Asian expert, and I have a lot more respect for MacArthur after reading this book.

[Andrew Careaga · Rating 3 out of 5]

A dense tome, thoroughly researched and well-written, about one of the 20th century's most complex and controversial public figures. Before reading Herman's book, most of what I knew about MacArthur centered on his defeats -- namely, his loss of the Philippines to the Japanese during the early stages of World War II and his firing by President Truman during the Korean War -- and on his public image (the Ray-Ban sunglasses and ever-present corn cob pipe). This book sheds greater light on events and circumstances surrounding both events, as well as the factors that shaped MacArthur's life, from his father's military career to his mother's influence, his studies at West Point, World War I service, leadership as West Point president and roles in the Philippines. Herman's book seems to be an even-handed presentation of MacArthur, and it digs below the surface of a military leader perceived as both vainglorious and a warmonger to shed greater light on the man's humanity. But it is a long, dense read.

[Hunter Flamm · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arthur Herman accurately describes Douglas MacArthur as the last American who was “unreservedly worshipped as a national hero”. With a 52-year Army career across three major wars, a laundry list of decorations, and an aura that was the physical embodiment of American power in the twentieth century, there is no arguing that MacArthur’s life was legendary (perhaps even mythic).

While Herman’s writing is light on detail, he writes in an engaging and concise style that makes American Warrior tremendously readable and entertaining. A more serious attempt spanning multiple volumes might be useful for exploring some of the more controversial decisions of MacArthur’s career, however, this is a fine single volume work.

One of Herman’s most successful narratives/arguments in the book is tracing MacArthur’s relationship with his father to his climactic showdown with President Truman over Korea. Arthur MacArthur, a civil war hero and career army officer, was an “Orientalist” that believed the key to America’s ascendancy was in the Pacific and Asia. As the commander of U.S. forces during the Philippine-American War in the late twentieth century, the elder MacArthur imparted upon his son a fondness for the archipelagic nation (albeit, one that reeks of paternalism) and the realization that Japan, through its successful war against Russia, and military conquests across Asia and the Pacific, would rise to challenge the United States. Herman neglects to mention the brutal counter insurgency tactics deployed against insurgents and civilians during the elder’s command. As a young officer accompanying his father to Japan, MacArthur had a chance meeting with the five year old Crown Prince Hirohito, the future emperor who would famously capitulate to MacArthur at the end of World War II.

Herman’s telling of MacArthur’s early military career is dramatic and colorfully illustrated. We witness a young Lieutenant’s travels through the Pacific, which borders on the prophetic, his courage and recklessness during Mexican and Filipino campaigns, and eventually his tenure commanding the Rainbow Division during the First World War. While certainly entertaining, I fear that Herman’s details of MacArthur’s early exploits rely too heavily on the General’s own telling of events, rather than official records. However, the foundations of MacArthur’s image and reputation are built in the trenches of France. MacArthur chose to project invincibility by not carrying any weapons while leading from the front and projected swagger through unconventional uniforms . He flirts with insubordination and recklessness on the battlefield, exemplified through his bitter rivalry with General Pershing.

My biggest issue with Herman’s portrayal of MacArthur between 1930 and 1952 is his approach to the more controversial aspects of his career. It is widely accepted by many historians that MacArthur bears a great deal of responsibility for the Bonus Army demonstrations that spiraled wildly out of control. When destitute World War I veterans and their families marches on Washington to protest repeated delays to their pensions, the situation escalated until their encampments were burned and they were turned away at the point of bayonets, essentially under MacArthur’s command or at the very least his unwillingness to give specific order. Herman tries to push blame onto MacArthur’s subordinates and other miscommunications. Additionally he lends weight to the theory that the veterans were infiltrated by communist agitators which, while partially true, was not the cause of the violence.

A rivalry with FDR led MacArthur to decamp to the Philippines which saw him quixotically retire from the Army to become “Field Marshal” of the Philippines army. In addition to accepting payments that amounted to several million dollars in today’s money, MacArthur failed to build the Filipino army into an effective fighting force; however he did eventually find himself commanding American forces in the Philippines prior to the Second World War. The monetary payments are a major stain on MacArthur’s legacy, since their legality was in question as he was in active service when he accepted them, however, they receive little mention.

At the beginning of World War II, the U.S military was seriously undermanned and under equipped due to the interwar drawdowns. This put any forces at a serious disadvantage in any theater. When preparing for an impending Japanese invasion of the Philippines, MacArthur made a serious blunder in his over reliance on Filipino forces, who were in no way prepared to engage the Japanese. It was evident that the Philippines were going to fall to the Japanese very early on in the war. Herman acknowledges the disadvantages that MacArthur had, but seems to blame FDR and the military establishment for the defeat.

MacArthur’s strategy in the Pacific Theater was ultimately successful. Herman deftly details his mastery of naval, air, and land power to gradually close in on Japan. I think that the strongest section of the book is the description of MacArthur’s occupation of Japan. MacArthur took pains to earn the trust, even the love, of the Japanese people, and acted judiciously as the “American Shogun”.

Herman’s is a worthy defender of MacArthur’s conduct in Korea, which saw a bloody back and forth conflict that nearly escalate to a nuclear exchange. Herman celebrates MacArthur’s early success with the landing at Inchon, but shoulders the blame of later setbacks on President Truman and Washington. MacArthur’s advance did not trigger a massive Chinese intervention into the war, but he did fail to predict the intervention at a great cost to territory he’d captured and tens of thousands of casualties in his own troops. Herman chooses to blame this on bad intelligence and Truman’s unwillingness to let MacArthur to attack China directly,
although Truman had been supportive of his plans to confront Chinese forces in Korea. The truth of the matter is that, while a great general with a string of successes, MacArthur flirted with insubordination one too many times and found himself relieved of command. Herman pays lip service to the concept of the civilian-led military, but seems disdainful of the concept. President Truman had legal and constitutional authority to order MacArthur, and MacArthur was legally and constitutionally required to follow the orders.

Herman’s most interesting revelations about MacArthur come in the form of his politics. Unlike MacArthur’s equally famous former subordinate, Dwight Eisenhower(who kept his politics to himself until he ran for president) MacArthur was openly political. As a war hero and prominent figure, he flirted with the idea of politics as early as 1936. When frustrated with FDR’s unwillingness to immediately recapture the Philippines, MacArthur considered challenging FDR in 1944, but was unwilling to leave his command to campaign. However, some supporters did put him on the Wisconsin ballot for the primary. Again in 1948 he flirted with the Presidency, and won some delegates, but was unwilling to campaign or leave his occupation duties in Japan. MacArthur’s best chance to become President was in 1952 at the zenith of his popularity. After being relieved of his command by Truman, he received ticker tape parades in every major city he visited and delivered a legendary speech to a joint session of Congress . However, he failed to seize the moment, but the scandal surrounding his firing did contribute to Eisenhower’s ascension to the Presidency.

Overall, American Warrior was extremely entertaining and interesting, but I have serious objections to Herman’s unwillingness to assign blame to MacArthur and apparent disdain for civil control of the military.

(I’m very jet lagged so this was less coherent than I’d hoped.)

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a biography every bit as grand as the subject matter. General Douglas MacArthur was arguably one of the greatest figures of the 20th Century. Arguably because as a controversial figure he is either greatly admired or greatly despised. MacArthur's admirers have much to point to. As the son of a Civil War hero he chose a life in the Army and was one of the most decorated soldiers in the Great War. Remaining in the military during the intervening years between the two wars he built an incredible resume for a soldier during peacetime. As Superintendent at West Point he modernized Academy rules and built a strong curriculum. He became the head of the US Olympic Committee and guided the US team to a strong showing in the 1928 Olympics. He was head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff and, because of the Great depression, massaged a declining defense budget to prevent erosion of the military capabilities of the different branches and, in fact, oversaw the expansion of the burgeoning Air Force. His execution of the war in the Pacific during World War II was astonishing considering the Pacific war effort was secondary to the effort in Europe. He won the war using Australia as a base and retaking the Pacific one island at a time with less men, equipment and money than his counterparts in Europe. After the war he transformed Japan from a vicious enemy into a close ally by rebuilding the country from a wartime to a peacetime economy. And he led the American forces in the Korean War and prevented a takeover of South Korea by the North.
MacArthur's detractors point to his arrogant demeanor and self-promotional tendencies to try to diminish him. His time as head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was tainted by his actions against the Bonus Marchers. During the war he was accused of abandoning his army in the Philippines to the treacheries of the Japanese (He was actually ordered to leave by FDR). And his insubordinate activities in the Korean War that ultimately got him relieved of command are well documented here. In short, this is an even-handed study of a great figure in American history. Both sides have their views aired. His contributions will continue to be argued as long as we study his life and this book will be one of the major references.

[Josiah Young · Rating 5 out of 5]

Phenomenal read! Arthur Herman has a great way of leaving you constantly on the edge of your chair, waiting to find out what happens next. MacArthur is a man to be honored and remembered. There is a lot about his life that is instructive for aspiring leaders. There is also a lot of political and military history that is quite riveting and enlightening, considering the current state of world politics.

[Stephen Morrissey · Rating 5 out of 5]

While Arthur Herman's gripping biography of Douglas MacArthur may be overly praiseworthy of the iconic World War II general, no one can quibble with his assertion that, outside of Franklin Roosevelt and Winston Churchill, MacArthur stands as one of the enduring images of the 20th Century.

In 850 pages, Herman wades deep into the story of MacArthur, from his youthful days adoring his mother and deifying his father to his service in World War I and in the highest echelons of the military bureaucracy of the 1920s and 1930s. In youth, MacArthur has the courageous charm of so many other American military heroes, with a unique ability to lead men, culminating in leading his Rainbow Division throughout the toughest of fighting in the Argonnes Forest.

The story of MacArthur, though, belongs more to the Second World War unleashed in the 1940s. Herman jumps seamlessly from Bataan to Corregidor to Australia to Papua New Guinea and back again to the Philippines, weaving a compelling portrait of the general as he stares down defeat and then marshal victory slowly but surely in the Southwest Pacific Theater. In Japan, upon the surrender of the Japanese, MacArthur becomes something unique to American life: a proconsul, residing over all aspects of the Japanese reconstruction effort. Finally, in the Korean War, MacArthur ascends to the highest of military glory with his improbably Inchon landing, and then promptly surrenders that glory in the maelstrom of a political feud with the Truman administration.

As to Herman's writing, the pace is superb and the details are intimate but never exhausting. While the frequent foreshadowing feels labored (readers can draw their own inferences as to the importance of Bataan, for example, with a sort of thriller-esque teaser of its import), the war scenes are relayed with an eye to both the battle, the larger strategy and the forge of MacArthur's own character.

While the book itself deserves as many stars as General MacArthur earned, its conclusions are, at least for this reader, less than satisfying. Herman provides great leeway for MacArthur in the Korean War, excusing MacArthur's moves to advance to the Yalu River and even making an argument in favor of MacArthur's wider strategy to atomize China and turn the Yalu into a radioactive barrier between China and the Korean Peninsula. One also cannot help but be troubled by MacArthur's insubordination with respect to Truman, and the general's casual references to Communist conspiracy theories make him seem as unstable as the current Republicans running the executive branch.

There is no doubt, though, that MacArthur is not some simple villain or vain stuffed shirt of military lore. If Herman's book deserves reading, it is for the author's resurrection of MacArthur's strategic thinking on the significance of Asia, and how that continent shapes the wider balance of power across the globe. America's recent star-crossed adventures in Asia, from Vietnam to the failed Trans-Pacific Partnership, show that MacArthur's theory deserves a second look from modern strategists at the Pentagon and Foggy Bottom.

Herman rightly points out that MacArthur stands out as the last great "winning" American military figure. From media image to tactics to strategy, the likes of MacArthur have not been seen in many decades. Whatever his faults, Americans owe a deep sense of gratitude to a man that not only fought and won a war against a menacing Asian imperial power, but possessed the vision to see that Japan be reconstructed and made a bastion of freedom in order to advance the wider cause America's quasi-empire.

[Andrew Dockrill · Rating 5 out of 5]

Douglas MacArthur is one of my favorite WW1 & WW2 officers and leaders. He was one of the main faces of World War I with his Rainbow Division and is famously remembered walking up no mans land with his men and directing them where to go with no metal helmet on just his boots and a riding crop, daring the enemy to shoot at him. It could definitely be argued that it was stupid and foolhardy of him to do so but it cannot be argued that it inspired his men and was an extreme act of bravery which would carry the Americans to help the allies win the war.

I loved Herman's take on MacArthur, I found it to be very balanced, he was not afraid to show MacArthur's errors - as like most humans on this planet he was not without them, go figure. But he also showed his ability to lead and lead well. MacArthur I find, is often criticized for leaving his men on Bataan and Manila and the famous nickname "Dugout Doug" which I find is quite unfair from what I have read. Given the circumstances of his situation on the Philippines and America's attitude toward the Philippines. FDR wished for MacArthur to defend the islands but he was willing to do extremely little to help him, which can be explained, given the fact that the US made WW2 in Europe as their main priority and therefore, MacArthur had to make due with the resources he had at his disposal with little to no help from America. I did find that it made you feel disgruntled towards George Marshall and Eisenhower and FDR. I found FDR to be quite unlikable as he would basically treat MacArthur as a political puppet which he made to play on his strings, using him for his political purposes. The only reason that MacArthur had not died on Manila was simply because FDR knew that the people of America saw MacArthur as an American hero, so for political purposes, FDR knew he had to survive for the sake of his presidency (could be argued that is an unfair statement). Had that not happened FDR was prepared to let MacArthur die on the island. but when I do come to read about Marshall and Eisenhower in due time I am sure my opinion will change as I will see the situation from their perspective.

All in all, I would say this book is as good as William Manchester's but not better. I find it to be as easily readable and accessible to almost anyone, be it academic or laymen. The only thing for me that did not tip the scales was I found that Herman did not include as much about MacArthur and his habits or his personality nearly as much as William Manchester had done. It wasn't a big deal, but if I was to nitpick, I would say that it was one thing that I did miss from his book.

I found definitely recommend this book to anyone wanting to read about MacArthur and become familiar with him, you do not have to have any prior background on the time or people who were actors on this periods stage to enjoy it.

[Gerry · Rating 3 out of 5]

First, this is a sizeable book: there are 850 pages of biography and forty pages of notes, all coming in at just over three pounds. Withal, it’s not a difficult read. It has a larger than usual font and wider than usual spaces between lines.

The notes, however, are a different case, and here’s my gripe. Our high school English teachers taught us all about “footnotes” when writing (frequently by hand in the Sixties) them. The usual format was author’s surname, first name, middle initial, title, city of publication (and state for podunks), publisher, year of publication, and pages substantiating one’s point. It varied depending on the type of reference (and one had to look up the format and had better get it right). Luckily, when referring to it subsequently, the note could be as simply rendered with the surname and applicable page(s). This book has that down pat; except the notes are in the back of the book and there is no listing of sources consulted. I’ll give the author or publisher credit for using an abbreviated title when a subsequent reference shows up in a chapter, but one still has to squint and search through each chapter’s notes to find the very first reference if he needs it.

Books on General Douglas MacArthur, says the author, are either critical, worshipful, or out of date. Using new sources, among them an interview with Mrs. MacArthur (she passed away in 2000, age 101). Where they are used will be among all those notes. Was the General (his spouse’s term) a good or bad general? Mr. Herman says, “My hope is that by the end of this book, readers will know the answer.”

This book is mainly a biography and not a detailed discussion of strategy and tactics, to my disappointment. The author presents much that was controversial about MacArthur’s performance in war from the General’s viewpoint, but also offers what’s going on in his opponent’s (the president) head. From this, the reader can understand what’s happening or happened. Pay especially close attention to the sequence of events—you made it this far—leading up to his dismissal from his Korean War command; Mr. Herman sorts it out nicely.

We get more than we have in other bios about his family: father, mother, wives, and even a mistress (his son, 81, remains reclusive). Both his screw-ups and his achievements are covered without excessive carping or toadying. Portions I appreciated concerned his father’s career and influence, his saving of the Army during the Depression and draw down, “Dugout Doug,” his “shogunate” in Japan, and the Korean War with both the brilliance of Inchon and the contretemps with Truman. I need more on just how he handled his South Pacific campaign; maybe Borneman will expound upon this.

If you’re trying to decide on the General’s greatness or lack thereof, this will add to your knowledge (or indecision).

[Joel · Rating 3 out of 5]

Douglas MacArthur always came up as an undoubtedly patriotic but somewhat villainous supporting player in biographies of his contemporaries (David McCullough's Truman etc). Usually he is portrayed as an effective General but also a pain in the behind for Presidents and other military leaders. Here, the author seeks to change that perspective by offering what was billed as a "balanced" biography but seemed to me to be a hero-worship one (also evidenced by lectures i listened to of the author promoting the book). He considers MacArthur the second most important American of the 20th Century next to FDR. Therefore, MacArthur's achievements are blown a bit out of proportion (ie saying MacArthur single-handedly turned Japan's economy around after WW2-the last book i read "Embracing Defeat" won a Pulitzer for showing it was a lot more nuanced than that) and his faults are minimized (taking money under the table from the President of the Philippines was normal...even though he neglects to mention Eisenhower refused the money; MacArthur's behavior at the Bonus March and before his firing in the Korean War are defended). The author certainly portrays some of MacArthur's faults: his arrogance, military mistakes and others, but, like with any biography, I would suggest looking things up as you read (even if just on wikipedia) to get different perspectives.

On the other hand, the writing narrative is interesting, highly readable and moves fast. MacArthur's life story is certainly fascinating. I think my favorite part was the first third of the book regarding MacArthur's family history (his father's exploits etc), and his experiences at West Point and in World War I. His escape from the Philippines in World War II and subsequent return is riveting as well. The author seemed to wrap up the last 14 years of his life after the Korean War in about 5 pages and I cannot remember much about the attempted drafting of MacArthur for the 1948 Republican Presidential nomination, but I may have forgotten reading it. Also, I suppose the book was getting long for a single volume at that point.

Through it all, I felt MacArthur's story filled in some historical gaps for me and despite how it may appear, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. I just find myself taking a more critical eye toward every biography I read these days and those I have read in the past. McCullough's Truman is the first real historical biography I ever read when I was in high school and I have to come to realize that was a bit too hero worship as well and probably portrayed MacArthur too harshly. Like with much of the way events are portrayed in the media today, the truth likely lies somewhere in the middle but Arthur Herman's book on MacArthur provides a fascinating and essential perspective.

[David Lavan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Old soldiers never die, they just fade away.
Excellent bio about one of the greatest U.S. and world influences on military and geo-politics.
Knowing only the name coming into this book, it was incredible to learn about his impact across the first half of the 20th century. Learning of his father's influence and mother's unwavering support made sense in the face of his early years and his military aspirations and West Point obsession. His escapades in Mexico and WWI are truly the stuff of legend; the utter disregard for his own safety and defiance of death that would continue through his later years is hilarious.

His sparring relationships with FDR and Truman flipped the critical switch- was America's greatest warrior acting out of turn or still within the boundaries of his domain? The author does a great job defending his choices from Corregidor to crossing the 38th in Korea and getting tantalizingly close to Mao's backyard. My criticism as Herman shows may lay more in the approaches of the politicians in their handling of these wars and the mix of disregard/loathing for Mac. Of course his actions cumulatively led to much success in the Pacific militarily, but I do not disagree with the principles of our government operations being dictated by a democracy. So it truly is hard to reconcile MacArthur's influence and success with the U.S.'s check/balance system that countless times took a backseat to his decision-making.

It is truly unfortunate that these great military conquests destroyed and displaced countless civilians. Herman includes countless references to the Asiatic peoples in great gratitude to this man; I can doubtless see a potential here for "White Savior" criticism. Of course this is the lone comprehensive account of MacArthur I have read so there must be inevitable bias on my end (but there's no way I'm reading more about this guy any time soon, this alone was an effort). But this biography paints him as the molder of our present day Pacific Rim, for seemingly more better than worse, and the story in and of itself is truly remarkable. So 5 ☆'s.

SPOILERS
MOST FAVORITE PART: Triumphant return to the Phillipines is an unreal character arc, fiction or non-fiction, especially with the backdrop of his father's influences there and the President Quezon dynamic.
LEAST FAVORITE PART: As Herman points out, the missed opportunity at Wake Island between the towering egos of Mac and Truman truly may have had terrific repercussions for SE Asia/U.S. relations. There's some subconscious self-deism stuff going on with Dugout Doug I believe (lol). But that's gotta be more prevalent at the top of the human food chain as history will tell us.
Also he should've chilled out with the medals.

[Matthew Bolam · Rating 5 out of 5]

I have to consciously limit myself when praising Arthur Herman. I’ve 'friended' him on Facebook, and have sent him a few private messages. We don’t know each other therefore I run the risk of getting issued a restraining order for being a rabid and fawning sycophant, so I’ll feign sanity here by bridling somewhat my animation over Herman’s latest book. This biography titled “Douglas MacArthur: American Warrior” is the 4th book I’ve read by Herman and the 3rd book of his I’ve studied this year. “The Cave and The Light” remains my favorite work by this professor of history, and a book which has vaulted my psyche into the Annie Wilkes region of irrational exuberance for Herman. However, in terms of setting the record straight regarding politically motivated fabrications, ideologically driven canards, or outright mistaken historical memes surrounding the life and events of General Douglas MacArthur; this book may rank for others as Herman’s most outstanding work yet. I derived an opinion about Douglas MacArthur from books and documentaries on the broader subjects of WWII and Korea. I had maintained an image of the General as a glory hound, who carelessly risked the lives of his men while fleeing to safety in preservation of his own. Drive-by criticisms for sure. I had not until now invested in reading a biography about MacArthur although, I have read biographies on Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton, Rommel, even Ridgeway among others. Kubrick’s fictional General Buck Turgidson and MacArthur would have been kindred spirits in my imagination, at least prior to reading this detailed and honest biography. Herman sweeps away these gross caricatures of General MacArthur and presents us with an extraordinarily authentic examination of the very human individual behind those stars. We learn how General MacArthur perceived, reacted to, and led people through exceptionally tumultuous times in history. Herman's biography is not an apologia for MacArthur's most glaring character defects or errors in generalship. Over such a long career miscalculations are made, and Herman gives these lapses proper hearing and context.

One of the he first ahistorical fabrications Herman corrects though, comes as a digression pertaining to the life of Douglas MacArthur’s father, Arthur MacArthur. The setting is the Philippines during The Spanish-American War, and subsequent occupation for which Arthur MacArthur will fight as General and serve as military governor for some time. My professors, their textbooks, Chris Matthews and various political ideologues of one stripe or another, have always attempted to enculturate me into the idea which insists U.S. motives for going to war with Spain and occupying the Philippines, were purely of racist imperialism. In the wake of a “moribund Spanish Empire”, Herman points out “motives for going to war were more complicated” than the Chris Matthews of the world care to remember. Herman states, “If the United States didn’t use this chance…some other European power, such as Germany, likely would”. Considering the fact after Admiral Dewey’s victory, and as General Arthur MacArthur’s troop transports were approaching Manila, there “Fifty warships of four other nations—Britain, France, Germany, and Russia—filled the harbor”. It was not an easy decision for President McKinley to annex the Philippines, but the message from his military advisors was lucid and frank according to Herman, “If the Americans failed to fill the vacuum left by the defeat of the Spanish colonial rule in the Philippines, others would fill it for them”. Sometimes hard decisions with no easy answer have to be made by adults who live in the real world. This decision regarding the Philippines set in play a series of future events entangling Asia and General Douglas MacArthur so profound in importance—and coincidence—it is hard not ascribe Divine Providence to them.

Douglas was like his father, and far more enlightened about the prospect of Philippine independence than the civilian powers of either political party. Arthur MacArthur’s views on the future of Asia—which would inform his son’s outlook—were beyond prescient. We could use the leadership of a MacArthur today with China and Japan's relationship failing due to China's aggressive posture. (Read: China Makes It's Latest power Play in The East China Sea; NRO Aug 10,2016 by Herman)

Here are some other things Herman has taught me about Douglas MacArthur. He was the real deal; the bravery he displayed in The Great War is unquestioned. MacArthur went on night raids into enemy trench lines and led his men in a manner exposing him to danger which went above and beyond on a regular basis. He left that theater of operations the most highly decorated officer in the Army, and deservedly so.

MacArthur was retired when things heated up between the Japanese and the United States! He was basically a civilian contractor working for a sort of interim Philippine government and was attempting to establish a functional independent Army in the Philippines. He could have walked away from the archipelago a relatively wealthy man and did the “I told you so” circuit of speeches and press conferences like a General Allen or Wesley Clark. Instead, he relished his reentry to the Army and didn’t bat an eye when his Commander in Chief ordered him to fight to the death on the Philippines once the Japanese invaded, and for what clearly was a hopeless cause. A similar order given by Hitler to General Paulus has been deemed unwise and cruel by many historians. MacArthur—unlike Wesley Clark—was a viable political opposition party opponent! He could have run against, and had a reasonable chance of beating, FDR. It was MacArthur’s political clout which saved his ass. Fearing public criticism from Republicans if MacArthur were killed or captured, Roosevelt rescinded his suicidal order and instead gave MacArthur command of all Army forces in the Pacific. A direct order MacArthur struggled with, and was tempted to disobey, because he had to leave the Philippines for Australia. You all know the rest, “I shall return”, and all that. There was no better qualified human being on the planet to govern the occupation of the defeated Japanese.

Korean occupation forces post World War II fell outside of jurisdiction as McArthur’s command. At least until events went totally buggered. Inchon was brilliant, and it hardly had a supporter at the time of conception. If MacArthur would have compromised, coalition forces would have been much further south when the Chinese invaded. That’s the last canard: Mao had made a decision to intervene during the summer of 1950. MacArthur’s push north to the Yalu did not “trigger” a Chinese response.

I was excited to see this big book of almost 900 pages. Some may believe this elation betrays my mental pathology, and as such could be admissible at the hearing for a restraining order. It’s extremely well written, just as everything else I’ve read by Herman has been. I learned so much more than I can I relay in a review. Thanks to Arthur Herman, the ‘old soldier’ General Douglas MacArthur will not ‘fade away’ without having an accurate telling of his heroism and personhood. I look forward to more from this author. I’m his number one fan!

[Jackson Cho · Rating 4 out of 5]

MacArthur is someone who has seen, like many of the greats of the past, their reputation go from atmospheric to the dregs. Trying to cut through the hagiography and the revisionism, Herman tries to look at both the good and the bad of MacArthur and write a biography utilizing the flood of additional material that has dropped since those fights over the legacy of MacArthur raged. The result is a story of a great and brilliant general, soldier, and man. Clearly, Herman, after doing his research, walked away unable to not be impressed by the substance of the man. The resulting biography is a rather sympathetic one.

And yet maybe that is exactly what was needed. So much negative has been written and unfairly so that MacArthur probably needed a more sympathetic portrayal that didn't look at him as a caricature but tried to view the full context. At this, Herman offers the reader a fairly breezy account with no one part of the General's life having minute attention and detail described (though considering his 50 year career including between three wars, anything more would have required additional volumes). While this at times can lead to disappointing lack of information on aspects of his life such as political aspirations and the period post-Korea, I have to admit the book is called American Warrior so it makes sense to focus on his military career.

And MacArthur as a warrior is the most interesting aspect of him. For every famous failure he is attacked for, we see the rationale whether it is the decisions taken against the Bonus Army, the leadup to the Philippines invasion, and of course the fiasco in Korea. The latter is where MacArthur seems most vindicated in, with it being revealed that Mao had been planning to invade Korea the moment American troops were sent to defend it and dispelling the myth even I had believed that the Chinese only invaded because Macarthur approached the Yalu. Perhaps it says much about the effectiveness of MacArthur's enemies that such a myth has been so well established as fact and speaks especially of the need for a book to reestablish why MacArthur was one of the greats, ego and all.

[Chris · Rating 5 out of 5]

This biography represents an important contribution to understanding modern history, both past and present. Author Arthur Herman strips away the myths and politically-inspired criticisms of this great American hero. The degree to which world history may have changed if only we had listened to the unpleasant truths MacArthur warned of throughout his career staggers the imagination. Any number of horrific tragedies ranging from China's cultural revolution to the war in Vietnam, and even the Cold War could have been avoided. Had the Truman administration supported Cheng Kai Shek against Mao and not allowed a stalemate to evolve in Korea, we could be allies with a Democratic China and a unified Korean peninsula today.

Herman's portrait of MacArthur is clear-eyed, and doesn't shy away from pointing out flaws, but his objective and detailed depctitions of the events of MacArthur's life have caused me to dramatically revise my opinion upward of this great man. As I read, I realized that many of my impressions of General MacArthur were severely biased; I feel as if I have emerged from a fog and am truly beginning to understand the events of the 20th century for the first time. What more could you ask from a book?

[Drew Glass · Rating 4 out of 5]

Arthur Herman delivers one of the better MacArthur biographies I've read. The book is a heavyweight at almost 900 pages (I'd read it in chunks over a couple months). That said, it didn't feel that way as the narrative was very well done and I never felt that the author was examining nits, or as can happen with military bios, breaking down tactics and strategy of every battle MacArthur had a hand in. There's much here to like and some new and different perspectives on the man. My one issue with the book is that roughly more than 2/3 of the book centers on the years 1935-45. Arguably, this was the greatest period of MacArthur's life. However it is the best known (again, it was very readable and I didn't feel as if I was retracing previous bios). I would have preferred to get more of the pre- and post-WWII spans of his life. The post-WWII years, in particular we not given enough play. All things being equal, though, this is worthy of a read if you enjoy biography and military or US history.

[J. David Knecht · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very well done biography of MacArthur, that seeks to give a more balanced portrait of one of the most consequential figures in US history. For the most part the succeeds. The only place where the author diverted was during his discussion of the Chinese invasion of North Korea. While an excellent discussion the author seemed to lose some objectivity in some passages. I really appreciated the emphasis on MacArthur’s advocacy for equality for Philippinos and for his treating the Japanese with dignity. Not only for moral reasons but strategic ones. His warning of the dangers of prolonged occupations was obviously something we did not listen to enough post WWII.

MacArthur seems to be one of those people in history like Winston Churchill who when he succeeds, it’s a spectacular success, when he fails, boy does he fail. He could be strategically farsighted and innovative but he could also be oblivious to obvious and immediate risks. The author presents a very human portrait of a very complicated man.

[George Crofts · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’ve liked everything that Arthur Herman has written. I think this book on Douglas MacArthur is one of his best.

Herman provides a updated review of MacArthur‘s life Sixty years after his death. Yes MacArthur had a big ego, yes he made some military blunders, but he was consistently a great general.

I have read William Manchester’s American Caesar but this was better. Herman does a historical reevaluation of MacArthur citing previous supporters and critics of MacArthur and evaluating their position in light of current developments. MacArthur comes out pretty good in Herman’s reevaluation.

Correspondence and other documentation during the Korean War indicate that Truman and the Joint Chiefs were in complete agreement with MacArthur’s strategy up until just before he was dismissed in 1951. After his dismissal it was convenient to demonize MacArthur, to justify the decision.

MacArthur’s view that it was absolutely necessary to destroy communism in Asia (North Korea) were never more true than they are today with Kim Jong’s dictatorship and nuclear capability.

[Frank Kohl · Rating 5 out of 5]

An amazing book that I could barely put it down. So many new insights into America's greatest and most decorated warrior. Five-Star General MacArthur wanted to annihilate North Korea when they attacked South Korea and, if necessary, Communist China. Truman and his advisors were afraid the Soviet Union would retaliate in Europe, but what they didn't know was that Stalin could not have cared less about China.

SIDE BAR: At the end of World War II General Patton wanted to kick the Soviets out of all of Berlin and all of Eastern Europe, but again the politicians and Eisenhower would not let him. In short, Patton and MacArthur could have eliminated the resulting Cold War and completely changed two decades of world history.

I would highly recommend that anyone interested in the first fifty years of United States' twentieth century history MUST read this biography.

[Brendan O'connell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Excellent book. A more balanced and objective view on the man that ran the war in the Pacific during WW2. He has been trivialized in other books but here MacArthur gets his full due for his genius and foresight. MacArthur was one of the few westerners that understood to power developing in Asia (Japan and China) and tried to manage/contain it. He was also a master strategist. Most reviews of his life are from a U.S.-centric perspective and fail to grasp what MacArthur was seeing. General George Marshall was in China in 1946/47 and he failed to understand what the communists under Mao were doing. Later he was Secretary of Defence during the Korean War and, again, failed to understand how things were developing in China. MacArthur was fully aware of it and Herman's book clarifies how the U.S. made a strategic error in Asia by limiting MacArthur's ability to engage the Chinese.

[Robert · Rating 5 out of 5]

A comprehensive narrative and insight into one of the most famous soldiers of the twentieth century. A supremely accomplished individual who played a major role in both world wars, the re-making of Japan and the Korea conflict to name but a few. This book provides a deeper insight into the making of what many believe they know about MacArthur, although he is a far deeper character that what many believe. MacArthur's impact is probably far greater than most give him credit for and unfortunately he is probably better known for his failings than his successes. This book should provide a more balanced examination of the life and impact of Douglas MacArthur and should be of interest to anyone interested in both military and modern history.

[Brian · Rating 4 out of 5]

My first bio of MacArthur and it was pretty good. The author is from the conservative Hudson Institute so it is more on the favorable side but he tries to be fair and offer criticism when warranted. He benefits from more recent declassified material that shows our code breakers broke the Japanese codes and that many of MacArthur’s “genius” decisions were actually made knowing the Japanese movements and troop strengths. One major criticism I have is that the author pushes the idea that FDR was dying of cancer in 1944 and eventually died because of that. That is a conservative fantasy meant to denigrate FDR for running in 1944 and is not backed up by the official medical records that show he had chronic heart disease exacerbated by the stress of the war.

[Georgie Melrose · Rating 3 out of 5]

I'm always wary when an author comes out to state, "I am the objective perspective". I feel the lack of consideration for the multifaceted perspectives on MacArthur from the people of the Philippines, Japan, and Korea to be concerning. There is an emphasis on the brutality of war without the acknowledgement of the way American troops treated the places they were forcibly occupying. In addition, MacArthur seems less racist than other people. That doesn't mean his view of colonizing asiatic people's with western ideology is okay.

In conclusion, I learned a lot and I do appreciate certain features of MacArthur's life. However my conclusion is that he was an incredibly self-righteous, confident, lucky, and risky guy prone to PR stunts.

[Pat Salvatini · Rating 4 out of 5]

Douglas MacArthur is a military icon who fought in three World shaping conflicts. It would difficult to think of the WWII Pacific theater land engagements without also thinking of an image of those aviator glasses and pipe. I'm always interested in all things WWII, which then translates to knowing more about the major players. Arthur Herman gives readers a in-depth look into MacArthur's life beginning with his farther's military career, his relationship with his mother, and his time at West Point. In addition to his multiple military assignments, accomplishments on the field, and shaping post-war Japan.

[Fred Lombardo · Rating 5 out of 5]

Finally, a biography that peals back the vale of bias and pretentiousness that have clouded the history of this great man. While certainly flawed, Mac Arthur was one of America's greatest, if not the greatest military leader and statesman. Historians have followed the old stories of downgrading his contributions to this country and that has been nothing short of tragic. This biography does justice to Mac Arthur as a man and a hero. Would that this country could find such a noble soul these days. This is without doubt, one of the best biographies I have ever read.