Old Soldiers Never Die: The Life of Douglas Macarthur

Rating:
Summary: Very comprehensive study of a complex hero.
Review: Author Perret primarily sympathizes with the professional soldier in Douglas MacArthur, a man whose interests in life focused on his work more than most men's do. Geo-political strategy, raising and training armies, planning campaigns, and facing the enemy in combat are jobs that need doing, and Perret admires MacArthur for doing them wholeheartedly and well.

Perret also reports MacArthur' exceedingly self-centered personality, in a matter-of-fact, nobody's-perfect way and with an evident distaste for both MacArthur's weaknesses and for sensationalism. The facts are there to give us a portrait of a type of character that crops up with some frequency, and that all of us, perhaps, need to understand.

Perret is explicit in his judgment that MacArthur's megalomania detracted from his professional performance. On finishing Perret's book, I personally had the impression that the U.S.-Japan war would have turned out the same without the battles of Bataan, New Guinea, and Manila, and that these were fought primarily because MacArthur's marvelous personality succeeded in making campaigns revolve around himself rather than around strategic necessity. I would have appreciated it if Perret had more explicitly come to judgment on questions like this, which are essential to an evaluation of MacArthur as a professional soldier. For example, if we had understood MacArthur in this light earlier, perhaps we would have been more alert to the shortcomings of Westmoreland's reporting from Vietnam.

Overall, Perret's book gives the impression of being solid information about a man who was great in his field. The book also appears to supersede its predecessors, which Perret evaluates in the course of his narrative.

Rating:
Summary: Possibly the best one-volume biography of MacArthur
Review: I am amazed at the vitriolic diatribe by at least two of the reviewers.

In response to one review review, I would like to make just a few corrections. First, if you want to read an outstanding and well-researched biography of Douglas MacArthur, do not read Manchester's. I take no umbrage with her criticism that Perret's biography is not the definitative work (the author's goal was to write the best one-volume biography of this enigmatic man). However, I don't know who C. Clayton Douglas is or what four-volume biography of MacArthur he wrote. I do consider D. CLAYTON JAMES' three-volume biography to be the definitive study on the general to date.
In the interest of full disclosure, I have met the author and like him. He is a very charming individual, careful historian, and good author. I liked the book, not because I felt it is the best biography of MacArthur but because of the way he tells the story. Consider this example.
D. Clayton James, in volume 2 of The Years of MacArthur, relates the story of what happened when land-based airpower finally arrived in Leyte in October 1944. "Monsoon rains and frequent Japanese air attacks during the week following the capture of Tacloban airfield made it difficult for the engineers to lay the 2500 feet of steel matting for a runway for the waiting Fifth Air Force fighters on Morotai. . . . When the first two squadrons of P-38's landed at the field on October 27, MacArthur and Kenney were waiting to greet the pilots as they stepped down from their fighters." (P. 568)
Now compare James's passage to Perret's:
"Two days later MacArthur was having lunch when he heard a familiar sound, the engines of P-38s being throttled back. Kenney had ordered half the 49th Fighter Group to fly up from Morotai. . . . MacArthur called for his car and headed for the airfield to greet the thirty-four fighter pilots. He shook hands with the first three as they descended from their planes onto the half-finished strip. One of them was the AAF's top scoring ace, Major Richard Bong, with twenty-eight victories to his credit. 'You know how glad I am to see you,' he told them, beaming. He turned to the journalists who were clustering around. "'The Fifth Air Force has never failed me.'" (P. 429)
Same episode described two entirely different ways. Is this the best MacArthur biography ever written? No but the first thing I always try to remember when reviewing a book is that it is hard work to write one. The second thing I always try to remember is to segregate my books between the purely academic (i.e. published by a university press) and the popular (i.e. published by a company that at the bottom line is interested in the bottom line). Geoffrey Perret fits the latter category. Challenged to research and write a book every three years, he does a remarkable job of bringing to the general public well-written and entertaining books on historical topics and figures. And, while Old Soldiers Never Die has flaws Perret succeeds in presenting, in this reviewer's opinion, in writing the best one-volume history of this arguably brilliant megalomanic.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting, well written book
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. Although long and detailed, I found its style engaging and well organized. It's an easy read. Being able to turn dense historical material into such an interesting book is a triumph.

Writing a biography of a controversial personality like MacArthur is challenging and, overall, I think Perret has done a good job. It's too easy to fall in love with your subject and the author is able to resist the temptation to hurruh too much.

I think, however, that there are a few areas, where the author seems to accept behaviors that are questionable and problematic. Into his assertion of MacArthur's greatness he never really factors in MacArthur's overly emotional temperament nor his lack of veracity. There is space for further debate here that I think the author missed.

Rating:
Summary: An interesting, well written book
Review: I enjoyed this book very much. Although long and detailed, I found its style engaging and well organized. It's an easy read. Being able to turn dense historical material into such an interesting book is a triumph.

Writing a biography of a controversial personality like MacArthur is challenging and, overall, I think Perret has done a good job. It's too easy to fall in love with your subject and the author is able to resist the temptation to hurruh too much.

I think, however, that there are a few areas, where the author seems to accept behaviors that are questionable and problematic. Into his assertion of MacArthur's greatness he never really factors in MacArthur's overly emotional temperament nor his lack of veracity. There is space for further debate here that I think the author missed.

Rating:
Summary: The quintessential pop biography
Review: If you want to read an outstanding, scholarly and well-researched biography of Douglas MacArthur, the logical choice is William Manchester's "American Caesar," available on Amazon. The definitive treatment is C. Clayton Douglas's four-volume set. The book is not in the same league. Perret is once again overmatched with the topic and has created a facile, error-ridden and ultimately obtuse look at the insufferably arrogant yet brilliant MacArthur. He relies upon discredited sources and quotes them repeatedly. He also puts his own (inaccurate) spin on various pivotal characters, thus changing history.

A primary example of this is when MacArthur's first wife claimed he was impotent and a dud in the sack. She repeated this on many occasions and was quite adamant on this point and one would think she was in a good position to know. But an impotent, un-virile Mac is not the portrait Perret wishes to create, so he viscerally attacks the credibility of Louise and states without equivocation that she was a liar. There are myriad problems with this analysis. MacArthur's Eurasian mistress also complained about the same things Louise did... again, Perret ignores this, or didn't do sufficient research to unearth this fact. Perret ignores many other foibles of MacArthur. There is nary a mention of his virulent racism or the reasons he ended up living the last 12 years of his life in a penthouse in the Waldorf Astoria.

The weakest sections of the book are the pivotal World War II chapters. Errors too numerous to list litter the landscape. Perret's analysis of MacArthur's relationships with FDR, Truman and Marshall are wise of the mark and facile. Similarly, the years of MacArthur's Japan "dictatorship" and the Inchon landing are predictably flat.

MacArthur's story is one of the most fascinating American stories of the 20th century. This is not the book to read if you are seriously interested in learning about this vainglorious, insufferable, yet charismatic and intellectual military man. This is a pop biography with no new information, novel and inaccurate analysis and an astounding lack of depth.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, well written and researched
Review: If you want to read an outstanding, scholarly and well-researched biography of Douglas MacArthur, the logical choice is William Manchester's "American Caesar," available on Amazon. The definitive treatment is C. Clayton Douglas's four-volume set. The book is not in the same league. Perret is once again overmatched with the topic and has created a facile, error-ridden and ultimately obtuse look at the insufferably arrogant yet brilliant MacArthur. He relies upon discredited sources and quotes them repeatedly. He also puts his own (inaccurate) spin on various pivotal characters, thus changing history.

A primary example of this is when MacArthur's first wife claimed he was impotent and a dud in the sack. She repeated this on many occasions and was quite adamant on this point and one would think she was in a good position to know. But an impotent, un-virile Mac is not the portrait Perret wishes to create, so he viscerally attacks the credibility of Louise and states without equivocation that she was a liar. There are myriad problems with this analysis. MacArthur's Eurasian mistress also complained about the same things Louise did... again, Perret ignores this, or didn't do sufficient research to unearth this fact. Perret ignores many other foibles of MacArthur. There is nary a mention of his virulent racism or the reasons he ended up living the last 12 years of his life in a penthouse in the Waldorf Astoria.

The weakest sections of the book are the pivotal World War II chapters. Errors too numerous to list litter the landscape. Perret's analysis of MacArthur's relationships with FDR, Truman and Marshall are wise of the mark and facile. Similarly, the years of MacArthur's Japan "dictatorship" and the Inchon landing are predictably flat.

MacArthur's story is one of the most fascinating American stories of the 20th century. This is not the book to read if you are seriously interested in learning about this vainglorious, insufferable, yet charismatic and intellectual military man. This is a pop biography with no new information, novel and inaccurate analysis and an astounding lack of depth.

Rating:
Summary: Old heroes never die
Review: If you want to read good history (not great) you need to pick this book up. I think you will absolutely find the book to be a good book, but I found the last chapter to be great. I love when the author chronicles the general giving his last speech at West Point. Talk about a dying man's last play on the stage! The way that the author details this speech leaves one with an exceptional feeling. MacArthur was a man dedicated to his principles and to the army. Still, I like the way he finishes that speech and turns to his wife to blow her a kiss. He could be an officer and a gentlemen even with all of his flaws. Stanley Weintraub's book, "MacArthur's War" is also a good piece of writing. I would recommend both of these books if you want to get a balanced picture of the man and his life. I think Peret is successful (as Weintraub is) in showing the contrasts and character flaws of this great man. Also, for other information on the general, check out the MacArthur center website.

Rating:
Summary: To people who history is a avocation & not a vocation,
Review: the life of Douglas MacArthur is known but in fairly broad strokes. For 688 pages (31 hrs on cassette) Mr. Parett fills in the blanks.
First he spends sometime on Arthur MacArthur, Douglas MacArthur's father & hero. This first Gemeral MacArthur was quite an important historical figure himself. Everything Douglas did in his life he measured against his father & the standards he had set.
Many biographies deal with just his involvement is World War II, Korea & maybe World War I. This whole life biography covers his West Point years, the Phillipines, Vera Cruz, Mexico, & his pre-World War I relationship with General Pershing & his mistress.
It is apparent that even one large volume gives brevity to MacArthur's life but Mr. Parrett does an excellent job. He also seems to have a slight bias towards MacArthur. He takes MacArthur's side in most instances except after Inchon when his judgement became questionable. But he does not shrink from his faults such as his huge ego, thin skin, inability to take advice or criticism & his foolhardy courage. Many times these character faults actually served him. His daily routine in the many places he served, his women, his only son, the many military leaders, presidents of many countries & his feelings about them are covered in this book.
A very complex man we were lucky to have as Supreme Commander in the Pacific. The Japanese were lucky to have him as their virtual ruler during the occupation of Japan. We were lucky again to have him in Korea--to a point. Inchon was the crowning achievement of his career. If he had died at that point he never would have descended to the status of mere mortals. His legend would have grown forever. His fall was swift & sad.
We were also lucky that he never became president. He toyed with the idea of running in 1944, 1948 & 1952. In 1951 he had not set foot on the mainland of the United States for 14 years. He was hopelessly out of touch with the people of the United States by that time.
I didn't know that FDR coined the phrase "dugout Doug".

Rating:
Summary: Very comprehensive study of a complex hero.
Review: There is no doubt that Douglas MacArthur will always be acknowledged as one of our greatest military minds, however Mr. Perret tells us of his mistakes and shortcomings. This book has been well researched and despite its length (688 pages) it is easy to read and hard to put down. The General's long and sometimes controversial career gave the author plenty to write about and he does so while keeping the subject very interesting. Despite Gen.MacArthur's many flaws, what impressed me was his loyalty to his staff and his concern for his troops. Only once (New Guinea) did he order a frontal assault. This strategy saved many American lives and casualties. You will especially enjoy the MacArthur/Truman debate over US policy and military authority. Don't miss reading this great American saga.