BENJAMIN RUNKLE is a former paratrooper and presidential speechwriter with a Harvard PhD and a Bronze Star from Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has served as an official in the Department of Defense, as a director at the National Security Council, and as a professional staff member on the House Armed Services Committee. He is currently a senior policy fellow with Artis International and an adjunct lecturer in Johns Hopkins University's Global Security Program. He is the author of Wanted Dead or Alive: Manhunts from Geronimo to Bin Laden (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), and his writing has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The National Interest, Military History Quarterly, and Joint Forces Quarterly, amongst other publications. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and two sons.
Description
Ben Runkle illuminates the hidden lives of these future commanders between World War I and World War II in Generals in the Making. Runkle is uniquely qualified to write this story. He knows the Army and its soldiers, as shown by his mastery of the primary and secondary literature about these great captains and his acknowledgment that there are flesh-and-blood men beneath the uniforms. Runkle writes elegantly and for a broad readership, yet avid readers of military history will still learn new things . . . Runkle's book is ultimately inspiring. Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, and Eisenhower had personal and professional problems with which many empathize or sympathize. Generals in the Making is an important new addition to our knowledge of these flawed and great men. * Washington Examiner * Runkle makes "important contributions to the profession of arms. In reading Generals in the Making, military leaders will see the important role the nontangible aspects of the profession play in leader development: the time we spend reflecting, the books we read, and the mentors we listen to." * Army Magazine * Covering U.S. army leadership from the beginning of the twentieth century to the end of World War II, this book details the careers of those generals mentioned in the title and of many other military luminaries. En route, the text provides a detailed history of both world wars and of the depression that crippled the U.S. between them. * Internet Review of Books *