Rating: 
Summary: Save your money
Review: Although I enjoyed Perret's previous works, this one truely disappoints. The narrative flows poorly and is disjointed in many areas. It provides no new insights in the WWII venue and only gives an ill-conceived overview of Eisenhower's presidency. I felt that I knew no more about Ike as a human being than I did before I finished the work which was supposed to be the strong point of this effort. A great disappointment from an author I have enjoyed immensely in the past.
Rating:
Summary: Save your money
Review: Although I enjoyed Perret's previous works, this one truely disappoints. The narrative flows poorly and is disjointed in many areas. It provides no new insights in the WWII venue and only gives an ill-conceived overview of Eisenhower's presidency. I felt that I knew no more about Ike as a human being than I did before I finished the work which was supposed to be the strong point of this effort. A great disappointment from an author I have enjoyed immensely in the past.
Rating: 
Summary: Another strong effort by Perret
Review: Another enjoyable biography by Perret. However, it didn't quite match his work on MacArthur or Grant. I've always enjoyed how Perret will challenge previous opinions on his subjects. Contrary to a previous reviewer's thoughts, his handling of Kay is minor and tends to expose her as a fraud. Except for some mishaps with the economy and civil rights, he rights histories perception and places Ike among our greatest leaders in the Army and as President of the United States. I do have a couple of complaints. He tends to breeze over his years as a cadet (which he gives more time to Grant and MacCarthur). Secondly, the book seems to run out of steam when writing about his final couple of years in the White House and his final years with us.
Rating:
Summary: Very readible with good insights
Review: Based upon sales figures, this effort by Perret is not destined to become a classic as is Ambrose's two volume (later condensed into one) standard biography of Ike. That's too bad because I believe that Perret gives great insights into the human side of Ike, such as his tremendous grief over the death of his first son, and his troubled relationship with his second son, John. Indeed, I recently saw John interviewed on television and John's uncomfortable reactions to being compared to his father, including his striking physical resemblence, show that Perret's observations are well taken. I also was fascinated by Perret's analysis of the Kay Somersby rumors. Perret carefully sifts the evidence and determines that the two were emotionally close but never had sex. Perret points out that if Kay's account is true, they would have been doing it in a common area of a house shared by others. That's highly unlikely. Most importantly, this book backs up recent historians who rate Eisenhower as a better president than did historians of a generation ago. Perret documents a great deal of achievenment in the Eisenhower administration that has previously been overlooked. Ike's seeming detachment was actually calculated and he always was in control and knew exactly what he wanted to do. I recommend this interesting biography.
Rating: 
Summary: A Complete view that ties previous Biographies Together
Review: From the brilliantly simple and understated cover that is backed up with a Biography of a man, much recorded, but possibly never truly discovered. As with 'Old Soldiers Never Die' Geoffrey Perret is fast establishing himself as the military historians' biographer. This is a simply a great book. Perret shows his depth of both perception and study in this volume. Ike is never portrayed as more than a man where history has done its best to lionise or in some cases cannonise him. Perret simply knows his subject and has written what I believe is the Biography of Ike that all previous have sought to be.Where most have shown the frustrated soldier come politician Perret shows the depth of the individual and portrays the great man as the sometime flawed human being that he was. BRILLIANT
Rating: 
Summary: Another bad book from Perret
Review: Having studied Ike for 30 years, I am disappointed in this book from Mr. Perret. There are so many sloppy errors in this book. I don't understand why Perret didn't have Stephen Ambrose proofread this manuscript before sending it off to be published. Anyone who wants to know the real Ike will lose to Ambrose's books, not this inconsequential and vapid treatment. Perret specializes in shoddy biographies, like the ones he did on U.S. Grant and MacArthur.
Rating:
Summary: Not worth buying
Review: I pretty much agree with the previous reviewer, Tim McCann. A shallow book. I wish I had saved my money and not bothered to buy this book.
Rating:
Summary: Vapid in the extreme
Review: I've long admired Ike and have dozens of biographies of him. The best is the two-volume study by Prof. Ambrose, which was a delightful read. This book is really quite bad. There are so many mistakes in it, I couldn' tbegin to count them all. Perret's attempts at trying to explain World War II and the European theatre were almost laughably comic. It was pretty clear he'd never read much about the War, or Monty, Patton, Bradley, etc. This is an anemically researched effort.
Rating:
Summary: An Outstanding Biography
Review: In "Eisenhower" Geoffrey Perret gives an outstanding biography of a very interesting and important historical figure. Here we meet Ike from birth to death. The reader is treated to an introduction to the Eisenhower family, to the father who could never be close to his sons, the mother who had little influence over them and the brothers with whom Ike grew up and continued his mutually supportive relationship through their highly successful careers. The relationship with Mamie, their lost son, and son John, all reflect Ike's personal strengths and limitations. Perret does equally well in telling the stories of the junior officer and the commander as well as those of the President and senior statesman. Eisenhower's evaluations of many of the characters who crossed his path add to the allure of this book. Ike's admiration, followed by his contempt for MacArthur, his dislike of FDR, his lack of respect for Truman and his lack of affection for Nixon, all add to the insight into Ike's times. Omar Bradley, George Marshall, John Foster Dulles, Henry Cabot Lodge and Joseph McCarthy are just a sampling of the world characters who played on Eisenhower's stage. Perret thoroughly reports each phase of Ike's life in a way as to maintain interest throughout. He comments on Eisenhower's rights and wrongs in a way which provokes thoughts, without seeming to be opinionated. I believe that this is what makes this biography superior so many others..
Rating:
Summary: An Outstanding Biography
Review: In "Eisenhower" Geoffrey Perret gives an outstanding biography of a very interesting and important historical figure. Here we meet Ike from birth to death. The reader is treated to an introduction to the Eisenhower family, to the father who could never be close to his sons, the mother who had little influence over them and the brothers with whom Ike grew up and continued his mutually supportive relationship through their highly successful careers. The relationship with Mamie, their lost son, and son John, all reflect Ike's personal strengths and limitations. Perret does equally well in telling the stories of the junior officer and the commander as well as those of the President and senior statesman. Eisenhower's evaluations of many of the characters who crossed his path add to the allure of this book. Ike's admiration, followed by his contempt for MacArthur, his dislike of FDR, his lack of respect for Truman and his lack of affection for Nixon, all add to the insight into Ike's times. Omar Bradley, George Marshall, John Foster Dulles, Henry Cabot Lodge and Joseph McCarthy are just a sampling of the world characters who played on Eisenhower's stage. Perret thoroughly reports each phase of Ike's life in a way as to maintain interest throughout. He comments on Eisenhower's rights and wrongs in a way which provokes thoughts, without seeming to be opinionated. I believe that this is what makes this biography superior so many others..
| 
