Rating: 
Summary: MacArthur a Legend From Our Time
Review: I picked up American Caesar on a cloudy spring day, hoping to find something that would occupy my time for an hour. The book, had in fact, sat on my shelf for years, for although being a World War II history buff, the thought of reading a long autobiography didn't appeal to me. From the preamble onward, I became engrossed. The book became something I could not put down and I found myself enjoying the earlier chapters of his life just as much as those that focused on the fight in the Pacific. The Author, William Manchester, accomplishes something all historians should attempt: looking at a biography as a possible way to retell someone's life, not just their accomplishments. The fact that history classes today don't clearly define the heroics that MacArthur accomplished, the risks that he faced or his tragic flaw that led to his downturn. If someone with his personality can become what he became it is a true inspiration to us all. His life shows us that those high in power are far from perfect, yet at the same time, MacArthur spent much of his time trying to present himself as perfect. And indeed Mr. Manchester does an exelent job of delving behind lime-light of MacArthur's military career and gives the reader valuable insight into what the MacArthur went through, in his stride to reach for the top. In essence, this is a tale of one man's quest to get where he thinks he belongs, but his arrogance and incompromisable style which helped him reach his peak, served to prevent him from summiting.
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but dated
Review: I read this book quite a while ago, and at the time was quite impressed by its portrayal of the talented, but heavily flawed MacArthur. Since then I have read a great deal more about the general, WWII and the politics involved in reorganizing Japan after the war. MacArthur does not come off as well as he does in this book.If memory serves, there was little or no discussion of the degree to which MacArthur was manipulated by the Japanese through his fear of the Chinese and Russians - hence the almost total absence of war crimes trials as there were in Germany. This despite an appalling record of torture and murder well documented in numerous other books:
Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up by Sheldon H. Harris;
The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang, William C. Kirby;
Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World War II (Transitions--Asia and Asian America) by Yuki Tanaka, et al),
and many more.
And then there was the creation of the "Emperor as powerless figurehead" rather than active player in WW II by MacArthur which was not examined in any critical way. See:
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P. Bix . This also led to Japan's being allowed to retain much of the treasure it plundered from the countries it had conquered. It was this that fueled much of the Japanese post-war recovery - not merely MacArthur's splendid leadership. While Manchester does discuss MacArthur's flaws, he does not go nearly far enough. This leads to my central complaint about this book and about Manchester's writing in general. Manchester is a gifted writer, but lets his emotions and bias get in the way of a truly objective account of his research. This is clear when he is writing about the Kennedys, and also clear in this book. The advantages of such an approach can be seen in some of the best of this biography -- a truly engaging style in which his admiration and respect for his subject shine through. He has a remarkable ability to bring the reader into the world of his subject. The disadvantage is that many of the warts are glossed over or ignored.(Or portrayed more in the manner of the Greek "fatal flaw" which in an odd way makes the subject even more admirable). In any case, while there is much to admire about this book, I am disappointed that Manchester did not look under some of the rocks a little more carefully and present a fuller and more honest picture of the general.
Rating:
Summary: Good, but dated
Review: I read this book quite a while ago, and at the time was quite impressed by its portrayal of the talented, but heavily flawed MacArthur. Since then I have read a great deal more about the general, WWII and the politics involved in reorganizing Japan after the war. MacArthur does not come off as well as he does in this book. The credit MacArthur is given for his "island hopping" strategy is overrated, as the strategy was actually developed by others.
I believe this is pretty thoroughly documented in:
A War to Be Won: Fighting the Second World War by Williamson Murray, Allan R. Millett
In fact MacArthur's focus on the Philippines rather than other, more militarily significant targets cost many lives and was due to his own political aspirations rather than military necessity. If memory serves, there was little or no discussion of the degree to which MacArthur was manipulated by the Japanese through his fear of the Chinese and Russians - hence the almost total absence of war crimes trials as there were in Germany. This despite an appalling record of torture and murder well documented in numerous other books:
Factories of Death: Japanese Biological Warfare 1932-45 and the American Cover-Up by Sheldon H. Harris;
The Rape of Nanking: The Forgotten Holocaust of World War II by Iris Chang, William C. Kirby;
Hidden Horrors: Japanese War Crimes in World War II (Transitions--Asia and Asian America) by Yuki Tanaka, et al),
and many more.
And then there was the creation of the "Emperor as powerless figurehead" rather than active player in WW II by MacArthur which was not examined in any critical way. See:
Hirohito and the Making of Modern Japan by Herbert P. Bix . This also led to Japan's being allowed to retain much of the treasure it plundered from the countries it had conquered. It was this that fueled much of the Japanese post-war recovery - not MacArthur's splendid leadership. While Manchester does discuss MacArthur's flaws, he does not go nearly far enough. I thnk MacArthur is going to be a general in the mode of Montgomery. The more distance we gain, the worse he looks.
Rating:
Summary: A brilliant but flawed work
Review: I recommend this book highly. It does a good job of combining MacArthur's personality, military achievements with a greater historical perspective. I especially like the many facts and anecdotes about his Pacific Campaign. For example, in three years of brutal fighting from Australia to Japan against Tojo's six million man army, MacArthur only lost 27k troops. Eisenhower lost 28k troops in the Battle of Normandy alone. The following flaws in the book really bothered me and I would appreciate if anybody else could reccomend another book on the General: 1. This book had more bad typos than I've seen in a published work. Things like "teh" for "the" and "Britsih" for "British." This is inexusible in a scholarly work that notes sources errors with a [sic].
2. Despite a focus on the General's personal life, obvious questions are left unanswered. For example, Manchester states that the General and his wife slept in separate bedrooms, but never says WHY? It could be they had marital problems or the General snored or it was just customary for that generation. I want to know! Manchester states that MacArthur's first wife was said to be in her twenties, but she "had to be in her thirties" because she had been married before. You'd think that a researcher as skilled as Manchester would be able to dig up the date of birth of a prominent heiress and simply tell us how old she was when she married the general!
3. The maps and photos are woefully inadequate. There are only a few tiny maps when a separate one should be done for each battle. The author describes his mansion in Tokyo at great length and never shows a picture.
4. There must be the names of about a thousand people mentioned in the book, but there is no List of Major Personal such as is in At Dawn We Slept. This is the gravest error and can make the book very confusing.
5. Although it was written in 1978, the book does not explain archiac terms. The average modern reader who is not a history expert does not know what Formosa, Indo-China, etc. are..
6. Every book, no matter how scholarly, it a work of art shaped by the man that the author was. It is absolutely inexusable and dishonest that Manchester does not let the reader know that HE fought in the Pacific himself. His role in the war had to shape his perceptions of the General and he should have at least given a short preface talking about his service in the Marines. I did not know Manchester was a veteran until after I read the book and did some research on him. Some harsh criticisms I know, but the bottom line is that I really enjoyed the book despite its shortcomings.
Rating: 
Summary: Spectacular account of a complex and remarkable man.
Review: In the annals of American and Military history, there are few men who are more complex, enigmatic, fascinating, and terrifying than General Douglas MacArthur. The General, as preferred everyone (including his wife) to call him, is well known for his heroics during World War II in the Pacific Theater and for his ignoble firing by President Harry Truman during the Korean War. Many people are familiar with some of his famous quotes (¡°I shall return¡±) and his regal bearing. Yet, the typical scholastic history books and the majority of historians merely gloss over the details of MacArthur and just seek to present him from a distant point of view. MacArthur, himself, through his own memoirs, presented his life through his own rose-filtered perspective. Author William Manchester (¡°The Last Lion¡±) sought a more ambitious goal. He cut through the gloss, the pomp, and preconceived notions to produce what is, without a doubt, the definitive work about the life of General Douglas MacArthur, called ¡°American Caesar¡±.
The book¡¯s title provides an interesting insight in the character of the man who would fascinate and confound generals, presidents, and the public alike. As much as Julius Caesar was a great man who had an unwavering belief in his own destiny for greatness, so to was General MacArthur. The grandson of a nationally respected jurist, the son of a Civil War hero, MacArthur¡¯s destiny would seem to be preordained. Yet, let it not be said that he achieved all he did by any other means than hard work, perseverance, unshakable faith, and the occasional scathing letter from his mother. A graduate of West Point at the turn of the century, he had already achieved the rank of brigadier general during World War I (he achieved flag rank after less than 15 years in the service). Unlike many of the generals who directed the Allied Expeditionary Force during World War I, MacArthur felt he should fight alongside his soldiers instead of safely planning strategy in a chateau far behind the line. This did not endear him to the other generals, but it did make him much beloved among the soldiers. His bravery garnered him 5 Distinguished Service Crosses and spurred many a man to greater feats of accomplishment during the battles they fought. After the war, he preserved his wartime rank of brigadier general by becoming the superintendent of the West Point and making into a more modern academic institution (in addition to its military functions). He went on to become one of the youngest Army Chiefs of Staff and had long since achieved his forth star prior to becoming the Philippines military governor in the late 1930¡¯s. His exploits in World War II are quite well known, as is his failure in Korea. MacArthur craved the action and would never run from a fight. Even when the Japanese where bombing Corrigedor and with snipers still a threat when the Allies reclaimed the Philippines, the General insisted on being out in front in the midst of the danger with his men.
William Manchester¡¯s prose captures the greatness of this man while also deconstructing the motivations that drove him. He reveals how the vanity and paranoia that eventually brought MacArthur¡¯s downfall also powered him to achieve incredible things. ¡°American Caesar¡± is an extraordinarily long book, coming in at just over 850 pages. Yet, not for one single moment does the book lag. Manchester intersperses wonderful anecdotes with the stellar chronology of this man¡¯s life. One shows how unyielding he was in dealing with the ¡®bonus marchers¡¯ during their infamous 1932 eviction from Washington, while at the same time, this four-star general in his 50¡¯s kept a clandestine affair secret, lest he would have to fast the withering glare of his mother. Manchester weaves wonderful accounts of how MacArthur faced the vicious Japanese invasion of the Philippine in 1942 while still finding time to dote on his young son. The author does not take sides in the controversy over the kind of man MacArthur was. He merely presents the man as he was, warts and glory. It¡¯s the readers¡¯ task to make their own opinion of General MacArthur. Reading ¡°American Caesar¡± makes that task quite enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Getting to know Doug
Review: In the history of this world, many men are born to follow. Thankfully, other men are born to lead. Douglas MacArthur is certainly one of the latter.
Author William Manchester performs the masterful task of allowing the reader to get intimately acquainted with the General--a man who was difficult to get close to, to say the least. Like most born leaders, MacArthur possessed an ego the size of Texas. But his leadership skills weren't any smaller.
The author artfully shows us the transformation from a young, brash cadet to a wise, emboldened military leader. Sadly, as Manchester makes known, MacArthur was not fully appreciated by the American public in his living years. As so often happens, the media focused almost exclusively on his faults, and turned a blind eye to all that he accomplished...both in America and abroad.
This book reveals that Douglas MacArthur was a stoic, sometimes cold man who was far from infallible. But it also shows that he was human, and that he possessed a capacity to love, to cherish those that meant the most to him; and especially, a passionate capacity to lead.
Rating:
Summary: Biography at its very best.
Review: It is a sad fact that many people in this day and age would be unable to state who Douglas MacArthur was or what place in history he has assumed. As the Second World War drifts further into the annals of history, the lives and accomplishments of the war's great commanders are in danger of , as MacArthur himself said "slowly fading away". Douglas MacArthur was a colossus. He did not merely play an important role in the war in the Pacific, he dominated it and went on to play a crucial role in the West's early response to Communism in the Far East. William Manchester's exhaustive biography paints a warts and all portrait of the General. Manchester expresses rightful admiration for MacArthur's strategic brilliance and his amazing role in the recontstruction of post-war Japan. Yet, he does not shy away from criticism of MacArthur's extraordinary vanity which, in many cases, almost led (and during the Korean War did lead) to the General's downfall. I finished the book far more enlightened on the character of this individual and yet was left to draw my own conclusions as to his place in history. Manchester's book is not just an immensely readable, throughly documented portrait of Douglas MacArthur. It also serves as a valuable work on the prosecution of the war in the Pacific and the early years of the Cold War and draws some very valuable and raises some interesting questions on the origin of America's entry into the war in Vietnam. Individuals such as Douglas MacArthur should not be forgotten. Love them or hate them, they played a critical role in the history of the 20th Century and to the lives which each and every one of us live today. "American Casear" does justice to all aspects of Douglas MacArthur's life and character and I have no doubts that it will fascinate anyone who picks it up. 5 stars without any hesitation whatsoever.
Rating:
Summary: Very good, but not Manchester's best
Review: It's interesting to watch a biographer grapple with his subject. Edmund Morris provides the most chilling example of "what can go wrong" with his atrocious "Dutch." By way of contrast, William Manchester's "American Caeser" is an excellent example of a biographer successfully coping with a subject that he just doesn't quite understand. As always, Manchester's writing is brilliant, his story compelling, and his subjects infused with life and reality. However, the central theme of the book rings slightly hollow. One comes away with the feeling that there's still a little bit of MacArthur that remains unexplored. Manchester's title is apt, and his analysis of MacArthur as a dichotomous, stupendous, but fatally flawed man is reasonable, and he just about convinces me that this is the whole picture. You really can't go wrong with this book, but I would recommend reading it before you read Manchester's Churchill stuff - just as I would recommend eating a crab-cake appetizer before a 48-ounce prime rib.
Rating:
Summary: MacArthur's campaigns condemn the Navy/Mc blood bath
Review: Let's not mince words here. Former marine Manchester shows that his ordeal and comrades dying were unecessary had a strategist like Gen MacArthur were in charge of the central pacific campaigns and not the butchers in the Navy/Mc. The message is clear: to understand war at this level requires a lifetime of study, as MacArthur lived. As America's greatest General, MacArthur's "tri-phibious warfare" bypassed and starved out major junks of Japanese real estate and defended islands, saving thousands of American lives, accomplishing miracles on a shoe string budget. He dropped Paratroopers and used air smokescreens and feints. He landed in the Japanese rear. He used deception. There was no such "learning" curve in the Navy/Mc frontal attritionist blood bath driven by desires for publicity shots to garner public support for future post-war budget battles in Congress. If MacArthur was ego-driven, the Navy/Mc brass are fare worse as they sent thousands of men to their graves by their failure to understand the operational art and corrupt desire to perpetuate their own service bureaucracy. That U.S. Army General MacArthur had to save the day and do the Navy/Mc's job by conceiving, then staging the amphibious envelopement at Inchon is testament to his greatness. What is flat-out disgusting is when the Navy/Mc wanted to "BYPASS" by invading the rocky island of Formosa (and take gloriously heavy casalties) they wanted TO ABANDON OUR POWS STARVING AND BEING TORTURED TO DEATH ON THE PHILIPINES. If Nimitz had had his way, a lot of Death Camp survivors wouldn't have made it. Fortunately, MacArthur put it all on the line and convinced otherwise navalist FDR to keep faith with our men (includes marines that were captured) and take the Philipines first since it was the right thing to do, and Formosa wouldn't have mattered militarily. If we wanted to have B-29 air bases to bomb Japan, we had China and other locations to do so, losing thousands on Formosa (now Taiwan) would have been a needless blood bath and hollow "victory" for the navy/Mc PR media machine. Let's hope the Red Chinese don't find out in the near future. Be advised--this is not so much a book about MacArthur but about his greatness evidenced by his military campaigns and brilliant rebuilding of post-war Japan. As MacArthur said: "There is no substitute for victory".
Rating:
Summary: A biography and history book.
Review: MacArthur's life is part of history, and you will love Manchester's
description of both. A very dense book that will keep you reading
untill the end.
Eduardo Veiga
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