A lucid, opinionated life of a man who exerted far greater influence than historians give him credit for—and a book sure to...
A welcome biography of Franklin Roosevelt’s closest adviser.
Though William D. Leahy (1875-1959) lacked charisma, his importance has been surprisingly muted over the decades; this excellent life appraisal should help restore it. Graduating from the Naval Academy in 1897, Leahy rose steadily, always impressing superiors, according to O’Brien (Strategic Studies/University of St. Andrews; How the War Was Won: Air-Sea Power and Allied Victory in World War II, 2015, etc.). “It was striking,” he writes, “how often a senior commander, once he had Leahy serve beneath him for the first time, tried to co-opt the younger officer in the future.” He hit the jackpot in 1913, when Roosevelt, then the assistant secretary of the Navy, took a liking to him, and they became friends. Leahy reached the Navy’s highest office, Chief of Naval Operations, in 1937. After his retirement in 1939, Roosevelt sent him on diplomatic missions but made him chief of staff after the U.S. entered World War II. O’Brien disagrees with most historians, who believe America’s most influential military man during WWII was Gen. George Marshall. Marshall was an “august, formal, and upright figure” with everyone, including Roosevelt, who preferred a chatty informality with his colleagues. FDR could relax with Leahy and call him “Bill.” The first time he called Marshall “George” was the last. Roosevelt vastly preferred Leahy’s company and advice, and when Marshall disagreed with Leahy, Marshall lost. In case readers have doubts, the author produces a table that juxtaposes their opposing strategic views. Sure enough, they differed on invading North Africa in 1942, invading France in 1943, and whether to give defeating Germany priority over Japan. With these and all others, Leahy prevailed. Upon assuming office in 1945, Truman kept Leahy, but he retired into obscurity in 1949.
A lucid, opinionated life of a man who exerted far greater influence than historians give him credit for—and a book sure to invite spirited argument from historians who disagree.Pub Date: May 7, 2019
ISBN: 978-0-399-58480-0
Page Count: 544
Publisher: Dutton
Review Posted Online: March 16, 2019
Kirkus Reviews Issue: April 1, 2019
The author's youthfulness helps to assure the inevitable comparison with the Anne Frank diary although over and above the...
Elie Wiesel spent his early years in a small Transylvanian town as one of four children.
He was the only one of the family to survive what Francois Maurois, in his introduction, calls the "human holocaust" of the persecution of the Jews, which began with the restrictions, the singularization of the yellow star, the enclosure within the ghetto, and went on to the mass deportations to the ovens of Auschwitz and Buchenwald. There are unforgettable and horrifying scenes here in this spare and sombre memoir of this experience of the hanging of a child, of his first farewell with his father who leaves him an inheritance of a knife and a spoon, and of his last goodbye at Buchenwald his father's corpse is already cold let alone the long months of survival under unconscionable conditions.
Pub Date: Jan. 16, 2006
ISBN: 0374500010
Page Count: 120
Publisher: Hill & Wang
Review Posted Online: Oct. 7, 2011
Kirkus Reviews Issue: Jan. 15, 2006
Well-told and admonitory.
Young-rags-to-mature-riches memoir by broker and motivational speaker Gardner.
Born and raised in the Milwaukee ghetto, the author pulled himself up from considerable disadvantage. He was fatherless, and his adored mother wasn’t always around; once, as a child, he spied her at a family funeral accompanied by a prison guard. When beautiful, evanescent Moms was there, Chris also had to deal with Freddie “I ain’t your goddamn daddy!” Triplett, one of the meanest stepfathers in recent literature. Chris did “the dozens” with the homies, boosted a bit and in the course of youthful adventure was raped. His heroes were Miles Davis, James Brown and Muhammad Ali. Meanwhile, at the behest of Moms, he developed a fondness for reading. He joined the Navy and became a medic (preparing badass Marines for proctology), and a proficient lab technician. Moving up in San Francisco, married and then divorced, he sold medical supplies. He was recruited as a trainee at Dean Witter just around the time he became a homeless single father. All his belongings in a shopping cart, Gardner sometimes slept with his young son at the office (apparently undiscovered by the night cleaning crew). The two also frequently bedded down in a public restroom. After Gardner’s talents were finally appreciated by the firm of Bear Stearns, his American Dream became real. He got the cool duds, hot car and fine ladies so coveted from afar back in the day. He even had a meeting with Nelson Mandela. Through it all, he remained a prideful parent. His own no-daddy blues are gone now.
Well-told and admonitory.Pub Date: June 1, 2006
ISBN: 0-06-074486-3
Page Count: 320
Publisher: Amistad/HarperCollins
Review Posted Online: May 19, 2010
Kirkus Reviews Issue: March 15, 2006
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