General Ike: A Biography of Dwight D. Eisenhower

by Alden R. Hatch

A biography of Dwight D Eisenhower trough the Battle of the Bulge.

Genres: Biography, Military Fiction

252 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1945

About the author

Alden R. Hatch was an American writer.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alden_R....

Reviews

[Emily D. · Rating 3 out of 5]

I found this old book at my grandparents' house and I'm sure it was enjoyed by my grandpa, who loved to read nonfiction. I'm not much of a history buff but I'm glad I read this book. I didn't even realize that Eisenhower was such a key general in American history, before he became a president. I'm sure I heard about it in history classes, but that fact certainly didn't stick in my brain. This book was great as both a biography of a great man, but also as a look into the war period in America. I only noticed towards the end of my reading, but this book was published in 1944 and has a note on the inside saying "Wartime Book" "This complete edition is produced in full compliance with the government's regulations for conserving paper and other essential materials". Reading this statement was so surprising and sort of drew me into the time period. I definitely also got a very optimistic, euphemistic vibe from the book which I'm sure was a key factor in this book being published at the time.

""War," he said, "next to the loss of freedom, is the ultimate calamity which can befall a nation. It is worse than flood or earthquake or plague because those are natural evils and limited. Furthermore, they bring out the good side of man, his instinct to help his neighbor. But there is no limit to the evil wrought by war. The terror and horror are boundless and appalling because they are visited by man upon mankind, and the blind cruelty of nature is far less vicious than the intellectually directed cruelty of man. War is so horrible that imagination cannot grasp it in all its fearful aspects. If Mr. Chamberlain can avert it without endangering England's freedom, he is doing well by his country and by the world!""

[Alan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Fascinating book.

[Helen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Biography of Eisenhower from birth to The Battle of the Bulge. Battle details are interesting, but the book is filled with imagined conversations that couldn't possibly have been documented and the book does not cite sources. Interesting to see how people viewed Ike while the war was still ongoing, with nary a hint of a possible political life afterwards, something common in biographies of presidents after the fact.