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Steven M. Gillon, historian and New York Times bestselling author, is back with the story of how WWII shaped the characters and politics of seven American presidents.
World War II loomed over the latter half of the twentieth century, transforming every level of American society and international relationships and searing itself onto the psyche of an entire generation, including that of seven American presidents: Dwight D. Eisenhower, John F. Kennedy, Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, and George H. W. Bush.
The lessons of World War II, more than party affiliation or ideology, defined the presidencies of these seven men. They returned home determined to confront any force that threatened to undermine the war’s hard-won ideals, each with their own unique understanding of patriotism, sacrifice, and America’s role in global politics.
In Presidents at War, Gillon examines what these men took away from the war and how they then applied it to Cold War policies that proceeded to change America, and the world, forever. A nuanced and deeply researched exploration of the lives, philosophies, and legacies of seven remarkable men, Presidents at War deftly argues that the lessons learned by these postwar presidents continue to shape the landscape upon which current and future presidents stand today.
Our Top Reviews
Reviewer: Brett Hurt
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Informative!
Review: Excellent book, very well written and informative
Reviewer: T. O’neill
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Great except the end
Review: Good book, lots of historic information, but he should have stopped before he wrote the epilogue. If I knew he was going to use that to trash Bush2 and Trump, and tried to canonize Biden , who clearly was one of the worst presidents ever, i would have saved the $30. Blaming trump for 450,000 covid deaths and Biden for none is obscene partisanship
Reviewer: Coffee Lover
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: An Illuminating book looking at the lessons of WWii & impact on the future of American and the world.
Review: While much of this book focuses on events well-known to any reader of history, it illuminates the experiences of the men who lived through WW II. An honest look at the good, bad, and ugly experiences of war, this book also focuses on economic principles and political motivation. Heroic dignity, compassion, and duty to country merge with personal ambition, hubris, and love of power. Reading this book forces the reader to confront personal beliefs, media perceptions, and historical dogma of the last 1/2 of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. It is a good history & political lesson for those too young to remember many of the events. History teachers would be well advised to read, study & assign this book as a vision of American at both its worst & best.
Reviewer: John Mac
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: This should be required reading!
Review: A great survey course on post war politics in American that gives equal weight to the success and failures of our presidents that. Incorporates the impact of their WW2 service (or lack thereof) on how they governed!
Reviewer: Kindle Customer
Rating: 2.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Liberal bias
Review: The authors bias of the significance of the NORTHEAST academic elite comes through loud and clear the thing that I was most disappointed about was that there was short work given to the whole Cupid missile crisis I think that this book really Mr. Mark I think that a lot of the good reviews is because the author is part of the liberal establishment
Reviewer: CB
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Well researched and detailed!
Review: read if you like:📚 historical non-fiction🇺🇸 US history🪖 war historysummary:I have a soft spot for US history, so when I got the chance to review this book, I jumped on it. It tells the story of the involvement of seven U.S. presidents — Eisenhower, JFK, Johnson, Nixon, Ford, Reagan and H.W. Bush through the lens of their involvement in World War 2, and how the roles they played influenced their politics for years to come.The book is written chronologically, integrating in each president as their involvement in the war begins, and going back and forth on how their experiences shaped the war, and themselves. It goes deep into many of their involvements, which I found fascinating, as I don’t feel like you read a lot about individual presidents involvement in war as a serviceman. While I knew the story of JFK from living in Boston, many of the others were new to me. It also touches on where some of these men knew each other or how they interacted before their days in politics, which I found fascinating, just given the fact that we often don’t talk about them in groups but rather focus on their individual achievements. Thinking on it now, our last 3 (I think) presidents did not serve in a war, and it’s so interesting how earlier in the century, it was uncommon to be in politics without that background, and how critical that experience was in shaping their policies and relationships.During a time of such turmoil, I found it comforting to read about a time when decisions were made based on facts and first hand experiences, rather than rhetoric and lies.
Reviewer: Rick Loessberg
Rating: 5.0 out of 5 stars
Title: THERE IS SO MUCH TO THIS BOOK
Review: One would think that we already know everything about this group worth knowing, but Steve shows us that we’d be wrong. Equally impressive is how he does this: he brings to life people, who because we are so familiar with them, could have very easily become two-dimensional, stand-up cardboard cutouts.
Reviewer: MT57
Rating: 4.0 out of 5 stars
Title: Interesting anecdotes, needs more focus.
Review: Consistently interesting. Many good anecdotes and facts that I did not know before I read this book. My only criticism is that, once the chronology moves past the war itself, the choice of topics the book explores becomes a rather odd patchwork. No or little discussion of Ike’s handling of Korea, Suez or the Hungary uprising, each of which involves some kind of “war.” Instead, we get discussions of civil rights & McCarthyism. Similarly re the Kennedy era, time is devoted to Keynesianism and civil rights and a very long section on the 1956 and 1960 Democratic nomination processes. In the Nixon era, negligible attention to his rapprochement with China; and, yes, Watergate happened, but what does that have to do with “Presidents At War?”
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