War & StrategyBook note
The Generals
Description. A short description of a book from my bookshelf, not a review.
Ricks traces American generalship from the Second World War to Iraq and Afghanistan. He argues that under George Marshall the Army relieved generals who failed, but that this culture of accountability faded after Korea, with consequences in Vietnam and Iraq.
The book is provocative and full of sharp portraits of individual commanders. Its central question, how a military institution rewards success and deals with failure, applies far beyond the US Army.
From the bookshelf · read 2019–2020