The Mantle of Command: FDR at War, 1941-1942
Written by Nigel Hamilton
Narrated by James Langton
5/5
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Currently unavailable
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About this audiobook
Based on years of archival research and interviews with the last surviving aides and Roosevelt family members, Nigel Hamilton offers a definitive account of FDR's masterful—and underappreciated—command of the Allied war effort. Hamilton takes listeners inside FDR's White House Oval Study—his personal command center—and into the meetings where he battled with Churchill about strategy and tactics and overrode the near mutinies of his own generals and secretary of war.
Time and again, FDR was proven right and his allies and generals were wrong. When the generals wanted to attack the Nazi-fortified coast of France, FDR knew the Allied forces weren't ready. When Churchill insisted his Far East colonies were loyal and would resist the Japanese, Roosevelt knew it was a fantasy. As Hamilton's account reaches its climax with the Torch landings in North Africa in late 1942, the tide of war turns in the Allies' favor and FDR's genius for psychology and military affairs is clear. This must-listen account is an intimate, sweeping look at a great president in history's greatest conflict.
Nigel Hamilton
NIGEL HAMILTON is a best-selling and award-winning biographer of President John F. Kennedy, General Bernard “Monty” Montgomery, and President Bill Clinton, among other subjects. His most recent book, The Mantle of Command: FDR at War, 1941–1942, was long-listed for the National Book Award. He is a senior fellow at the McCormack Graduate School, University of Massachusetts, Boston, and splits his time between Boston, Massachusetts, and New Orleans, Louisiana.
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War and Peace: FDR's Final Odyssey, D-Day to Yalta, 1943-1945 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5Commander in Chief: FDR's Battle with Churchill, 1943 Rating: 4 out of 5 stars4/5
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Reviews for The Mantle of Command
3 ratings1 review
- Rating: 5 out of 5 stars5/5Excellent review and analysis of FDR's transition into a wartime commander in chief and leader of the nations united against the Axis. His breadth of vision and understanding of the roles that logistics, planning, and training must play in the creation of the military means needed; are quite beyond those of his generals and his allies, even Winston Churchill. His charm, tact, and perseverance are severely challenged by the tunnel vision and parochial last war thinking of Marshall, King and Secretary of War Stimson. The British, after two years of trying had yet to win a land battle and the Americans, had yet to fight one but each was adamant that they had the solution. Roosevelt, correctly, discerned that the Brits were too weak and the Yanks were nowhere near ready nor able. The learnings, about logistics from Guadalcanal as well as the leadership and training deficiencies during the Kasserine Pass Battle, were unfortunate demonstrations of his foresight.