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The Mantle of Command

Audiobook
0 of 1 copy available
0 of 1 copy available

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 readers 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 intimate, sweeping look at a great president in history's greatest conflict is must reading.

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    • AudioFile Magazine
      James Langton gives Hamilton's history of FDR's military leadership in WWII up to the Allied invasion of North Africa (November 1942) an engaging and enthusiastic narration. There's much interesting detail, though it's somewhat repetitive. While Langton's British accent takes a bit of getting used to, his affable tone will easily win over listeners. His weighting and emphasis of sentences is intelligent, his variation of inflection lively but natural, and his pacing excellent. Langton makes it easy to be absorbed in this story of command decisions in the early part of the war. W.M. © AudioFile 2014, Portland, Maine
    • Publisher's Weekly

      January 6, 2014
      Accomplished biographer Hamilton (Biography: A Brief History) delivers an analysis of President Franklin Roosevelt in the role of Commander-in-Chief through the first two years of WWII. The author follows his subject through 14 pivotal periods of the early war years and demonstrates that F.D.R. frequently trusted his own judgment over the advice of the military professionals who surrounded him. Central to the book and its thesis is the contest of wills between F.D.R. and his group of distinguished military advisors regarding the proposed invasion of North Africa in 1942, which was aggressively opposed by General Marshall and Secretary of War Stimson. This decision almost resulted in a “mutiny” against the President. Events ultimately vindicated the President’s decision and firmly established his talent for grand strategy. Though it’s a weighty tome, and is based extensively on Roosevelt’s own notes, Hamilton keeps a brisk pace throughout to produce what will likely be seen as a definitive volume on this aspect of Roosevelt’s career and essential reading for anyone interested in WWII, the Roosevelt Presidency, and presidential leadership. Agent: Ike Williams; Kneerim, Williams & Bloom Literary Agency.

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  • OverDrive Listen audiobook

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  • English

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