Lords of War: From Lincoln to Churchill: Supreme Command 1861-1945 - Hardcover

Barnett, Correlli

4.19

16 ratings by Goodreads

9781781590935: Lords of War: From Lincoln to Churchill: Supreme Command 1861-1945

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1781590931 ISBN 13: 9781781590935

Publisher: The Praetorian Press, 2013

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In this compelling study of leadership, Correlli Barnett examines the strengths and weaknesses of twenty leaders in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. He examines how the difficulties they faced and the political and strategic backgrounds of their days and analyses how they performed and what they achieved. Were they successful, or were they beaten down by the burden of their roles? His book considers men from very different backgrounds and from three continents in a range of modern conflicts from the Napoleonic Wars to the Second World War. They range from statesmen like Napoleon, Abraham Lincoln, David Lloyd George, Winston Churchill, Adolf Hitler and Joseph Stalin, to generals like Ulysses S. Grant, Douglas Haig, Erwin Rommel, Georgi Zhukov, Dwight Eisenhower and William Slim, to admirals lie Isoruku Yamamoto and Bertram Ramsey. These leaders present fascinating contrasts of personal character, styles of leadership and sheer aptitude for command as well as contrasts in the daunting professional problems that challenged each of them. In Lords of War Correlli Barnett yet again demolishes hallowed reputations and rehabilitates the unjustly scapegoated. His latest book confirms his reputation as a master in the field of strategic history.

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Review:

This page turner just keeps on giving. The joy of it is you can read each chapter separately and come back as it suits you. It made an ideal read for my commute on the train into London. But the important thing to keep in sight is where the appreciation of the subjects comes from. You can't write books like this overnight, they take years of experience and a strong element of bloody mindedness. This is a magnificent book and having read a number of reviews by supposedly worthier people than me I can take heart from getting my impressions bang on correct. I couldn't have read this book when I was fourteen and I suspect Correlli Barnett might not have been able to write it, But here we are, and I have to tell you this is the book of 2012 I would have picked had I done one of those "best of" things before Crimbo. This book will help you place a lot of people and armies in context. It will burst bubbles and I hope it will squash some tired, nasty old myths. You simply have to read it. War History Online One of the country's foremost military historians, at 86, Bill Barnett, as he is better known, remains the great controversialist with a wry sense of humour and, what is more, shows absolutely no sign of pandering to popular sentiment. Whilst recognising Haig's flaws and mistakes, Barnett insists in characteristically forthright fashion that the popular view of the army's senior officer on the Western Front is entirely 'one-sided' and 'unjust'. Eastern Daily Press

About the Author:

Correlli Barnett is one of Britain's best-known historians. A Fellow of both the Royal Society of Literature and the Royal Historical Society, he was Keeper of the Churchill Archives Centre at Churchill College, Cambridge and has written many acclaimed books. These include his first, The Desert Generals, which challenged the myth of Montgomery and El Alamein, biographies of Marlborough and Bonaparte, The Swordbearers: Supreme Command in the First World War, The Collapse of British Power, and Engage the Enemy More Closely: The Royal Navy in the Second World War.

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