BECOMING EISENHOWER How Ike Rose from Obscurity to Supreme Allied Commander

Adam Barr is particularly effective narrating military histories and biographies of celebrated commanders. Barr brings the proper spit and shine to this abbreviated biography of a general whose public remarks as president often seemed fumbling and impenetrable--perhaps deliberately. Barr tracks the steady path of Dwight Eisenhower's rise in the military establishment. While he longed for combat, Eisenhower was a skilled administrator who proved indispensable to a succession of higher-ups. Firm and forthright, deliberate and assured, Barr brings texture and momentum to a narrative that, while illuminating, relies on too few sources, too many of which are in bureaucratic-sounding prose. Most interesting is Mamie Eisenhower; a vague background figure in her time, she is sharply defined and brought to life here. D.A.W. © AudioFile 2024, Portland, Maine [Published: NOVEMBER 2024]