Random House Books for Young Readers Leadership in War: Essential Lessons from Those Who Made History

Short portraits of historic leadership figures, that are jam packed with historical details and context. They are easy to read, well paced and make you want to dig deeper. You feel the authors passion for each one of them, especially Churchill and Napoleon.Regarding the „Lessons on Leadership“, I am left a bit hanging in therms of what specific traits I can take out of it. Roberts leaves that up to you to find out.Although he tries to frame some generell conclusions in the last chapter, it does not work for me. The last chapter feels a bit „all over the place“.I enjoyed this book more as a small collection of well written leadership portraits than as a study of leadership itself.

Roberts reviews the wartime leadership of nine different people. The list includes; Napoleon, Nelson, Churchill, Hitler, Stalin, George Marshall, Charles De Gaulle, Eisenhower, and Margret Thatcher. Roberts lays out a brief biography of each person and explains their military leadership. Most historically minded readers, will enjoy the descriptions of the armed conflicts. Roberts also outlines the important characteristics of military leaders. The weak area of the book, rides on the selection of wartime leaders. The two chapters on Hitler and Stalin will leave the reader with a lot of questions. Why did Roberts include leaders, that do not provide good examples of leadership? And in the long list of human conflicts, most historians would rank the Falklands War, near the bottom of the list. Readers will approve of this quick read. However, Roberts could have easily delivered, a much stronger list of military leaders.

Andrew Roberts has written an excellent biography of Napoleon so perhaps I was expecting too much. The lives of his subjects Nelson, Hitler, De Gaulle etc., cannot be contained in one short chapter. I found his examination of the persons shallow, uninformative, and cursory. I honestly did not further my understanding of these Leaders and in some cases was left with unanswered questions. Anyone who wants a quick read and a few facts on these men and one woman would probably enjoy this book. If you want more depth this is not the book for you.

This is an enjoyable, interesting and engaging book from the ever-reliable Andrew Roberts.The book derives from a series of lectures on the military leadership of nine critical historical figures: Napoleon, Nelson, Churchill, Hitler, Stalin, Marshall, De Gaulle, Eisenhower, and Mrs. Thatcher.In each case Roberts provides an insightful overview, and several unique or interesting insights.For example, with regard to Marshall, Roberts speculates that the incessant insistence on an early Second Front, which would likely not have succeeded before its actual launch date in 1944, was more a matter of Marshall pushing to maintain momentum and focus, and that Marshall knew an early second front in France was not practical. This can never be confirmed, but given Marshall’s professionalism and knowledge of the actual factors in play, this seems correct. (As an aside, I have long held to a similarly unprovable notion that FDR held Marshall back from commanding Overlord, because if it failed, Eisenhower would be sacked, and Marshall would be the only person with the prestige and standing to rally a defeated army and make a second try.  Of course FDR confided in no one, so we will remain forever in the dark about his motives and thinking to an exceptional degree for a person of his public and historical stature.)Roberts provides a point-by-point rebuttal of various critiques of Eisenhower, which is nicely done.  Eisenhower in fact made very few mistakes and accomplished everything he needed to do.  Panache and dash were not necessary, and as we now know, Eisenhower was a deeper and more ruthless figure than he was believed to be in his own lifetime. Roberts’ discussion of De Gaulle is balanced and fair, and shows the mix of exasperation and respect De Gaulle has always justifiably provoked. Roberts quotes Enoch Powell about Margaret Thatcher as the Iron Lady, in a passage which was unfamiliar to me. This is one of several such novel details in the book, which deals with very well known figures. Yet there is always more to learn about even such titans as these.  Having now read five books by Roberts, I can recommend anything by him with confidence.

Very little new information here. The chapter about Adolf HItler spends pages describing him as an absolute moron citing quote after quote from Martin Borman’s notes. Why did the author choose to include him in this text then? The chapter on Napoleon was very high level and did not explore the man’s true brilliance as a leader. Not a particularly worthy effort in my opinion.