These are the memoirs of Ian Campbell. An adventurous and humourous account of a man from rural Western Australia and his working career in the international oil business, from exploration in the harsh wildernesses of the Australian outback, Saharan Africa, jungles of Sumatra and Philippines, to the high-stakes corporate shenanigans in the heart of London. Often cantankerous and very ‘Australian’, Ian walks the reader through his life, from his earliest memories in 1932 up until his early retirement in 1989. He recounts his childhood with his many brothers and sisters in the West Australian wheatbelt, growing up in the hard times of the 1930’s depression, school life in rural Australia and University in the ‘big smoke’ of Perth, Australia. Graduating with a degree in Geology, Ian narrates how he sets off on an intriguing international career in the oil industry, exploring, living, working, and bringing up a family in many far flung and remote places around the world.
NAMED ONE OF THE BEST BOOKS OF THE YEAR BY The Christian Science Monitor • St. Louis Post-Dispatch “Magisterial.”—The New York Times In this extraordinary volume, Jean Edward Smith presents a portrait of Dwight D. Eisenhower that is as full, rich, and revealing as anything ever written about America’s thirty-fourth president. Here is Eisenhower the young dreamer, charting a course from Abilene, Kansas, to West Point and beyond. Drawing on a wealth of untapped primary sources, Smith provides new insight into Ike’s maddening apprenticeship under Douglas MacArthur. Then the whole panorama of World War II unfolds, with Eisenhower’s superlative generalship forging the Allied path to victory. Smith also gives us an intriguing examination of Ike’s finances, details his wartime affair with Kay Summersby, and reveals the inside story of the 1952 Republican convention that catapulted him to the White House. Smith’s chronicle of Eisenhower’s presidential years is as compelling as it is comprehensive. Derided by his detractors as a somnambulant caretaker, Eisenhower emerges in Smith’s perceptive retelling as both a canny politician and a skillful, decisive leader. He managed not only to keep the peace, but also to enhance America’s prestige in the Middle East and throughout the world. Unmatched in insight, Eisenhower in War and Peace at last gives us an Eisenhower for our time—and for the ages. NATIONAL BESTSELLER Praise for Eisenhower in War and Peace “[A] fine new biography . . . [Eisenhower’s] White House years need a more thorough exploration than many previous biographers have given them. Smith, whose long, distinguished career includes superb one-volume biographies of Grant and Franklin Roosevelt, provides just that.”—The Washington Post “Highly readable . . . [Smith] shows us that [Eisenhower’s] ascent to the highest levels of the military establishment had much more to do with his easy mastery of politics than with any great strategic or tactical achievements.”—The Wall Street Journal “Always engrossing . . . Smith portrays a genuinely admirable Eisenhower: smart, congenial, unpretentious, and no ideologue. Despite competing biographies from Ambrose, Perret, and D’Este, this is the best.”—Publishers Weekly (starred review) “No one has written so heroic a biography [on Eisenhower] as this year’s Eisenhower in War and Peace [by] Jean Edward Smith.”—The National Interest “Dwight Eisenhower, who was more cunning than he allowed his adversaries to know, understood the advantage of being underestimated. Jean Edward Smith demonstrates precisely how successful this stratagem was. Smith, America’s greatest living biographer, shows why, now more than ever, Americans should like Ike.”—George F. Will
Between 1945 and 1952, Harry S. Truman and Dwight D. Eisenhower worked more closely than any other two American presidents of the twentieth century; they were partners in changing America's role in the world and in responding to the challenge of a Soviet Europe. And yet, these men of character, intelligence, and principle will likely be remembered for the decade-long epic feud that nearly ended their friendship. In the first biography to examine in depth their political collaboration, bitter rupture, and eventual reconciliation, Steve Neal, political columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times, provides a fresh perspective on these two remarkable leaders, and on the American presidency itself.
In this superb biography of a complex marriage, Susan Eisenhower presents her grandmother as her grandfather saw her -- an heroic and irresistible figure in her own right.
When Dwight Eisenhower graduated from West Point in 1915, few would have predicted he was destined for greatness. A middling student, he was denied his first choice of posting, missed overseas service in World War I, spent a dozen years as a major, and never commanded a unit larger than a battalion. Yet the young officer made the most of the opportunities he was given, made a lasting impression on superiors including George Marshall, and eventually gained a reputation as an excellent staff officer with a knack for administration, loyalty, and “getting along.” Eisenhower was promoted to colonel in March 1941 and, sixteen months later, was a lieutenant general in command of the European Theater of Operations. His rise through the ranks was first painfully slow, then meteoric. It is one of the great, and most important, stories in military history, and Michael Lee Lanning tells it vividly, with an eye for the dramatic turning points in Eisenhower’s rise. The West Point class of 1915 was “the class the stars fell on.” Fifty-nine graduates became generals during World War II, but none of that was clear at the time, especially not for the young Dwight Eisenhower, who graduated 61st in a class of 164. He failed to make the baseball team, but made the football team, only to see an injury end his playing career, and was known as a card player and prankster. Denied his request for service in the Philippines, Eisenhower was sent to Texas, where he spent a good bit of his time coaching football. Later denied his request to fight in France, he spent World War I training a tank unit near Gettysburg. During the 1920s into the early 1930s—lean years for the army during which promotions came slowly and many officers quit the service—Eisenhower started to catch the eye of superiors and earned positions under the U.S. Army’s leading lights, including Fox Conner, John Pershing, and Douglas MacArthur, whom he served under during pivotal years in the 1930s, from the Bonus March to the Philippines. By the late 1930s, as war broke out in Europe, Eisenhower’s star was on the rise. After serving in a series of staff positions—regimental executive officer, then corps and army chief of staff—Eisenhower joined the General Staff in Washington, DC, where he helped develop war plans and eventually became deputy chief of staff under George Marshall. When the time came to appoint a commander to execute the plans, Eisenhower recommended another officer, but Marshall knew Eisenhower was the man for the job. Becoming Eisenhower is the story of a young man who first pursued the army for its free education but ultimately found his calling as an officer, the story of an officer who was initially overlooked but was motivated by this frustration to make himself the army’s indispensable man, the story of how General Eisenhower carried these experiences not only into Supreme Command but also the presidency. This book will be essential reading for World War II buffs, people interested in American presidents, and readers looking for the leadership lessons of history.
Stephen E. Ambrose draws upon extensive sources, an unprecedented degree of scholarship, and numerous interviews with Eisenhower himself to offer the fullest, richest, most objective rendering yet of the soldier who became president. He gives us a masterly account of the European war theater and Eisenhower's magnificent leadership as Allied Supreme Commander. Ambrose's recounting of Eisenhower's presidency, the first of the Cold War, brings to life a man and a country struggling with issues as diverse as civil rights, atomic weapons, communism, and a new global role. Along the way, Ambrose follows the 34th President's relations with the people closest to him, most of all Mamie, his son John, and Kay Summersby, as well as Franklin D. Roosevelt, Winston Churchill, Charles de Gaulle, Harry Truman, Nixon, Dulles, Khrushchev, Joe McCarthy, and indeed, all the American and world leaders of his time. This superb interpretation of Eisenhower's life confirms Stephen Ambrose's position as one of our finest historians.
Dwight D. Eisenhower is one of America’s greatest and least appreciated presidents. Behind the demeanor that made Dwight D. “Ike” Eisenhower so popular was a cold-as-steel intelligence that kept his country prosperous and out of danger. Because his operating methods were so deeply hidden, it is only in the past few decades that historians have grasped the full extent of his achievements. Ike in Love and War shows the hidden sacrifices that made Eisenhower remarkable. It probes the mission that was driving him: the quest to reconcile his skill as a fighter with his mother’s pacifism, which led him to become the greatest peacekeeper of his age. More than other biographies, this one explores the man’s emotions. It puts the long-standing dispute about his romance with Kay Summersby in a new perspective: tragedy. Here is the story of a unique American, the passion and brilliance he kept concealed, the ambition that propelled him, the sacrifices that wore down his health, and the sheer self-mastery that made it all look easy. It never was. His achievements are timely as Americans face unprecedented dangers. This is the story of the world Ike made, the things he achieved, and the surprises that may still be in store for us as we strive to understand his life in full.
In this enlightening volume, Brownell--the man Dwight D. Eisenhower said would make an outstanding president--recounts his achievements and trials as the GOP's most successful presidential operative of the 1940s and '50s, and as Attorney General at a crucial time in American history. Political science professor an coauthor, Burke is the author of The Institutional Presidency. 26 photographs.
