Description
In that first year, the Eighth Army's leadership ran the gamut from impressive to lackluster-a surprising unevenness since so many of the high-ranking officers had been battle-tested in World War II. Taaffeattributes these leadership difficulties to the army's woefully unprepared state at the war's start, army personnel policies, andGeneral Douglas MacArthur's corrosive habit of manipulating his subordinates and pitting them against each other. He explores the personalities at play, their pre-war experiences, the manner of their selection, their accomplishments and failures, and, of course, their individual relationships with each other and MacArthur. By explaining who these field, corps, and division commanders were, Taaffe exposes the army's institutional and organizational problems that contributed to its up-anddown fortunes in Korea in 1950-1951. Providing a better understanding of MacArthur's controversial generalship, Taafee's book offers new and invaluable insight into the army's life-and-death struggle in America's least understood conflict.
About the Author
Stephen R. Taaffe is professor of history at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He is the author of Marshall and His Generals: U.S. Army Commanders in World War II and MacArthur's Jungle War: The 1944 New Guinea Campaign, both from Kansas.
Book Information
ISBN 9780700622214
Author Stephen R. Taaffe
Format Hardback
Page Count 280
Imprint University Press of Kansas
Publisher University Press of Kansas
Weight(grams) 553g