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Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower
by Michel Paradis
A thrilling new biography of Dwight Eisenhower set in the months leading up to D-Day, when he grew from a well-liked general into one of the singular figures of American history.
On June 6, 1944, General Dwight Eisenhower addressed the thousands of American troops preparing to invade Normandy, exhorting them to embrace the "Great Crusade" they faced. Then, in a fleeting moment alone, he drafted a resignation letter in case the invasion failed.
In The Light of Battle, Michel Paradis, acclaimed author of Last Mission to Tokyo, paints a vivid portrait of Dwight Eisenhower as he learns to navigate the crosscurrents of diplomacy, politics, strategy, family, and fame with the fate of the free world hanging in the balance. In a world of giants—Churchill, Roosevelt, De Gaulle, Marshall, MacArthur—it was a barefoot boy from Abilene, Kansas, who would master the art of power and become a modern-day George Washington.
Drawing upon meticulous research and a voluminous body of newly discovered records, letters, diaries, and firsthand accounts from three continents, Paradis brings Eisenhower to life, as a complicated man who craved simplicity, a genial cipher whose smile was a lethal political weapon.
With a page-turning pace and an eye for the overlooked, Paradis interweaves the grand arc of history with more human concerns, bringing readers into the private moments that led to Eisenhower's most pivotal decisions. By deftly integrating the personal and the political, he reveals how Eisenhower's rise both reflected and was integral to America's rise as a global superpower.
An unflinching look at how character is forged, and leadership is learned, The Light of Battle breathes new life into the man who made "the leader of the free world" the mantle of the American presidency.
"Meticulously documented. … Engaging. … An ingenious look at perhaps the most important six months in Eisenhower's career." —Kirkus Reviews (starred review)
"Meticulous. ... A discerning examination of Eisenhower's personal hand in establishing America's reputation as levelheaded 'leader of the free world.'" —Publishers Weekly (starred review)
"This magnificent study is based on deep archival research and offers a comprehensive look into the planning of the Allied invasion of France." —Library Journal (starred review)
"I could not put this book down. Michel Paradis guided me over historical terrain I thought I knew well, only to reveal something new on almost every page. Focusing with startling luminosity on Eisenhower's war-time career, this is hands-down the most deeply researched, sensitive, intimate, and nuanced portrait of the career and character of the Supreme Allied Commander and 34th President that I have ever read. A vivid picture emerges of an all-too-human yet uncommonly thoughtful, judicious, and enormously consequential leader." —David Kennedy, Pulitzer Prize-winning author of Freedom from Fear
"If you think you know about 'Ike,' think again. Michel Paradis has vividly reconstructed the story of Eisenhower in the months that led to D-Day using a collage of colleagues, friends, and family to paint a full portrait of the man who transformed America's role in Europe. It is a story by turns intimate, informed and sympathetic." —Richard Overy, New York Times bestselling author of Blood and Ruins
"The Light of Battle is a gorgeously written account, studded with new material, of the only man empowered to launch the most important invasion in modern history. A riveting, granular examination of Dwight Eisenhower and the months and then nerve-racking days leading up to June 6, 1944. The only must-read book to mark the eightieth anniversary of D-Day." —Alex Kershaw, New York Times bestselling author of Against All Odds
This information about The Light of Battle was first featured
in "The BookBrowse Review" - BookBrowse's membership magazine, and in our weekly "Publishing This Week" newsletter. Publication information is for the USA, and (unless stated otherwise) represents the first print edition. The reviews are necessarily limited to those that were available to us ahead of publication. If you are the publisher or author and feel that they do not properly reflect the range of media opinion now available, send us a message with the mainstream reviews that you would like to see added.
Any "Author Information" displayed below reflects the author's biography at the time this particular book was published.
Michel Paradis is a leading human rights lawyer, historian, and national security law scholar and most recently the author of the critically acclaimed Last Mission to Tokyo. He is also a partner at the international law firm Curtis Mallet-Prevost and a Lecturer at Columbia Law School. He has appeared on or written for the PBS NewsHour, CBS, MSNBC, CNBC, C-SPAN, Netflix, NPR, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Lawfare, Just Security, Articles of War, among other publications. He is a fellow at the Center on National Security and the National Institute for Military Justice. He was awarded his doctorate from Oxford University, where he was a Campion Scholar, and received his law degree from Fordham Law School in New York.
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