I enjoy books that address historical questions. Historians often take the long view and explore enduring facets of human nature that are present in any age. Such books are a reminder of what a snapshot a human lifespan really is.
So I just finished listening to another book on CD: Command and Control: Great Military Leaders from Washington to the Twenty-First Century, by Professor Mark R. Polelle. It was put out by Recorded Books as part of The Modern Scholar series, and was read by the author.
The book sets out to discover what makes a good leader. It focuses on Washington, Napoleon, Grant, Sherman, Lee, Moltke, Pershing, Eisenhower, Patton, MacArthur, LeMay, and Schwarzkopf. Not all of these generals were American, of course, but Napoleon and Moltke did have important influences on the American way of war.
With so many generals to discuss, Professor Polelle doesn’t go into great depth on any of them, but that keeps the book from getting dull. It is not overly academic in tone, and it was certainly interesting to this particular layman. We learn some differences between each of the studied generals, and some common traits, as well as some developing trends over time.
If you’re looking for the direct answer to what makes a good leader, I don’t think you’ll find it here. You’ll find much discussion about leadership, but it’s my opinion that great leadership can’t be spotted in advance, or even taught in any sort of effective way. Great leadership emerges, and can be identified only during or after the fact, never before. That’s not a meant as a criticism of the book; I just think the author went after an unanswerable question.
Also, this isn’t the sort of history book where the author makes a bold or controversial contention and then proves it with historical evidence. It is simply a review of influential generals with some discussion of leadership traits. It performs that service very well; I just wanted you to know what to expect.
There was one annoying fact about the CDs I listened to–for four or five of the lessons, the narrator introduced the wrong lesson. That is, the narrator would state the next lesson would be about Grant, and the professor would discuss Sherman. Very strange.
Lastly, most books I listen to on CD are read word-for-word from a text. However, this book sounded like the professor was referring to notes rather than reading. He never seemed at a loss for words, but I got the sense he was making up his sentences as he went along. That may well be a characteristic of all the books in The Modern Scholar series, for all I know.
In accordance with my book review rating system, I’ll award this book four seahorses. I do recommend it; you’re likely to find out more about various American generals than you knew before. If you’ve read it and think otherwise, please leave a comment for–
Poseidon’s Scribe
