Best dwight d eisenhower biography

During the past 1,400 days I’ve journeyed back through time to witness some of the most dramatic moments in American history.

I’ve observed the struggle to draft a constitution, watched as the young nation almost tore itself apart, and looked on as millions of Americans struggled through the Great Depression.

After 33 presidents, 167 biographies and over 80,000 pages I’m two-thirds of the way through this great adventure. And yet nothing about it has grown stale, tired or even remotely mundane.

That’s why I can begin my journey through the biographies of Dwight Eisenhower with more than a modicum of optimism. From a distance he seems detached, humorless and a bit uninteresting. But I know from experience that most presidents are far more complex (and fascinating) than their two-dimensional caricatures.

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I’m beginning with Jean Edward Smith’s 2012 “Eisenhower In War and Peace.” This is my third presidential biography by Smith; his biographies of Grant and FDR were my favorites of those two presidents so my expectations are high!

Next I’ll be reading Carlo D’Este’s 2002 “Eisenhower: A Soldier’s Life.” This biography has a solid, scholarly reputation and appears to be comprehensive and exhaustive. His 1995 biography of Patton remains extremely popular.

“Eisenhower” by Geoffrey Perret was published in 1999.  Perret is the author of a biography of Ulysses Grant which I liked and one on JFK I haven’t yet read. This biography reportedly incorporates source materials not available to earlier biographers and has a reputation for providing a carefully balanced portrait of Eisenhower.

Peter Lyon’s 1974 “Eisenhower: Portrait of the Hero” is another lengthy, thorough biography of Eisenhower. It is no longer a popular selection on Eisenhower so I don’t know what to ex

“For me, the reading of history was an end in itself, not a source of lessons to guide us in the present or to prepare me for the future…. I did not know what opportunities were there for learning. I read history for history’s sake, for myself alone.”

Dwight Eisenhower, writing in his memoir, At Ease, of his early interest in reading.

Dwight Eisenhower was a man of many interests, passions, and hobbies. He had a well-publicized love of golf, a deep affinity for painting, and was quite the card player as well. While these passions emerged in Eisenhower’s adulthood, there is one interest he maintained as a hobby from his early boyhood until his final days: reading.

As a boy, Eisenhower was captivated by books. Initially, he was drawn to the Classics, writing in his memoir, “My first reading love was ancient history.” One of seven boys growing up in the Eisenhower family in Abilene, Kansas, young Ike’s days were full of chores, sports, and playing outdoors, yet he still maintained a deep love of reading books. When daily chores became too burdensome, he read to escape back to Ancient Greece and Rome. In fact, his love of reading was so great that his mother had to hide young Dwight’s books in a closet and lock them up in order to get him to do his daily chores. The ploy worked until Ike discovered the key to the closet. When Ida Eisenhower left home to run errands, or whenever he had the chance, young Ike preferred the type of trouble that involved breaking his books out of their isolation and pouring through them, transporting himself back to ancient times.

As Dwight Eisenhower grew, so did his reading list and his interests. By the time he was a cadet at West Point, he had expanded his reading to more contemporary history, as well as texts on engineering, mathematics, and military doctrines. Politics and history—especially military history—remained a staple of his personal library throughout his life, t

• Crusade in Europe

• A Personal Account of World War II
• By: Dwight D. Eisenhower
• Narrated by: David Colacci
• Length: 22 hrs
• Unabridged

• Overall

• Performance

• Story

A classic of World War II literature, Crusade in Europe is an incredibly revealing work that provides a near comprehensive account of the war and brings to life the legendary general and eventual president of the United States....

• 5 out of 5 stars

• Great audiobook, wonderful narration

• By Ed Pegg Jr on 09-19-23

This bibliography of Dwight D. Eisenhower is a list of published works about Dwight D. Eisenhower, the 34thpresident of the United States.

General biographies

• Ambrose, Stephen (1983). Eisenhower: Soldier, General of the Army, President-Elect (1893–1952). Vol. I. New York: Simon & Schuster.
• Ambrose, Stephen (1984). Eisenhower: The President (1952–1969). Vol. II. New York: Simon & Schuster.
• Boyle, Peter G. (2005). Eisenhower. Pearson/Longman. ISBN . OCLC 55665502.
• D'Este, Carlo (2002). Eisenhower: A Soldier's Life. ISBN .
• Galambos, Louis (2018). Eisenhower becoming the leader of the free world. ISBN .
• Krieg, Joann P. ed. (1987). Dwight D. Eisenhower, Soldier, President, Statesman. 24 essays by scholars. ISBN 0-313-25955-0
• Newton, Jim (2011). Eisenhower: The White House Years. Doubleday. ISBN .
• Parmet, Herbert S. (1972). Eisenhower and the American Crusades. OCLC 482017.
• Smith, Jean Edward (2012). Eisenhower in War and Peace. Random House. ISBN .
• Wicker, Tom (2002). Dwight D. Eisenhower. Times Books. ISBN . OCLC 49893871.

Military career

• Ambrose, Stephen E. (1970) The Supreme Commander: The War Years of Dwight D. Eisenhowerexcerpt and text search
• Ambrose, Stephen E. (1998). The Victors: Eisenhower and his Boys: The Men of World War II, New York : Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0-684-85628-X
• Eisenhower, David (1986). Eisenhower at War 1943–1945, New York : Random House. ISBN 0-394-41237-0. A detailed study by his grandson.
• Eisenhower, John S. D. (2003). General Ike, Free Press, New York. ISBN 0-7432-4474-5
• Hobbs, Joseph Patrick (1999). Dear General: Eisenhower's Wartime Letters to Marshall. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN .
• Irish, Kerry E. "Apt Pupil: Dwight Eisenhower and the 1930 Industrial Mobilization Plan", The Journal of Military Histo