The Generals

［美］托马斯•E. 里克斯（Thomas E.Ricks）美国军事记者中的“白头海雕”★ 两次普利策国内新闻报道奖获奖者★《外交政策》杂志的特约编辑新美国安全中心研究员、中东问题专家托马斯• E. 里克斯是《华盛顿邮报》的资深军事记者，主要负责报导美国在海外的军事行动。其足迹遍布索马里、海地、朝鲜、科索沃、波斯尼亚、马其顿、科威特、阿富汗、土耳其和伊拉克等国。早在2000 年，里克斯与其团队写下一系列阐述美军应如何适应21 世纪新需求的文章，他因此获得了普利策奖。2002 年，在详细报导了美国反恐的初期行动后，克里斯再次荣膺普利策奖。里克斯著有多本畅销书，包括曾雄踞《纽约时报》畅销书榜首的《大败局》（Fiasco），该书曾角逐普利策奖。

出版者:Penguin Press HC, The

作者:Thomas E. Ricks

页数:576

出版时间:2012-10-30

价格:USD 32.95

装帧:Hardcover

isbn号码:9781594204043

图书标签:军事英文Nonfiction

From the #1 bestselling author of Fiasco and The Gamble , an epic history of the decline of American military leadership from World War II to Iraq

History has been kind to the American generals of World War II—Marshall, Eisenhower, Patton, and Bradley—and less kind to the generals of the wars that followed. In The Generals , Thomas E. Ricks sets out to explain why that is. In part it is the story of a widening gulf between performance and accountability. During the Second World War, scores of American generals were relieved of command simply for not being good enough. Today, as one American colonel said bitterly during the Iraq War, “As matters stand now, a private who loses a rifle suffers far greater consequences than a general who loses a war.” In The Generals we meet great leaders and suspect ones, generals who rose to the occasion and those who failed themselves and their soldiers. Marshall and Eisenhower cast long shadows over this story, as does the less familiar Marine General O. P. Smith, whose fighting retreat from the Chinese onslaught into Korea in the winter of 1950 snatched a kind of victory from the jaws of annihilation.

But Korea also showed the first signs of an army leadership culture that neither punished mediocrity nor particularly rewarded daring. In the Vietnam War, the problem grew worse until, finally, American military leadership bottomed out. The My Lai massacre, Ricks shows us, is the emblematic event of this dark chapter of our history. In the wake of Vietnam a battle for the soul of the U.S. Army was waged with impressive success. It became a transformed institution, reinvigorated from the bottom up. But if the body was highly toned, its head still suffered from familiar problems, resulting in tactically savvy but strategically obtuse leadership that would win battles but end wars badly from the first Iraq War of 1990 through to the present.

Ricks has made a close study of America’s military leaders for three decades, and in his hands this story resounds with larger meaning: about the transmission of values, about strategic thinking, and about the difference between an organization that learns and one that fails.

读后感

这本书讲述了三十余位战时名将，谱写的一场伟大的战歌，这本书详尽的讲述了成就这一群横刀立马的将军的是何种原因，又是何种因素，五场战争，七十年，四十五万军魂，作者为我们谱写一场醉真实的大国崛起，诸如第二次世界大战，原本只属于三流水准的美军为何仅仅三年时间就走上...  

将军们总是抱持着上一场战争的经验去指挥下一场战争，揆之于两次世界大战，可知此论不虚。所以，两支军队在战场上相逢时，能够抢先意识到自己的错误、并且迅速改正错误的那一方，将会赢得战争的胜利。 在此书的作者托马斯•E•里克斯看来，领导着美军取得了第二次世界大...  

形势与英雄 评《大国与将军》 我们经常会看到的是这样的言语或者场景：历史车轮滚滚向前，英雄人物应运而生。我们的问题是：究竟是时势造就了英雄，还是英雄左右了时势？同样，看完这本《大国与将军》，我的问题是：究竟是大国造就了将军，还是将军成就了大国？ 美国自一战以...  

作者十分推崇”回到马歇尔”，但并没有告诉读者马歇尔军官选拔机制到底是如何运作的，书中能看到的只有马歇尔个人”慧眼识天才“和”不拘一格降人才“的作用，完全不见“体系”的踪影。同时，从几位二战将领的回忆录中，我们能看到的也只是马歇尔个人人脉体系的巨大作用。 我...  

将军们总是抱持着上一场战争的经验去指挥下一场战争，揆之于两次世界大战，可知此论不虚。所以，两支军队在战场上相逢时，能够抢先意识到自己的错误、并且迅速改正错误的那一方，将会赢得战争的胜利。 在此书的作者托马斯•E•里克斯看来，领导着美军取得了第二次世界大...  

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国家也好，军队也好，个人也好，有批判和反思，才能不断进步。

国家也好，军队也好，个人也好，有批判和反思，才能不断进步。

国家也好，军队也好，个人也好，有批判和反思，才能不断进步。

国家也好，军队也好，个人也好，有批判和反思，才能不断进步。

国家也好，军队也好，个人也好，有批判和反思，才能不断进步。