Chief of Staff

作者:Crosswell, D.K.R.

页数:470

出版时间:1991-8

价格:$ 143.45

isbn号码:9780313274800

具体描述

The functions of staff officers in U.S. military history have been largely ignored by historians who have preferred to focus on the role of the combat officer. This examination of the career of General Walter Bedell Smith, Chief of Staff to General Dwight D. Eisenhower, and his valuable contribution to Allied success, represents an effort to fill a void in the current historiography of U.S. participation in Europe in World War II. While specifically looking at Smith's military career from his entry into the Indiana National Guard on his sixteenth birthday to his retirement from the U.S. Army as a four-star general 39 years later, the volume is also a general investigation of the role of Chief of Staff and a critical study of the interwar U.S. Army and its participation in the campaigns of the Mediterranean and Northwest Europe during World War II. The institutional and attitudinal structure that produced the generation of American officers that commanded armies and manned higher headquarters is thoroughly evaluated in this volume. D.K.R. Crosswell concludes that the normative influences of the Army's advance schools conditioned the U.S. approach to war in Europe: Eisenhower and Smith's broad front strategy is seen as a product of their Leavenworth educations. Smith's relationships with Eisenhower and George C. Marshall are also seen as important formative influences. Despite a paucity of personal papers and no prior book on Smith, Crosswell had access to a wealth of primary materials in the Eisenhower Library in Abilene, Kansas and the resources of the Combat Studies Library at the Command and General Staff College in Leavenworth, Kansas. Substantial collections of materials at the federal research facilities in Washington, the U.S. Army Military History Institute holdings in Carlisle Barracks, Pa., and the George C. Marshall Library in Lexington, Va., were consulted. Personal interviews with surviving World War II officers and an examination of British sources were conducted to give the most complete picture of Smith to date. "The Chief of Staff" is divided into four major sections: Bedell Smith and Officership in the U.S. Army, 1917-1939; The Towering Figure: George C. Marshall; The First Campaign: The Mediterranean; Northwest Europe, and an epilogue which covers Smith's post-Army years. The 14 chapters present Smith as perhaps the best example of the World War II military manager. He emerges from these pages as a central figure of the period and his contributions within the Allied sphere proved fundamental to eventual battlefield success. Seven maps of World War II major theaters of operation from Morocco to Normandy and never-before-published archival photographs are included. Military history and World War II buffs won't want to miss this splendid read which will also appeal to academic military historians, libraries and research facilities, as well as current and retired military officers. The book is ideal supplemental reading for courses in U.S. military history.

用户评价

作为一名长期关注组织行为学的爱好者，我必须承认，这本书为我提供了很多非常新鲜的视角来审视高层决策的运作机制。它似乎非常真实地展现了那些在幕后推动重大事件的人们是如何思考和行动的。书中对流程、会议文化乃至非正式权力网络的刻画，细腻到让人感觉自己仿佛置身于那个密闭空间中，亲眼目睹着一切的发生。它没有简单地将权力斗争描绘成黑白分明的阵营对抗，而是深入探讨了信息不对称、忠诚度的复杂性以及“做正确的事”与“能把事情做成”之间的永恒张力。不同派系之间的微妙站位变化，以及个人如何在庞大的机构机器中保持或牺牲自身信念的过程，都得到了深刻的探讨。读完后，我对现实世界中许多看似随机的组织变动，都有了更加结构化和批判性的理解，它提供了一个绝佳的案例库来反思领导力的本质。

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这本书的结构设计堪称教科书级别，它在宏大叙事和微观细节之间切换自如，构建了一个令人信服的、多维度的世界。叙事线索的处理极其高明，初看时可能觉得信息量庞大，但随着阅读深入，你会发现所有的支线和看似无关紧要的插曲，都像精密的齿轮一样咬合在一起，最终汇集成一股不可阻挡的洪流。作者似乎很擅长使用“留白”的艺术，他不会把所有的事情都解释得一清二楚，而是巧妙地把一些关键的动机或背景信息留给读者去推断，这种参与感极大地增强了阅读的沉浸性和乐趣。每一次当我认为自己已经掌握了故事的全貌时，作者总能通过一个巧妙的转折，揭示出全新的维度，迫使我重新审视之前的判断。这种不断推翻自我认知的体验，正是我认为一部真正优秀的作品所应具备的特质。

这本书的叙事节奏把握得相当精准，作者似乎深谙如何牵引读者的心弦，让我在阅读过程中几乎无法停下脚步。那种潜移默化的张力，不是那种刻意的悬念堆砌，而更像是一种对人性幽微之处的洞察，每揭示一小部分真相，都伴随着更深层次的困惑和期待。人物之间的互动充满了张力与微妙的权谋较量，即便是最微小的眼神交流，也似乎暗藏着多重的含义。你仿佛能感受到那些身处权力核心的人们，如何在看似平静的水面下进行着无声的博弈。我特别欣赏作者在描绘复杂人际网络时的那种细致入微，每个人物都不是扁平的符号，而是带着各自的动机、弱点和坚守，他们的选择合情合理，却又常常出乎意料，这种“意料之外，情理之中”的平衡感，是很多同类作品难以企及的高度。读完之后，脑海中久久不能散去的是那些充满象征意义的场景和对话，它们像碎片一样拼凑出一个宏大而又私密的政治生态图景，令人深思良久。

这本书的文字功底实在是令人惊叹，它不像某些畅销书那样追求快速的感官刺激，而是沉淀出一种缓慢而有力的美感。语汇的选择极其考究，常常能用一个精准的动词或一个鲜明的意象，勾勒出整个场景的氛围和人物的内心状态。我常常需要停下来，反复咀嚼那些句子，品味其中蕴含的韵味和深意。那种文学性的表达并非故作高深，而是服务于主题的深化，使得原本可能显得枯燥的背景设定或内部会议，都变得富有层次感和画面感。尤其是在描绘角色面对道德困境时的内心挣扎时，作者的笔触细腻得近乎残酷，毫不留情地剖析了光鲜外表下的脆弱与挣扎。这种对文字的敬畏，使得整部作品的质感得到了极大的提升，它不仅仅是一个故事，更像是一件经过精心打磨的艺术品，值得反复品味和研究其结构。