The Savior Generals: How Five Great Commanders Saved Wars That Were Lost - From Ancient Greece to Iraq

Another great history book from Dr. Hanson. He looks at five generals who obtained victory from defeat in the face of defeatist consensus.

Victor Hanson writes about military generals who stepped up to "save the day" when all appeared lost. The book is solidly researched but he lacks the storytelling mastery of Rick Atkinson (The Guns at Last Light). Hanson tells five stories from 480 BC to present day. The first stories, about Thermistocles and Belisarius, are hard to follow simply because the various names(cities, regions, countries, rulers, etc.) of the time are not readily familiar. Illustrations and maps would have been helpful. The middle story about Civil War general William Sherman is not bad. But the stories about Matthew Ridgway and David Petraeus connect immediately and alone worth the price of the book.How General Matthew Ridgway turned the Korean Conflict around has been unfortunately lost in studies about leadership and military strategy. Hanson captures the man, the dire situation, and difficult circumstances that Ridgway had to navigate. Likewise, Hanson brings out the difficult political scene General Patraeus faced during the surge that finally broke Al Qaeda's back in 2007. There are sections of the book that politicians such as Joe Biden and John Kerry would just as soon we forget. A little like the Korean Conflict, the positive ending to the Iraq War was overshadowed by the US political campaign in 2008 and Patraeus never quite reaches the pinnacle one might have expected for such a stunning accomplishment.My main criticism of the book is that it isn't as exciting as it should be because Hanson tends to skip around among pre-battle, battle, and post-battle information. He never builds the stories to crescendos (where finishing each with an epilogue would have been terrific). Each savior general falls from grace in some manner following their particular moment of glory. I was disappointed in the one epilogue he did provide. He could have discussed common points about how generals were ready when called, what qualities they possessed to reverse the dire situations they faced, and how each dealt with fame and glory after victory. He tries to provide some common characteristics possessed by savior generals but is not convincing in connecting these ideas back to the stories in meaningful ways.

As I predicted, (and for anyone who follows Mr. Hanson,) VDH continues to put pen to paper and writes another 5 Star hit, and he certainly doesn't disappoint with this book. As always, he never disappoints!

I learned a lot from this book. In particular Matthew Ridgway and David Petraeus. With each of the five generals Hanson gives you the background of the general before their famous battle or campaign, then the events surrounding the battle or campaign and then what happened to these generals after their famous action. He keeps it tight and pithy but still gives you a lot of information surrounding five really interesting characters.For me the most knowledge gaining read was about Ridgway. I know almost nothing about the Korean war and those times and so that was really an interesting read for me. He covered the politics of the early 50's, how the US almost got thrown out of Korea and how this character, Ridgway, who was at a cocktail party in D.C. got tagged and overnight landed up in Korea as the key field commander their having to deal with an army that was in full retreat. Yet in 90 days he turned it around and replaced MacArthur in Japan. I had no idea how bad the situation was. My only understanding was that no one likes to talk about the Korean war.Petraeus was an interesting read for me as well because although I was certainly living through that time (2007 - 2008) I did not know much about the general and of course current politics blurred actual events. No matter how you feel about the war in Iraq this is an informational read about how we got there and what the Surge was all about.Hanson's write up on all five generals was really done very well. You did not get lost in the pages. He kept it crisp and concise and very interesting to read. You will learn a lot and that is always a good thing.There is not moralizing in the book, no politics. Just the players, how they developed, how the battles developed and what happened to them afterwards. Great read.

Prof. Hanson’s writing style was so enjoyable in this book. It flowed and was a pleasure for the reader. As usual, his depth and breath of knowledge of history was amazing. But the book really shined in Prof. Hanson’s analysis of the person and the circumstances of their success. My only regret is that I did not have the opportunity to be a student in one of his classes.

Excellent book from a first-class author. Highly recommend it.

I am impressed by this book. Now I think that the subject of the book is somewhat far-fetched. Finding a common denominator for the generals who lived in times centuries apart is, in my opinion, stretching things a little. But that doesn't mean that what the writer has written has no value at all.On the contrary. Although the stories on each of the generals are (necessarily) short (they are after all no biographies), they nevertheless give the exact information on what each general did to turn things around. I think that that is impressive. Reading the book, it became clear to me that the writer must have an extensive knowledge on the lives of these generals. And then be able to tell their stories concisely and clearly is truly (and I say it again) impressive.

Victor Davis Hanson teaches classics at Stanford and also writes regular articles for National Review and other publications.This 2013 release contains Hanson's commentary on five generals over a period of nearly 2500 years who share three main characteristics: first they were called in to deal with a dire situation; (2) they successfully turned the potential defeat into victory and (3) after turning defeat into victory they were rejected and, in some cases, vilified by their political leaders.The five generals Hanson uses in this study are Themistocles (480 BC), Belisarius (529-559 AD), William Tecumseh Sherman in 1864, Matthew Ridgway in Korea 1950-51 and David Petraeus in Iraq 2007-08.This is a very interesting book with some very worthwhile insights and historical lessons.Well worth the attention of anyone interested in military and political history.

Um dos meus livros favoritos, uma lição de vida sobre como competência supera dificuldades e ao mesmo tempo atrai inveja e injustiças. Os 5 generais retratados jamais tiveram o reconhecimento que mereciam e pagaram caro por ter mais habilidades no campo de batalha do que no campo político.

Highly interesting background information on some historic personalities with great insights into the mindset, which is great for other fields