American Warlords

American Warlords is the story of the greatest team of rivals since the days of Lincoln. In a lifetime shaped by politics President Franklin D. Roosevelt proved himself a master manipulator of Congress the press and the public. But when war in Europe and Asia threatened America's shores FDR found himself in a world turned upside down where his friends became his foes his enemies his allies. To help wage democracy's first total war he turned to one of history's most remarkable triumvirates. Henry Stimson an old-money Republican from Long Island rallied to FDR's banner to lead the Army as Secretary of War and championed innovative weapons that helped shape our world today. General George C. Marshall argued with Roosevelt over grand strategy but he built the world's greatest war machine and willingly sacrificed his dream of leading the invasion of Europe that made his protégé Dwight Eisenhower a legend. Admiral Ernest J. King a hard-drinking irascible fighter who destroyed Pearl Harbor in a prewar naval exercise understood how to fight Japan but he also battled the army the air force Douglas MacArthur and his British allies as they moved armies and fleets across the globe. These commanders threw off sparks whenever they clashed: generals against politicians army versus navy. But those sparks lit the fire of victory. During four years of bitter warfare FDR's lieutenants learned to set aside deep personal political and professional differences and pull a nation through the 20th century's darkest days. Encircling Roosevelt's warlords - and sometimes bitterly at odds with them - was a colorful cast of the Second World War's giants: Winston Churchill MacArthur Josef Stalin Eisenhower Eleanor Roosevelt and Charles de Gaulle. These and other larger-than-life figures enrich a sweeping story of an era brimming with steel fire and blood.