Synopses & Reviews
An American icon and hero faces a nation-and a world-in transition
A bona-fide American hero at the close of World War II, General Dwight Eisenhower rode an enormous wave of popularity into the Oval Office seven years later. Though we may view the Eisenhower years through a hazy lens of 1950s nostalgia, historians consider his presidency one of the least successful. At home there was civil rights unrest, McCarthyism, and a deteriorating economy; internationally, the Cold War was deepening. But despite his tendency toward "brinksmanship," Ike would later be revered for "keeping the peace." Still, his actions and policies at the onset of his career, covered by Tom Wicker, would haunt Americans of future generations.
Review
"A fine introduction to 1950s political history, the biography covers the domestic and international crises that occurred on Eisenhower's watch, including the Supreme Court's decision to racially integrate public schools, the poisonous influence of Sen. Joe McCarthy, tensions with the Soviet Union and the threat of nuclear war. Thanks to Wicker's limber prose (his talents as an oft-published novelist are on display), careful research and personal touch, the learning is easy." Publishers Weekly
Review
"While necessarily cursory owing to the page limitations imposed by the series, this work nonetheless captures the key events of the Eisenhower presidency in a way that is highly accessible and intellectualy compelling." Library Journal
Review
"This conventional liberal critique, diligently presented but lacking in the passion one finds in much of Wicker's writing, could as easily have been written 40 years ago. Although there is a fair amount of justice in it, it requires some qualification in the light of historical perspective and new findings." Alonzo L. Hamby, New York Times
Synopsis
A bona fide American hero at the close of WWII, General Dwight Eisenhower rode an enormous wave of popularity into the Oval Office. Though we may view the Eisenhower years through a hazy lens of 1950's nostalgia, historians consider his presidency one of the least successful. Ike would later be revered for "keeping the peace".
About the Author
For over thirty years,
Tom Wicker covered American politics at the
New York Times, where he began writing the
Times' "In the Nation" column . He is the author of several books, including
One of Us: Richard Nixon and the American Dream and
JFK & LBJ.Series editor, Arthur M. Schlesinger, Jr., is the preeminent political historian of our time. For more than half a century, he has been a cornerstone figure in the intellectual life of the nation and a fixture on the political scene. He has won two Pulitzer prizes for The Age of Jackson (1946) and A Thousand Days (1966), and in 1988 received the National Humanities Medal. He published the first volume of his autobiography, A Life in the Twentieth Century, in 2000.
Read by Ira Claffey.