Globe Pequot / Stackpole Books
Pages: 464
•
Trim: 6¾ x 9½
978-0-8117-3850-7 • Hardback • July 2019 • $34.95 • (£23.95)
978-0-8117-6849-8 • eBook • July 2019 • $33.00 • (£22.95)
BENJAMIN RUNKLE is a former paratrooper and presidential speechwriter with a Harvard PhD and a Bronze Star from Operation Iraqi Freedom. He has served as an official in the Department of Defense, as a director at the National Security Council, and as a professional staff member on the House Armed Services Committee. He is currently a senior policy fellow with Artis International and an adjunct lecturer in Johns Hopkins University’s Global Security Program. He is the author of Wanted Dead or Alive: Manhunts from Geronimo to Bin Laden (Palgrave Macmillan, 2011), and his writing has appeared in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Policy, The National Interest, Military History Quarterly, and Joint Forces Quarterly, amongst other publications. He lives in Alexandria, Virginia with his wife and two sons.
Going behind the headlines, Runkle provides worthwhile background and context for understanding current wars and how they are fought.— Kirks Reviews
Although there is no shortage of books about bin Laden, Runkle breaks new ground by putting his story in the context of earlier manhunts that are surely less familiar to most readers. . . . Wanted Dead or Alive may be most appealing to those with an interest in military history, but should also find favor with a broader readership drawn to lesser known episodes in the nation’s past.— Army Times
In Wanted Dead or Alive, Mr. Runkle accomplishes two seemingly contradictory feats. His colorful, fast-paced accounts of each manhunt appeal to those who enjoy a good adventure story, but his keen strategic insight provides ample material for further reflection. His writing is readable without being breezy, meaty without being ponderous. Mr. Runkle's book deserves attention from both policymakers and the general public.— Washington Times
The best book on manhunting that I have read combining detailed research into a fast-paced story that reads like a novel of similar genre.— Small Wars Journal
Ben Runkle illuminates the hidden lives of these future commanders between World War I and World War II in Generals in the Making. Runkle is uniquely qualified to write this story. He knows the Army and its soldiers, as shown by his mastery of the primary and secondary literature about these great captains and his acknowledgment that there are flesh-and-blood men beneath the uniforms. Runkle writes elegantly and for a broad readership, yet avid readers of military history will still learn new things . . . Runkle's book is ultimately inspiring. Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, and Eisenhower had personal and professional problems with which many empathize or sympathize. Generals in the Making is an important new addition to our knowledge of these flawed and great men.
— Washington Examiner
Runkle makes “important contributions to the profession of arms. In reading Generals in the Making, military leaders will see the important role the nontangible aspects of the profession play in leader development: the time we spend reflecting, the books we read, and the mentors we listen to.”
— Army Magazine
Covering U.S. army leadership from the beginning of the twentieth century to the end of World War II, this book details the careers of those generals mentioned in the title and of many other military luminaries. En route, the text provides a detailed history of both world wars and of the depression that crippled the U.S. between them.
— Internet Review of Books