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sherwoodreads 's review for:
American Caesar, Douglas MacArthur, 1880-1964
by William Manchester
A good biography for me gets thoroughly into the person's times, and not just the details of their life. Also, I prefer biographers to let the person speak for themselves, rather than putting words in their heads.
That said, a biographer needs to sift all the evidence, steering between what the person thought about his or her self and times, and how the world viewed him or her. . . and how that has changed since then.
I avoided this bio for a long time because I found Manchester's medieval book so execrable (sloppy research, all kinds of assumptions with no support, the sneer of the modern for the grunting simpletons of the medieval paradigm) but what a mistake! This book was wonderful.
That said, a biographer needs to sift all the evidence, steering between what the person thought about his or her self and times, and how the world viewed him or her. . . and how that has changed since then.
I avoided this bio for a long time because I found Manchester's medieval book so execrable (sloppy research, all kinds of assumptions with no support, the sneer of the modern for the grunting simpletons of the medieval paradigm) but what a mistake! This book was wonderful.