Masters and Commanders - by Andrew Roberts (Paperback)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

"Masterly.
. . . Roberts's portrait of the relationship between the four men who made
Allied strategy through the war years is a triumph of vivid description,
telling anecdotes, and informed analysis." --Max Hastings, The New York Review of Books

An epic joint biography, Masters and Commanders explores the degree to which the course of the Second World War turned on the relationships and temperaments of four of the strongest personalities of the twentieth century: political masters Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt and the commanders of their armed forces, General Sir Alan Brooke and General George C. Marshall.

Each was exceptionally tough-willed and strong-minded, and each was certain that only he knew best how to win the war. Andrew Roberts, "Britain's finest contemporary military historian" (The Economist), traces the mutual suspicion and admiration, the rebuffs and the charm, the often-explosive disagreements and wary reconciliations, and he helps us to appreciate the motives and imperatives of these key leaders as they worked tirelessly in the monumental struggle to destroy Nazism.

From the Back Cover

An epic joint biography, Masters and Commanders explores the degree to which the course of the Second World War turned on the relationships and temperaments of four of the strongest personalities of the twentieth century: political masters Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt and the commanders of their armed forces, General Sir Alan Brooke and General George C. Marshall. Each was exceptionally tough-willed and strong-minded, and each was certain that only he knew best how to win the war. Andrew Roberts, "Britain's finest contemporary military historian" (The Economist), traces the mutual suspicion and admiration, the rebuffs and the charm, the often-explosive disagreements and wary reconciliations, and he helps us to appreciate the motives and imperatives of these key leaders as they worked tirelessly in the monumental struggle to destroy Nazism.

Review Quotes

"Masters and Commanders is a magnificently researched, superbly written account of how the US and UK's top civilian and military leaders overcame mutual suspicions and conflicting priorities to win the war in Europe." - The New York Post

"Extraordinary. . . . This is a great story, wonderfully told, impeccable history, but history with feeling, humanity, and a sense of the absurd, that never skips the engaging moment. . . . Roberts is one of the best of the younger British historians. . . . That he writes well almost goes without saying. . . . Masters and Commanders is an enormously ambitious book . . . . If you wanted to know how the 'the Grand Alliance' worked, and how the decisions were made that eventually led to the Allied victory in World War Two, this would be the book to read. . . . Anybody who is interested in World War Two owes it to themselves to read this book--nothing like it exists." - Michael Korda, The Daily Beast

"Compelling. . . . In Masters and Commanders, British historian Andrew Roberts skillfully dissects the complex, contentious relationships among Brooke, Marshall and the other two key strategists of World War II's Western Alliance, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. . . . As Roberts makes clear throughout the book, hammering out Allied strategy was an untidy, exhausting, sometimes debilitating process, replete with fist-shaking arguments and emotional tantrums." - Washington Post

"Masterly. . . . A triumph of vivid description, telling anecdotes, and informed analysis. Roberts's book reinforces his claim to stand among the foremost British historians of the period." - Max Hastings, The New York Review of Books

"With his usual brisk and vivid prose. . . . Mr. Roberts captures not only the personalities of World War II's masters and commanders but the dynamics of their relations." - The Wall Street Journal

"Roberts succeeds in deepening our understanding of the complex interactions between Winston Churchill and Franklin Roosevelt and their senior military advisers. . . . It is to Roberts's credit that he realizes neither Americans nor Britons had a monopoly on military wisdom. Too many writers, then and now, are wont to champion their own nation's strategists. . . . Committee work may not be terribly glamorous, but Masters and Commanders shows that it can be vitally important, and also surprisingly entertaining." - Max Boot, The New York Times Book Review

"Compelling. . . . Roberts chronicles in novelistic detail the battles that the Americans and the British fought . . . among themselves. . . . Roberts takes the reader on an invigorating, intellectual march from North Africa and Italy to France and finally into Germany. . . . If Roberts has left a stone unturned, it would have to be a small pebble indeed." - The Christian Science Monitor

"This is an important book which, in its layered references to Waterloo, the Crimea and the Somme, sees Mr. Roberts lay claim to the title of Britain's finest contemporary military historian." - The Economist

"The strength of Masters and Commanders lies in the power of the narrative and the fascinating detail used to construct it. Roberts has exploited a rich mine of private papers to fill in missing parts of the story." - Richard Overy, Literary Review

"Roberts's account of the war and its intrigues is fresh-filled with new revelations and new analysis. . . . It is both high scholarship and superb writing by a masterful analyst of power and war." - Simon Sebag Montefiore, The Daily Beast

"Fascinating. . . . By mining previously unavailable diaries and oral histories . . . this book brings vividly to life the personal interactions and impressions of those involved. Roberts has a keen eye for the telling anecdote." - Mark Mazower, The Guardian

"Andrew Roberts, a tenacious archival historian and gifted writer, looks behind the façade of the familiar photographs and published accounts to see how these war leaders actually operated." - Sir Martin Gilbert, The Evening Standard