Old Generals Do Die

After reading about MacArthur in The Longest Winter, I had to read this book, American Caesar. And I have finally finished it. What a guy. What a pompous, delusional man he was. Manchester does a good job with this book. Of course, it is well written and thorough. You really understand what the man did and his reasons behind it. I actually think that Manchester liked him by the end. But by the end, MacArthur had mellowed. He never admitted that he was wwwwrrrrrong, but he did see the folly, for example, in using atomic weapons. At one point, he wanted to use a few tactical H-bombs on China. Just to get their attention, you understand.

We learn about his father's successes and perceived slights and his over attentive mother. His parents have a lot of 'splaining to do about what they did to Douglas' psychy. It's interesting that MacArthur's own son was equally doted on and he rejected all this to the point that he changed his name. He currently lives in NYNY, is a concert pianist, but nobody knows who he is beyond that. Thank goodness all that self-centered, self-righteousness stopped somewhere.

I found the writing about the Korean War period very interesting because I was just becoming sensate around the time it started. Don't you remember those first things you heard that you were able to understand? Even if I don't remember the Korean War, I do remember Eisenhower running for president and the build-up to that election. Did you know that Ike used to work for MacArthur? Do you think the prideful MacArthur hated how well Eisenhower did in WWII and afterwards? Darn near ate the man alive with jealousy. How could he be a god among men if that little twit from Kansas kept doing what he wanted to do? Run a Theater of Operations in the war, run for president, become president. How humiliating.

But this is more than just reading about his humiliation. Since he has the characteristics of so many powerful men, this is a good book for getting insight into how some of them tick. I kept thinking about current politicians as I read. I guess you could call this a horror story.

And for my between sections book, I read Better. This doctor also writes for The New Yorker. I had read an article in December about how doctors have found that making lists help them not make mistakes in surgery. This book is equally ancedotal with stories about eliminating polio from India, moving wounded men still cut open from shrapnel from Bagdhad to the US, the high incidence of C-sections in the US, and how hard it is to keep hands clean in a hospital. The stories are loosely tied together with a prescription for doing better. Loosely. That doesn't really matter. The stories are thought provoking. I'm always glad to know that the people who help me stay well are thinking of ways to do their jobs better.

Karen and I are planning our drive to the East Coast. I'm glad she is my traveling companion. She's just the right balance of adventurous and level-headed. She even likes to meander and poke around to see what there is in the Northern US. That couldn't be Better.