MacArthur and Defeat in the Philippines

I have always found it interesting that historians are afraid to attack the MacArthur myth of invincibility. Much like Custer,MacArthur's reputation has only grown over the years into one of almost mythic status as the victor of the war in the Pacific and the battle of Inchon in the Korean War. The facts are that a 100,000 strong U.S.-Filipino Force fighting a defensive battle over difficult terrain was defeated by a Japanese... Read Full Review

I found this work on McArthur the best objective opinion of this military "icon" written to date. It was appropriate and necessary for such a work to be written by an academic historian who was not an American in order to obtain an objective view of such a controversial man in American history. I would like to see the author write a similar analysis of McArthur's generalship in the Korean conflict. I think the author could... Read Full Review

This book makes an excellent contribution to a chapter of history that has been overlooked. Connaughton shows that the seeds of a possible US-Japan confrontation in the Philippines were sown decades earlier. Could it have been anticipated? MacArthur's career has many examples of his military brilliance and personal bravery which are at odds with his dismal performance in the Philippines between December 1941 and April 1942... Read Full Review