Just finished Ricks' latest work, "The Generals". He examines a list of army generals begining with Marshall in 1939 and ending with Patreaus in Afghanistan. Ricks pursues two threads. The first is that Marshall set the standard to which all others should be compared. The second is that the army has wrongly abandoned it's historical practice----and in his view, obligation----of relieving incompetent generals. It's now the politicians who do this, rather than the senior generals themselves. I think he makes a very good case for both points.

It's a great book for military history buffs, but Ricks' personal politics come out in the later chapters when he begins his discussions of Powell, Schwarzkopf, Franks and others. His obvious hatred of Bush 41 & 43, as well as Rumsfeld, cloud and detract from the work.

If you are into military stuff, this is a worth while read.

Best.....TWL