(SIGNED) George C. Marshall 4 Volume Set PAPERBACK (Education of a General, 1880-1939 / Ordeal and Hope, 1939-1943 / Organizer of Victory, 1943-1945 / Statesman, 1945-1959)

Education of a General, 1880-1939 ISBN 0140153969 / Ordeal and Hope, 1939-1943 ISBN 0140153977 / Organizer of Victory, 1943-1945 ISBN 0140153985 / Statesman, 1945-1959 ISBN 0140119094

by Forrest C. Pogue

Set of four Trade Paperbacks 421, 493, 685, 603 pages. Condition Very Good Issued with NO Dust Jacket. Penguin Reprint editions Volumes 1,2 & 3 First printing 1993 with corresponding number line. Volume 4 second printing 1987. Elegant dark blue illustrated wraps show off this Clean, tight, square set with no marks or highlights. Books Well kept and carefully stored in unread condition. Slight shelf wear. Edges have the usual yellowing. Pages are lightly toned. Not an ex-library, book club or remainder copy. Heavier than standard book; S&H will be adjusted.

Volume 1 bookplate signed by Forrest C. Pogue. "This set of biographies has been personally autographed ... for presentation to the George C. Marshall ROTC Award Winners"

Volume 1 covers the time from his birth in 1880 thru his training at the Virginia Military Institute and his army career until he was sworn in as a general in 1939. Appendices include bibliography and extensive notes.

Volume 2 As the fifteenth Chief of Staff of the United States Army, George Catlett Marshall oversaw the transformation of the United States Army from a modest constabulary into an organization capable of waging war on a truly global scale. Though such a metamorphosis was due to the efforts of thousands of people working over the course of many years, as Forrest Pogue demonstrates in the second volume of his biography of the general and statesman Marshall's contribution was key to the development of the Army into a force that would play a vital role in defeating the Axis powers and establishing the United states as a global superpower.

This was no small achievement, nor was it an easy one. As Pogue notes, Marshall would regard his two years of service as Chief of Staff before the war as the most difficult of his tenure, far more so than the four years he spent in the post during the war itself. Much of this had to do with the dimensions of the task before him. When Marshall took up the post in September 1939, the Army was both under-funded and under-strength, limited by postwar disillusionment and financial constraints. Nor did the outbreak of war in Europe suddenly change everyone's thinking. As late as April 1940, members of Congress questioned the need to expand the ground forces, believing that the low-intensity "phony war" that developed after the fall of Poland was easily avoidable.

Volume 3 From the Casablanca Conference in January 1943 and the Allied decision to sift to the offensive in all theaters of the Second World War, to the surrender of Germany in May 1945 - the span of this enthralling third volume in the official biography of George C. Marshall - the Allies and the Axis troops fought flat out. It was during this period that the indomitable Army Chief of Staff's shrewd skills as an administrator, concerned commander, and strategist gained him growing recognition and trust from Roosevelt and Churchill, and unparalleled respect from Congress and the country; if Hitler had been the one to foment the blasts of chaos, it was General of the army Marshall who kept the calm eye of hurricane centered on his Pentagon desk. To see the war from his vantage point is to gain fresh perspective, whether on the profound differences with our British allies, on the MacArthur-Nimitz feud in the Pacific, on the machinations at Yalta, or on the astounding build-up of American might. Such is Forrest Pogue's skill, however, that we never lose flesh-and-blood man, who so often surprises us with the warmth and irony behind the legendary facade of frost and integrity.

In Marshall's war service, Dr. Pogue notes, we can find "the perfect blend of soldier and civilian": as the pre-eminent figure on the military scene both at home and abroad, he provided the link between the military establishment and the American people; though he insisted on hard discipline and high respect for leadership among his troops, he never forgot that the ultimate cost of victory lay in the loss of men's lives.

Like everyone else, Marshall had to cope with the tragedy and the trivia of war, from visiting the fresh Italian grave of a fallen stepson to fighting off the commissioning of unqualified pals of the White House - though when it came to making combat decisions in Europe, he held onto a purely non-political tack.

Few men valued more than George C. Marshall the maintenance of the individual spirit and the need for each soldier to know his job well and understand its importance to those at home, and few have been as notably successful in naming field commanders. Churchill was never more perceptive than when he cabled just before V-E Day to salute Marshall as the "true organizer of victory."

Volume 4 Forrest C. Pogue gives us a unique view of the years immediately following World War II and a portrait of a man who, after a distinguished military career, went on to serve his country in even more indispensable ways as a statesman.

On November 26, 1945, George C. Marshall retired after six years as U.S. Army Chief of Staff. one day later, President Truman appointed him Special Ambassador to China. For the next six years, Marshall would confront the most difficult issues of the postwar world. As Secretary of State, he addressed the economic and social plight of war-devastated Europe by initiating the Marshall Plan, called by Churchill "the most unsordid act in history." As Secretary of State during the Korean War, Marshall advocated America's foreign policy. And thea vision of the military's role in a democracy that was at the heart of the controversial decision to recall General Douglas MacArthur.

The years after World War II were marked by an extraordinary bipartisan effort in the creation of America's foreign policy. And the linchpin of this unity was Marshall. The men who worked with him—Dean Acheson, George Kennan, Robert Lovett—were devoted to him; the world leaders he served—Truman, Churchill, Chiang Kai-shek, and Bidault—constantly solicited his counsel. In Statesman Forrest Pogue presents a portrait of Marshall at once majestic and moving: a portrait of an unselfish and unassuming man who saw no greater responsibility—or privilege—than the chance to serve his country.

Forrest Carlisle Pogue Jr. was an official United States Army historian during World War II. He was a proponent of oral history techniques, and collected many oral histories from the war under the direction of chief Army historian S. L. A. Marshall. He also served for many years as the Executive Director of the George C. Marshall Foundation as well as Director of the Marshall Library.