Roosevelt's Centurions
FDR and the Commanders He Led to Victory in World War II
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Narrated by:
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Dan Woren
About this listen
“FDR’s centurions were my heroes and guides. Now Joe Persico has written the best account of those leaders I've ever read.” (Colin L. Powell)
All American presidents are commanders in chief by law. Few perform as such in practice. In Roosevelt’s Centurions, distinguished historian Joseph E. Persico reveals how, during World War II, Franklin D. Roosevelt seized the levers of wartime power like no president since Abraham Lincoln during the Civil War. Declaring himself "Dr. Win-the-War", FDR assumed the role of strategist in chief, and, though surrounded by star-studded generals and admirals, he made clear who was running the war. FDR was a hands-on war leader, involving himself in everything from choosing bomber targets to planning naval convoys to the design of landing craft. Persico explores whether his strategic decisions, including his insistence on the Axis powers’ unconditional surrender, helped end or may have prolonged the war.
Taking us inside the Allied war councils, the author reveals how the president brokered strategy with contentious allies, particularly the iron-willed Winston Churchill; rallied morale on the home front; and handpicked a team of proud, sometimes prickly warriors who, he believed, could fight a global war. Persico’s history offers indelible portraits of the outsize figures who roused the "sleeping giant" that defeated the Axis war machine: the dutiful yet independent-minded George C. Marshall, charged with rebuilding an army whose troops trained with broomsticks for rifles, eggs for hand grenades; Dwight Eisenhower, an unassuming Kansan elevated from obscurity to command of the greatest fighting force ever assembled; the vainglorious Douglas MacArthur; and the bizarre battlefield genius George S. Patton. Here, too, are less widely celebrated military leaders whose contributions were just as critical: the irascible, dictatorial navy chief, Ernest King; the acerbic army advisor in China, "Vinegar" Joe Stilwell; and Henry H. "Hap" Arnold, who zealously preached the gospel of modern air power. The Roosevelt who emerges from these pages is a wartime chess master guiding America’s armed forces to a victory that was anything but foreordained.
What are the qualities we look for in a commander in chief? In an era of renewed conflict, when Americans are again confronting the questions that FDR faced - about the nature and exercise of global power - Roosevelt’s Centurions is a timely and revealing examination of what it takes to be a wartime leader in a freewheeling, complicated, and tumultuous democracy.
©2013 Joseph E. Persico (P)2013 Random House AudioListeners also enjoyed...
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The fascinating biography of the man who laid the foundation for the CIA. One of the most celebrated and highly decorated heroes of World War I, a noted trial lawyer, presidential adviser and emissary, and chief of America’s Office of Strategic Services during World War II, William J. Donovan was a legendary figure. Donovan, originally published in 1982, penetrates the cloak of secrecy surrounding this remarkable man. The result is the definitive biography that Donovan himself had always expected Dunlop would write.
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Fascinating Biography
- By Jean on 10-15-14
By: Richard Dunlop, and others
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The Generals
- Patton, MacArthur, Marshall, and the Winning of World War II
- By: Winston Groom
- Narrated by: Robertson Dean
- Length: 16 hrs and 2 mins
- Unabridged
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Celebrated historian Winston Groom tells the intertwined and uniquely American tales of George Patton, Douglas MacArthur, and George Marshall - from the World War I battle that shaped them to their greatest achievement: leading the allies to victory in World War II.
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Nothing new here
- By Mike From Mesa on 01-13-16
By: Winston Groom
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Pearl Harbor
- FDR Leads the Nation into War
- By: Steven M. Gillon
- Narrated by: John Pruden
- Length: 6 hrs and 40 mins
- Unabridged
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Franklin D. Roosevelt famously called December 7, 1941, "a date which will live in infamy." History would prove him correct; the events of that day - when the Japanese bombed Pearl Harbor - ended the Great Depression, changed the course of FDR's presidency, and swept America into World War II. In Pearl Harbor, acclaimed historian Steven M. Gillon provides a vivid, minute-by-minute account of Roosevelt's skillful leadership in the wake of the most devastating military assault in American history. FDR proved both decisive and deceptive, inspiring the nation....
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rehash that excludes faults of FDR
- By mike hammer on 10-31-11
By: Steven M. Gillon
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Eisenhower in War and Peace
- By: Jean Edward Smith
- Narrated by: Paul Hecht
- Length: 28 hrs and 22 mins
- Unabridged
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Author of the best-seller FDR, Jean Edward Smith is a master of the presidential biography. Setting his sights on Dwight D. Eisenhower, Smith delivers a rich account of Eisenhower’s life using previously untapped primary sources. From the military service in WWII that launched his career to the shrewd political decisions that kept America out of wars with the Soviet Union and China, Smith reveals a man who never faltered in his dedication to serving America, whether in times of war or peace.
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Good, although biased, biography
- By Mike From Mesa on 10-15-12
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Nimitz
- By: E. B. Potter
- Narrated by: Mike Chamberlain
- Length: 25 hrs and 14 mins
- Unabridged
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Called a great book worthy of a great man, this definitive biography of the Commander in Chief of the Pacific Fleet in World War II is considered the best book ever written about Admiral Chester W. Nimitz. Highly respected by both the civilian and naval communities, Nimitz was sometimes overshadowed by more colorful warriors in the Pacific such as MacArthur and Halsey. Potter's lively and authoritative style fleshes out Admiral Nimitz's personality to help listeners appreciate the contributions he made as the principle architect of Japan's defeat.
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Spectacular Book
- By Darrell E. Fisher on 07-13-18
By: E. B. Potter
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The Hopkins Touch
- By: David Roll
- Narrated by: Fleet Cooper
- Length: 18 hrs and 13 mins
- Unabridged
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The Hopkins Touch offers the first portrait in over two decades of the most powerful man in Roosevelt's administration. David Roll shows how Harry Hopkins, an Iowa-born social worker who had been an integral part of the New Deal's implementation, became the linchpin in FDR's - and America's - relationships with Churchill and Stalin, and spoke with an authority second only to the president's.
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Hopkins - the glue of the tripartite coalition
- By Chrissie on 05-19-13
By: David Roll
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The Accidental President
- Harry S. Truman and the Four Months That Changed the World
- By: A. J. Baime
- Narrated by: Tony Messano
- Length: 14 hrs and 21 mins
- Unabridged
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The dramatic, pulse-pounding story of Harry Truman's first four months in office, when this unlikely president had to take on Germany, Japan, Stalin, and the atomic bomb, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
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Exceptional
- By Jean on 11-14-17
By: A. J. Baime
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The Rising Sun
- The Decline and Fall of the Japanese Empire, 1936-1945
- By: John Toland
- Narrated by: Tom Weiner
- Length: 41 hrs and 9 mins
- Unabridged
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This Pulitzer Prize-winning history of World War II chronicles the dramatic rise and fall of the Japanese empire, from the invasion of Manchuria and China to the atomic bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Told from the Japanese perspective, The Rising Sun is, in the author’s words, "a factual saga of people caught up in the flood of the most overwhelming war of mankind, told as it happened - muddled, ennobling, disgraceful, frustrating, full of paradox."
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A political as well as military history
- By Mike From Mesa on 07-30-15
By: John Toland
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Brute
- The Life of Victor Krulak, U.S. Marine
- By: Robert Coram
- Narrated by: Patrick Lawlor
- Length: 12 hrs
- Unabridged
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From the earliest days of his 34-year military career, Victor "Brute" Krulak displayed a remarkable facility for applying creative ways of fighting to the Marine Corps. He went on daring spy missions, was badly wounded, pioneered the use of amphibious vehicles, and masterminded the invasion of Okinawa. In Korea, he was a combat hero and invented the use of helicopters in warfare.
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Leaves a deep impression while also entertaining
- By PaulaD on 04-26-15
By: Robert Coram
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Citizens of London
- The Americans Who Stood with Britain in Its Darkest, Finest Hour
- By: Lynne Olson
- Narrated by: Arthur Morey
- Length: 17 hrs and 29 mins
- Unabridged
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Here is the behind-the-scenes story of how the United States forged its wartime alliance with Britain, told from the perspective of three key American players in London: Edward R. Murrow, Averell Harriman, and John Gilbert Winant. Drawing from a variety of primary sources, Olson skillfully depicts the dramatic personal journeys of these men who, determined to save Britain from Hitler, helped convince a cautious Franklin Roosevelt and a reluctant American public to support the British at a critical time.
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If we are together nothing is impossible
- By Susan on 03-06-10
By: Lynne Olson
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The Mantle of Command
- FDR at War, 1941–1942
- By: Nigel Hamilton
- Narrated by: Brad Sanders
- Length: 20 hrs and 43 mins
- Unabridged
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Based on years of archival research and interviews with the last surviving aides and Roosevelt family members, Nigel Hamilton offers a definitive account of FDR’s masterful - and underappreciated - command of the Allied war effort. Hamilton takes listeners inside FDR’s White House Oval Study - his personal command center - and into the meetings where he battled with Churchill about strategy and tactics and overrode the near mutinies of his own generals and secretary of war.
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Great Book, Terrible Narration
- By Ross Mackey on 04-11-22
By: Nigel Hamilton
What listeners say about Roosevelt's Centurions
Average customer ratingsReviews - Please select the tabs below to change the source of reviews.
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- Nick Sei
- 02-02-17
Fantastic!!
My 3rd listen just a great book extremely well written and as far as I'm concerned narrated by the most talented guy in that business Dan Woren he's the best!!
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- debb waggoner
- 11-25-13
Info I didn't know
What did you like best about Roosevelt's Centurions? What did you like least?
I read this book as part of a History Book Club's pick and enjoyed it more than I thought I would. I'm not a fan of FDR, but respected the portraits of the generals that served him. Many interesting things about their lives that I've never heard made the read most interesting.
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- Stephen
- 11-21-15
Roosevelt's Centurions - Lincoln and his Generals
I enjoyed this book and its approach to WWII from FDR's interplay between other world leaders and the coalition military leaders. As always, Type A personalities have their magnificent strengths and victories, and terrible flaws and errors. For example, FDR selection of strong, capable leaders for military leaders and political savvy versus his underestimation of Stalin, use of firebombing, and placing Japanese and Japanese-Americans in concentration camps. However, he did not hold back his unvarnished admiration for FDR even when he criticized him. Overall, I recommend the book but get another opinion on his conclusion on important events and these leaders' actions.
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- Ivan
- 11-24-20
Fully Enjoyed This Book!
I loved it! The meticulous and personal details of the personalities of people involved was artfully woven into a story . I also admire the historical perspectives the book brings into focus.
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- Mike From Mesa
- 06-23-13
Superficial description of World War II
This book is a decent overview of World War II and likely to be informative to those who have not previously read much about the war. Mr Persico gives us a decent recounting of the events of the war in those theaters where Americans were involved, along with pocket biographies of the major US figures, but ignores those theaters where no US soldiers were fighting. This may seem reasonable considering the title of the book, but the decision leaves out important events. For example his discussion about Stillwell and China suffers because he chose to completely ignore the Burma theater where General Slim's and his British soldiers were fighting. Those who have read any general histories of World War II will find that there is nothing new here and might want to consider skipping this book.
As long as he sticks to facts Mr Persico does a decent job of describing the events that were central to the war but he is on shakier ground when he wanders into the areas of criticizing strategy, moralizing and psycho-analysis. If he insists on moralizing about decisions made during the war he should, at least, include the reasons those decisions were made.
In his telling of the bombing of Dresden he makes the comment that the US planners knew the Russians wanted Dresden bombed but says that was no excuse. In fact the Russians did not just “want” Dresden bombed, they specially asked for it to be bombed to prevent German reenforcements from being sent to the front during one of their attacks and, had the US and British refused, Stalin would have had a perfectly good reason to stop what limited cooperation he was providing to the allies.
Similarly Mr Persico says the US should have bombed the German Concentration Camps to disrupt the killings there. He may be right, but should have at least mentioned why Franklin Roosevelt made the decision not to bomb the camps. Roosevelt, in a discussion with Henry Morgenthau, said that he refused to authorize the bombing because it would only make people say that the US was killing the Jews rather than the Germans. I do not suggest that this was a valid reason to not bomb, only that Mr Persico owed it to Franklin Roosevelt to properly explain his reasons.
Additionally, Mr Persico's attempt to blame George Patton's behavior on his falling from horses when he was young is just plain embarrasing, and I don't mean embarassing to George Patton.
Mr Woren's narration of this book is less than stellar. His tone and inflections are OK but he needs to learn the proper prononciation of some of the words he is reading. I have listened to books far less well read than this one, but also to many read much better.
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4 people found this helpful
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- Dr. H. K
- 08-24-14
Nice book, but the reading itself is annoying
How could the performance have been better?
the Quotes should not be read with "voices" it is one thing to hear "German" for Hitler voice, but also a woman's voices? this is a serious book, this is not needed and damaged the listening.
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2 people found this helpful
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- Jeff
- 04-26-22
Poor Storyline Poor Research
Not sure if it was the narrative or the writing, but the storyline had a number of basic historical flaws on places, equipment and personnel. No need for the narrator to use voices that make the story become a racial bias. Too Euro centered to represent FDR and fighting of a global war.
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