
From national bestselling author and acclaimed military historian Robert L. O'Connell, a dynamic history of four military leaders whose extraordinary leadership and strategy led the United States to success during World War I and beyond. By the first half of the twentieth century, technology had transformed warfare into a series of intense bloodbaths in which the line between soldiers and civilians was obliterated, resulting in the deaths of one hundred million people. During this period, four men exhibited unparalleled military leadership that led the United States victoriously through two World Wars: Douglas MacArthur, George Patton, George Marshall, and Dwight "Ike" Eisenhower; or, as bestselling author Robert O'Connell calls them, Team America. O'Connell captures these men's unique charisma as he chronicles the path each forged—from their upbringings to their educational experiences to their storied military careers—experiences that shaped them into majestic leaders who would play major roles in saving the free world and preserving the security of the United States in times of unparalleled danger. O'Connell shows how the lives of these men—all born within the span of a decade—twisted around each other like a giant braid in time. Throughout their careers, they would use each other brilliantly in a series of symbiotic relationships that would hold increasingly greater consequences. At the end of their star-studded careers (twenty-four out of a possible twenty-five), O'Connell concludes that what set Team America apart was not their ability to wield the proverbial sword, but rather their ability to plot strategy, give orders, and inspire others. The key ingredients to their success was mental agility, a gravitas that masked their intensity, and an almost intuitive understanding of how armies in the millions actually functioned and fought. Without the leadership of these men, O'Connell makes clear, the world we know would be vastly different.
Author

Robert L. O’Connell was educated at Colgate University and the University of Virginia, where he received a Ph.D. in history. He worked for three decades in the U.S. Intelligence Community, before becoming a Visiting Professor at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey California. He has two grown children and lives with his wife in Charlottesville, Virginia. He is the author of six published histories and one novel. Besides Fierce Patriot, the Tangled Lives of William Tecumseh Sherman (Random House, 2014), he has also written The Ghosts of Cannae: Hannibal and the Darkest Hour of the Roman Republic (Random House,, 2010), Soul of the Sword (The Free Press, 2002), Ride of the Second Horseman: the Birth and Death of War (Oxford University Press, 1995), Sacred Vessels: the Cult of the Battleship and the Rise of the U.S. Navy (Oxford University Press, 1993), Of Arms and Men; a History of War, Weapons and Aggression (Oxford University Press, 1989), and Fast Eddie: a Novel in Many Voices(Morrow, 1999).