The Fate of the Generals

MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines

By: Jonathan Horn

Narrated by: Sean Pratt

“One of the very best World War II books in many years…A great read.” —General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.), former Director of the CIA * “Fans of Unbroken will love this book.” —Doug Stanton

In the tradition of Ghost Soldiers, a “riveting” (The Wall Street Journal) World War II story of bravery, survival, and sacrifice—the vow Douglas MacArthur made to return to the Philippines and the oath his fellow general Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright made to stay with his men there whatever the cost.

For the doomed stand American forces made in the Philippines at the start of World War II, two generals received their country’s highest military award, the Medal of Honor. One was the charismatic and controversial Douglas MacArthur, whose orders forced him to leave his soldiers on the islands to starvation and surrender but whose vow to return echoed around the globe. The other was the gritty Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, who became a hero to the troops whose fate he insisted on sharing, even when it meant becoming the highest-ranking American prisoner of the Japanese.

In The Fate of the Generals, bestselling author Jonathan Horn brings together the story of two men who received the same medal but found honor on very different paths. MacArthur’s journey would require a daring escape with his wife and young child to Australia and then years of fighting over thousands of miles to make it back to the Philippines, where he would fulfill his famous vow only to see the city he called home burn. Wainwright’s journey would take him from the Philippines to Taiwan and Manchuria as his captors tortured him in prisons and left him to wonder whether his countrymen would ever understand the choice he had made to surrender for the sake of his men.

A story of war made personal based on meticulous research into diaries and letters including boxes of previously unexplored papers, The Fate of the Generals is a vivid account that raises timely questions about how we define honor and how we choose our heroes, and is destined to become a classic of World War II history.

Excellent and well done

This is an excellent book of a complicated topic of the role military leaders must play in times complicated by war and covers two very different men who played the roles they were meant to play. It is fair to both without weighting the scales towards one or the other. And while the author posits an important conclusion, he allows the reader to make their own decisions as to the type of general they may prefer. When added to a great narration, this book becomes well worth your time.

Fate of the Generals

Overall well written, well researched, and well read. Two thumbs up. The only negative criticism is the annoying mispronunciation of some Philippine place names or the cruiser named for Idaho’s capital.

Wonderful read, narration top notch.

Incredibly well written with much new information, especially concerning General Wainwright. The comparison between these two two men is striking.

Wonderful book

I enjoyed this book because it is well written and researched. I learned a lot about General Wainwright and his courage and struggles. The narrator consistently mispronounced place names in the Philippines and that was annoying. Otherwise it's a great audio book.

Great study in contrasts

A biography on General Wainwright alone would have been probably too dry, but this was a brilliant way to help readers interested in WW2 learn more about him in a highly readable way. His tale deserves to be more widely known.

Contrasting the lives of General MacArthur and General Wainwright was a great way to better define the personality of both, and their different understanding of honor. Both with a family military legacy that shaped their destiny, they lived out their fate.

I found this account more sympathetic to MacArthur than most, giving him a fair hearing. However, the facts remains, and are in many respects (though not all) damning to MacArthur.

The story flows, the writing is great, narrator good, and so I went through it quickly. It was a pleasure to listen to.

Highly recommended to those who are interested in the Pacific theater during WW2, and who already have a solid grasp of how events unfolded.