The Light of Battle: Eisenhower, D-Day, and the Birth of the American Superpower

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A thrilling new biography of Dwight Eisenhower set in the months leading up to D-Day, when he grew from a well-liked general into one of the singular figures of American history.

On June 6, 1944, General Dwight Eisenhower addressed the thousands of American troops preparing to invade Normandy, exhorting them to embrace the Great Crusade they faced. Then, in a fleeting moment alone, he drafted a resignation letter in case the invasion failed.

In The Light of Battle, Michel Paradis, acclaimed author of Last Mission to Tokyo, paints a vivid portrait of Dwight Eisenhower as he learns to navigate the crosscurrents of diplomacy, politics, strategy, family, and fame with the fate of the free world hanging in the balance. In a world of giantsChurchill, Roosevelt, De Gaulle, Marshall, MacArthurit was a barefoot boy from Abilene, Kansas, who would master the art of power and become a modern-day George Washington.

Drawing upon meticulous research and a voluminous body of newly discovered records, letters, diaries, and firsthand accounts from three continents, Paradis brings Eisenhower to life, as a complicated man who craved simplicity, a genial cipher whose smile was a lethal political weapon.

With a page-turning pace and an eye for the overlooked, Paradis interweaves the grand arc of history with more human concerns, bringing readers into the private moments that led to Eisenhowers most pivotal decisions. By deftly integrating the personal and the political, he reveals how Eisenhowers rise both reflected and was integral to Americas rise as a global superpower.

An unflinching look at how character is forged, and leadership is learned, The Light of Battle breathes new life into the man who made the leader of the free world the mantle of the American presidency.

Reviews

"Superb . . . [Paradis] writes history with ease and authority." Daniel Ford, Wall Street Journal, on Last Mission to Tokyo [An] engrossing procedural . . . Richly researched." Gary J. Bass, New York Times Book Review, on Last Mission to Tokyo Last Mission to Tokyois a thoroughly compelling true story of legal intrigue in the most unexpected of settings.Impeccably researched and beautifully written, it captures the reader with the first sentence and never lets go. John Grisham Those who say all the stories about World War II have been told are wrong because Michel Paradis has found one and its a doozythe fates of the Doolittle Raid survivors and the Nuremburg-like efforts to bring their captors and killers to justice. Last Mission to Tokyo is both a narrative of wartime heroism and a courtroom thriller that grabs readers to the very last page. Tom Clavin and Bob Drury, New York Times bestselling authors of The Heart of Everything That Is Based on extensive archival research, this narrative by Paradis expertly renders the complexities and nuances of war crimes trials into readable prose, as well as fleshing out the backstories and personalities of the major protagonists. . . . Will appeal to readers of military and World War II history and legal thrillers. Library Journal (starred review) on Last Mission to Tokyo

Author Bio

MichelParadisisaleadinghuman rights lawyer, historian, and national security law scholar and most recently the author of the critically acclaimed Last Mission to Tokyo. Heisalso apartner at the international law firm Curtis Mallet-Prevost andaLecturer at Columbia Law School. Hehas appeared on or written for the PBS NewsHour, CBS, MSNBC, CNBC, C-SPAN, Netflix, NPR, The Atlantic, The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Lawfare, Just Security, Articles of War, among other publications. Heisafellow at the Center on National Security and the National Institute for Military Justice. He was awarded his doctorate from Oxford University, where he wasaCampion Scholar, and received his law degree from Fordham Law School in New York.