The Eisenhower Diaries

New York: W. W. Norton & Company, 1981. Book Club Edition. [Verso does state First Edition/First Printing.]. Hardcover. Very good/Good. Edward P. Diehl (Jacket Design). 24 cm. xvii, [1], 445, [1] pages. Illustrations. Notes. Sources. Index. Book Club mark at rear board, no price on DJ. DJ has some wear, soiling, edge tears and chips. Pencil erasure residue on fep. Robert Hugh Ferrell (May 8, 1921 - August 8, 2018) was an American historian and a prolific author or editor of more than 60 books on a wide range of topics, including the U.S. presidency, World War I, and U.S. foreign policy and diplomacy. One of the country's leading historians, Ferrell was widely considered the preeminent authority on the administration of Harry S. Truman, and also wrote books about half a dozen other 20th-century presidents. He was thought by many in the field to be the "dean of American diplomatic historians," a title he himself eschewed. Ferrell was an intelligence analyst in the U.S. Air Force in Washington, D.C., during the Korean War. Robert Ferrell the editor of this book does an excellent job in presenting the diaries, and providing background and context. Ike was not it seems a dedicated diarist but one who on occasion wrote down his thoughts about a particular subject. The diaries of the late Dwight D. Eisenhower are unique documents, in that they alone reveal the innermost thoughts of the soldier-statesman. In his books the memoir of the Second World War, the two large volumes on the presidency, the incomplete autobiography written near the end of his life Eisenhower related the course of events over the years, with descriptive detail, but he usually stayed away from analysis. In his many private letters to friends and acquaintances, some of which have been published, he was more frank, but he still held back. The public record of his military career and of his presidency does not reflect many open, frank statements, proofs that the soldier-president thought long and deeply about issues, personal or public.