Reviews

This book is an extended biography of and military commentary by retired Air Force General Horner as filtered through Clancy. Given that Clancy is the best-selling writer of such novels as The Hunt for Red October and Red Storm Rising, one would expect lucidity of prose and a logical presentation of topics, and that's just what the listener gets. In particular, we gain an informed appreciation of the changes wrought in the U.S. chain of command since the Vietnam debacle. To Horner, who served there, Vietnam demonstrated that a top-down command and information structure is precisely the wrong approach to military management. Sounding like a modern business adviser, he sees decentralization and empowerment at as many levels as possible as the way to go, and both he and former generals Norman Schwarzkopf and Colin Powell have been leaders in implementing that vision, to a vast improvement in service efficiency and morale. The author concentrates both on details of logistics and the war itself and comments on the personalities he encounters along the way. Reader Jonathan Marosz is adequate but unexceptional, delivering the tale with a matter-of-fact middle-American voice. Public and academic librarians will find this audiobook an asset to their history collections.--Don Wismer, Cary Memorial Lib., Wayne, ME Copyright 2000 Cahners Business Information.