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Pre-Order Now ~ Coming April 15, 2025

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Pre-Order Now ~ Coming April 15, 2025

A Scribner Book

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The Fate of the Generals, Jonathan Horn's Book

Reviews and Praise

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"History at its best. Jonathan Horn has used a treasure trove of new information to shine a powerful spotlight on the sublime heroism of a hitherto under-appreciated and almost forgotten figure, Jonathan Wainwright, while simultaneously investigating the self-centred wiliness but undoubted charisma of Douglas MacArthur."

 

—Andrew Roberts, author of Churchill: Walking with Destiny

 

 

"One of the very best World War II books in many years! In The Fate of the Generals, Jonathan Horn weaves together brilliantly the story of two senior generals faced with excruciatingly difficult decisions that no American commander should ever have to make. Distinguished by spellbinding prose and exceptional research, The Fate of the Generals restores Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright to his proper place in history beside Douglas MacArthur. A great read!"

 

—General David Petraeus, US Army (Ret.), former Commander of the Surge in Iraq, US Central Command, and Coalition Forces in Afghanistan; former Director of the CIA; co-author of the bestselling book Conflict: The Evolution of Warfare from 1945 to Gaza

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“Unearthing new records and documents, Jonathan Horn recasts the battle for the Philippines in startling light, unsealing the story of General Jonathan Mayhew Wainwright, who is the real hero of this book, while, out of habit and perception, MacArthur has remained a war hero. Horn adds, corrects, sharpens this portrait of these two generals in perfect prose, built on the footings of massive research. In Horn’s hands, the psychological portraits of these two are simply fascinating. Fans of Unbroken will love this book; fans of all that we are capable of in our finest, our darkest, and most desperate and necessary hours will love this book."

 

—Doug Stanton, #1 New York Times bestselling author of Horse Soldiers 

 

"In any discussion of World War II in the Philippines, the names Douglas MacArthur and Jonathan Wainwright come up faster than most any others. Jonathan Horn deftly explores the men’s relationship in all its facets. He also illuminates the war’s personal impact on both men, which is much deeper than often appreciated. This is an outstanding tribute to, and portrayal of, two important leaders of World War II in the Pacific."

 

—Christopher L. Kolakowski, author of Last Stand on Bataan and former director of the MacArthur Memorial
 

The Fate of the Generals
MacArthur, Wainwright, and the Epic Battle for the Philippines

 

Coming April 15, 2025
In the tradition of Hampton Sides’s bestseller Ghost Soldiers comes a 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 the thousands of miles needed 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.
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